Monkey Puzzle Araucaria araucana Kiln and Air dried.

All dimensions in inches.

This single, large tree was the main feature of a local manor house garden until a major storm, then it became a major feature of our yard! Somewhere in Instagram is a short video of the root plate being cut.

Native to Argentina and Chile, this tree is listed as CITES Appendix 1 and on the IUNCR Red list so only available when ornamental trees such as this one come down.

Woodturners like to get hold of small trees and turn them as end-grain pots to expose the concentric branch knots but this one was close to four feet diameter at the base so we milled it through-and-through.

As a consequence, the knots will be present in some blanks according to where the blade cut them.

Most blanks contain no knots and certainly none in the spindles we cut.

The timber is soft with straight grain and because the timber is not at all durable, some blue stain can occur during initial air drying which adds to the attraction.

A softish and very different timber to turn which will soak up finishing products but work to a high shine, especially the bullet-hard knots.

Chestnut’s Hard Wax Oil really works well on this timber.