Newbie Question - Which trees are best?

[Big Tom]

Okay guys,

I'm new to turning. I live in Northern Virginia. As I try to secure green wood for turning, what are the most desirable trees, and why (such as ease of turning, takes a nice polish, etc.)? The guys in my club, CAW, love black cherry. If you could give me your general thoughts on which trees/wood you'd rate as best and worst, I'd appreciate it. I hate to keep bugging my fellow clubmembers all the time, and thought I might get lots of opinions here. As an example, does tulip poplar make good wood for turning? I've got one that's about 12" on my property. I'm guessing walnut, maple, and poplar are all worthwhile.

Thanks, Tom

 

[dkulze]

Well, Tom, free wood is the best wood.

I turn everything from birch, to maple, to cherry, to yew, etc., etc. Each has advantages and disadvantages and all are excellent turning woods.

The only ones to really know about that can be problematic are a few that are either real hard or real soft. Willow is lovely but is very soft and stringy, resulting in lots of tear out that's hard to get rid of. Works better when dry but still delicate. Pecan and osage orange are good to turn but, when they get dry, they turn into concrete, as does locust (and apple, for that matter). Most pines and spruces are pretty soft but can be turned with care. Pine in particular will be full of pitch when green and will really gum up your tools and sandpaper. Cedar is lovely to turn but the dust is very poisonous so use a respirator (not a dust mask) like you can get at Home Despot for about 30$. Box elder is lovely but smells like moderately old gym socks. It also gives me sinusitis. Fruit woods (cherry, apple, peach, crabapple, etc) tend to look and smell wonderful but will crack when drying if you look at them hard so have to be cared for well during the drying process.

And, yes, tulip poplar is a nice turning wood. Attractive and stable.

How's that for guidelines?

Dietrich

 

[Matt Meadows]

If tulip poplar is the same poplar used to make home trims, it's something I very, very familiar with, at least in cabinetry. Makes nice paint-grade face frames and drawer fronts.

Turning it green should be fun, it's soft enough when dried, probably like turning a hunk of wax when wet. Use the greener parts of the wood to your advantage, I don't think the green changes color drastically over time. We've had poplar sitting in our shop for nearly a year that still looks green in places. Maybe photo reactive, I dunno.

Oh, Dietrich, thanks for the info on cedar. I got it a day late. I just turned a cedar goblet just for the fun of it and for practice. No, I didn't wear a respirator! Just told my wife to keep an eye on me sleeping tonight, if I start foaming at the mouth to call the ambulance. 😱

 

[Allen Alexopulos]

Some free wood available not too far from you...

Hi Tom,

There is a large amount of red oak available for woodturning groups in the central Maryland area courtesy the city of Annapolis. They have gratiously offered to notify the Chesapeake Woodturners whenever they take down a large tree within the city limits. The last tree was a large willow oak that you can view in an image posted on my web site. It is available in the February Activities section at the very bottom of the page. They haul the timber to a place called Back Creek Nature Park in Annapolis and leave it there until we have picked through it. I haven't seen the red oak timbers, but might take a drive over there this weekend to check them out.

Several CAW members harvested some pretty healthy chunks of the willow oak. While oak isn't the easiest wood to deal with, if you are careful about keeping your tools sharp and follow reasonable roughing out and drying procedures you might be rewarded with some nice pieces. I have posted images of a couple of Chestnut Oak pieces that I turned recently on this web site.

Good luck with your turning and feel free to contact me if you want to take a stab at the red oak.

Best Regards,
-Allen

www.lathescapes.com
allen_alexopulos@lathescapes.com

 

[Big Tom]

Thanks

Thanks guys for your thoughts and ideas. Nice guidelines, Dietrich! And, thanks Allen for the offer.

Tom