#348

NOW SOLD

 Rare Tasmanian Tiger Myrtle and Gun Metal Rollerball Pen

TIGER MYRTLE - (Nothofagus cunninghamii)

Tiger Myrtle is perhaps the rarest of the Myrtle colour decorations, the “tiger stripe” of contrasting dark brown - black is caused by fungal discoloration. Tiger Myrtle is most often produced from cull trees with too much centre defect to meet pulpwood specifications. The most dominant tiger stripe is displayed in quarter sawn timber.

Myrtle is a large, spreading evergreen tree up to 40 m tall with a stem diameter between 150 and 250 cm in favourable environments, but is often a dense under-storey shrub 6–18 m high in wet eucalypt forest and at higher altitudes. The trunk is slightly buttressed, fluted and often swollen at the base, with adventitious shoots. The outer bark is brown or deep red to pink, scaly and slightly fibrous and remains attached to the tree for life.

We had been planning on mooring up for the night above the Calcutt locks but it was such a lovely day that we carried on for an extra hour past Napton Junction and to another favourite spot just down the hill from Flecknoe which left us a short hop to the village of Braunston, a historic center of the canal system.

It was going to really be touch and go as to what work I was going to be able to get done as the typical UK weather forecasts showed sunshine and heavy showers. Unfortunately there aren't many of the pen making processes that I can carry out inside the boat because of all the wood chippings and sawdust but we had one really fine day sandwiched between two rotten ones that saw a fair few soggy boaters go by.

Pen #348 was turned on July 25th 2015 just outside the village of Flecknoe.