I'm looking for a source or a reference to a list of woods that are good for turning. Or maybe the list are the names of woods that are NOT good for turning. Specifically, I want to know if the wood shatters, splinters, warps, does not finish well, that sort of thing.
Also does hardwood turn better than softwood?
I'm told that dry wood is better to turn than greenwood. At this point I want to turn useful or utilitarian pieces. As the old saying goes..."if you turn a bowl out of wet or green wood and it cracks or warps out of shape as it dries, it then becomes ART! Right now I'm not into art.
The kind of turning will be initially limited to spindle turning, pens, bottle stoppers and bowls.
Thanks
Bob
San Diego
What wood is good for turning?
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flashbacpt
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What Wood is Good for Turning?
Bob,
Check out http://www.WoodworkersSource.com. Look for "Wood Library" near the top of the page. It will give you a great deal of information and list uses of various types of wood. One can search by common names also, which is a great help when one has a piece of wood that goes by several names, such as Ponderosa Pine!
Good Luck!
John
FlashbacPT:)
Check out http://www.WoodworkersSource.com. Look for "Wood Library" near the top of the page. It will give you a great deal of information and list uses of various types of wood. One can search by common names also, which is a great help when one has a piece of wood that goes by several names, such as Ponderosa Pine!
Good Luck!
John
FlashbacPT:)
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flashbacpt
- Gold Member
- Posts: 156
- Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2006 9:41 pm
- Location: Concord, Ca.
What wood is good for turning?
Bob,
Also...........Some folks like turning green wood because it is easier to turn, producing slices of flying wood.
But, there are things to consider with turning green wood that one has to be aware of....First off, it is a very messy (sp?) process, spraying moisture everywhere which in turn, requires you to clean and protect your lathe, SS, and surrounding area, including your self (Facemask, apron, etc.)
Yes, green wood undergoes changes during the drying out process, which in turn, causes cracks, and changes in shape.
The process can be longer also,......in some cases, one turns green wood to a certain point, and then sets it aside to dry some more. You then come back weeks later, and continue to work on the piece.
For learning purposes, I would first stick with Spindle turning, learning the various turning tools, specifically how to place them, hold them, and use them to your advantage. Consider......one has to learn to turn beads, coves, tapers, etc. Also, the Skew chisel does take some time to learn and can also cause you a lot of frustration, and scare the hell out of you, when it bites your turning piece.
Once comfortable with Spindle turning, you can then turn to Bowl Turning which opens up a whole new world of using bowl turning tools. I personally believe that by trying to do both at the same time is just too much, as there is so much to learn.
John
FlashbacPT:)
Also...........Some folks like turning green wood because it is easier to turn, producing slices of flying wood.
But, there are things to consider with turning green wood that one has to be aware of....First off, it is a very messy (sp?) process, spraying moisture everywhere which in turn, requires you to clean and protect your lathe, SS, and surrounding area, including your self (Facemask, apron, etc.)
Yes, green wood undergoes changes during the drying out process, which in turn, causes cracks, and changes in shape.
The process can be longer also,......in some cases, one turns green wood to a certain point, and then sets it aside to dry some more. You then come back weeks later, and continue to work on the piece.
For learning purposes, I would first stick with Spindle turning, learning the various turning tools, specifically how to place them, hold them, and use them to your advantage. Consider......one has to learn to turn beads, coves, tapers, etc. Also, the Skew chisel does take some time to learn and can also cause you a lot of frustration, and scare the hell out of you, when it bites your turning piece.
Once comfortable with Spindle turning, you can then turn to Bowl Turning which opens up a whole new world of using bowl turning tools. I personally believe that by trying to do both at the same time is just too much, as there is so much to learn.
John
FlashbacPT:)
Woods Together are always Nice
Hi,
Especially for small projects, combining different woods can turn out great.
Here is a screwdriver done with 2 woods, as shown:
Especially for small projects, combining different woods can turn out great.
Here is a screwdriver done with 2 woods, as shown:
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- Mesquite and Zebrawood Screwdriver.jpg (43.16 KiB) Viewed 7606 times
Chris
Hi Bob,rdewinter wrote:Chris
Very nice looking screwdriver. Did you just face glue the different woods together before turning? How long did you wait for the glue to be completely dry before turning?
Bob
San Diego
Yes, those were some castaway slabs that I sanded fresh/flat and face-glued together. Sometimes I use wood-glue, and if in doubt I'll use epoxy. I routinely wait 24 hours for my cure. For this screwdriver example, the "wood sandwich" layers were well-aligned with the turning axis. However other times I've done a deliberate slant of my drilled turning axis, so that each sandwich-layer has an interesting elliptical intercept with the final turned shape.
All in all, that extra 24 hours waiting for glue up front is well worth it for the interesting outcomes later.
Other points from reading articles are: For large turnings, normal wood grain can exhibit quite nicely. For very small piece turnings, it's worth the effort to locate a more figured portion of the wood. I like a pretty hard wood not only for the beauty, but also for the fact that it's not as easy to mess-up if I have a sudden mistake or "catch" when turning.
Enjoy your projects,
Chris