:cool2: Experiences please with white oak on the lathe both spindle and bowl applications
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White Oak
- Thread starter cwearing
- Start date
I haven't turned much white oak, but I have turned a lot of red oak.
If you have green oak, go for it. If you have dried oak, still go for it. I turn whatever I can get my hands on, but I'll tell you this:
1. It won't hold the greatest detail (it can splinter badly on fine edges)
2. Better be prepared to sharpen your gouges a lot
3. The tiny shavings and chips you get from turning dried oak can get a mother to hate you when she's doing the laundry. The bits fly everywhere, get itchy, and are a pain to scrape off my flannel shirts.
If you have green oak, go for it. If you have dried oak, still go for it. I turn whatever I can get my hands on, but I'll tell you this:
1. It won't hold the greatest detail (it can splinter badly on fine edges)
2. Better be prepared to sharpen your gouges a lot
3. The tiny shavings and chips you get from turning dried oak can get a mother to hate you when she's doing the laundry. The bits fly everywhere, get itchy, and are a pain to scrape off my flannel shirts.
Hmmm...do the words warp, crack, split mean anything to you? 🙁 . I've got several platters now sitting under weight hoping against hope for them to eventually straighten out. They'll either be quite striking or firewood. 😱
They'll never straighten out, Cyril. Gotta rough turn em, let em dry well, then finish them off if you want to keep a shape.
I personally really like oak for nice, clean shapes. The heavy grain, flecking from the lignin strips, and clean growth lines make for nice bowls, vases, etc. It is a hard wood, will smell when turning, and will turn your tools and hands black from the tannin reacting with iron from your tools. Just make sure and clean off shavings from any metal you don't want blackened and wash your hands in lemon juice or dandruff shampoo (sulfur based) and you'll be fine.
Dietrich
I personally really like oak for nice, clean shapes. The heavy grain, flecking from the lignin strips, and clean growth lines make for nice bowls, vases, etc. It is a hard wood, will smell when turning, and will turn your tools and hands black from the tannin reacting with iron from your tools. Just make sure and clean off shavings from any metal you don't want blackened and wash your hands in lemon juice or dandruff shampoo (sulfur based) and you'll be fine.
Dietrich
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A tree trimmer friend recently dropped off a load of white oak ranging in size from 6 to 8 inches in diameter. I used it to teach bowl turning with my high school woodworking classes and had great results. It dried quickly (2 weeks with a wall thickness of 1/2 to 5/8") with minimal warping and not one piece cracked. It was a little harder to turn dry as one would expect but sanded and finished quite nicely.
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- Apr 27, 2004
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I really like dried white oak for small spindles. I find it pleasant to work with a pleasing odor. I like the way the rays present themselves on beads.
I've used it a lot for roofs on turned bird houses it will last a long time outside.
It can make a real nice bowl with the big rays. The wood will move a lot when drying. This can be a problem in larger bowls (14"+) since the inside to the endgrain diameter of the dried bowl can be more than the outside of the face grain diameter.
Be sure to get an even wall thickness on roughed out bowls. I generally turn the bottom a a bit thinner to allow for the chuck tennon. I also slow the drying in paper bags for about 2 months.
happy turning,
Al
I've used it a lot for roofs on turned bird houses it will last a long time outside.
It can make a real nice bowl with the big rays. The wood will move a lot when drying. This can be a problem in larger bowls (14"+) since the inside to the endgrain diameter of the dried bowl can be more than the outside of the face grain diameter.
Be sure to get an even wall thickness on roughed out bowls. I generally turn the bottom a a bit thinner to allow for the chuck tennon. I also slow the drying in paper bags for about 2 months.
happy turning,
Al
Hey Al, am I going to find white oak in Kentucky? Does it only grow in certain areas?