Best woods to turn?

[PeterS]

Hi all and excuse me if this is a silly question.
I am very new to wood turning but it is something that interests me.
I have just aquired a Roval 1/2 hp lathe and had a play with some cypres and some pine. Are these suitable in general or are there better woods to turn.
Any advice would be appreciated.

[PAH1]

Hi

My favourite quote on this BB for that very same question is "the best sort of wood to turn is one which has come from a tree with leaves in the air and roots in the ground". I have some very nice radiata pine from driveway plantings more than 100 years old and cypress looks nice but is apparently rather warpy but that can be an accent anyway. My advice would be scrounge whatever wood you can but do not be afraid to pay for some blanks for that special project.

[rsser]

Have you done a search on this topic? There are a heap of entries.

[smidsy]

Hei Peter,
Welcome to the mad house.
As a newbie you need lathe time so the best wood is cheap wood, about the only wood that I try to avoid is wood that's very old because it is generally very dry and brittle - this means that not only does it blunt the chisels, but the lack of flex due to the dryness can be an issue.
Below is a link to a page that lists the health hazards of various timbers, apart from timber that is dangerous to your health, it really is a case of whatever takes your fancy.
http://www.ubeaut.com.au/badwood.htm

When I am looking for timber for a project I tend to look at finish of the timber - some timber may be more of a challenge to turn but that is part of the fun of wood turning.

I have a PDF file of the turning properties of various woods which someone here was kind enough to send me, if you PM me your direct e-mail address I can send it along.

The other thing I would suggest is that you find your local wood turners group as these guys have a wealth of knowledge - an aspect of turning that is as important as turning technique is the ability to sharpen your chisels, and things like this you will learn at a turning group.
Cheers
Paul

[reeves]

Since i began turning about 3 months ago i have been trying this out and this is my response...

Cyprus is good for grain but bad for splits, the local dump provides me with all i need.

Other pines such as Hoop and theat ancient kauri is fine but generally pin eis abit light and brittle.

camphor laural is great and has some nice grain, i buy blanks form the Woodcraft shoppe in Topowoomba for under 10 buck, sdome cheaper like $3.

I bought some better blanks from Lazarides timber and whilstmore expensives it is excellent quality wood, some very figured sikly oak..

I have tried,

balckwood, - great for turning, light , god color

jacaranda - like pine, very white can crack

red cedar - geat, really easy to tur...

silky oak...great, good fisgure, bad smell nice ot turn...

my favouraites r Blackwood and silky oak..


so dont be afraid to buy a few blanks from a turning shop...

have fun...

john

[IanA]

Peter,

Smidsy's advice is good.

The only wood better than cheap wood is free wood.

Make heaps of shavings, get in lots of practice.
Don't worry too much at the start about trying to create a masterpiece.

Enjoy yourself.

[Don Nethercott]

As IanA said, The only wood better than cheap wood is free wood.
Look around your area and see what you can find.
Maybe you can contact a local tree lopper and see if he can throw a few nice pieces your way.
The best investment I made was a Stihl chainsaw - there are always people around who want a tree cut up and removed. Or go into the country and check out some of the local farmers, especially those who have done a bit of clearing.
I have a shed full of wood from friends and neighbours trees. You won't catch me buying wood. Must admit I am "in the bush" here, but if you keep your eye out you can always pick up something.
Maybe even try a sawmill and see if they have some offcuts.
Good luck
Don

[reeves]

I like the responses here.

Whilst we all like 'free' wood we are often limited to what we can find and cut or are lucky enough to find at the lkocal dump.

IN a good area these woods should be plentiful.

DEveloping aknowledge of wood is obvioulsy part of the woodturners developments.

However alot of good woods and good turning blanks ar enot easily found in all areas so it may be needed to buy a some to develop ones turning and awarness.

basic testing and dev should be done on free woods but if a turner is to develop they need access good quality woods of varying varieties.....

try

http://www.thewoodsmith.com.au/

http://www.ubeaut.com.au/comm.htm

http://www.woodreview.com.au/suppliers/woodturning.html

a chainsaw will also help, as suggested above..

also there will probably be some other turners in yr area, maybe a group or small shop that can offer better advice.



cheers
john

[adrian]

I don't know what the situation is like in Vic. but in NSW you can get a permit to harvest up to two tonne of "firewood" from the State Forests. It's costs about $22 and lasts for three months. They will give you a map to all the compartments you can harvest in. There is some very good stuff left by the loggers (burls and crotch wood) and all you need is a chainsaw and a 4x4 cause some of those logging tracks can be rough.

[rsser]

A lot of common woods are frankly crap to turn; by that I'm referring to a kind of cost-benefit ration. When you compare the cost of the timber (cheap or free) with the time needed to prepare the blank and turn sand and finish it, then for all that effort you want something that is good to look at and feels good when people pick it up.

The Peninsula Woodturners produced a useful list of timbers and their turning qualities, tips for turning them etc.

It's attached in zip form.

(edited 7.45am)

[Little Festo]

90% of the wood that I get for turning is free wood. I had a friend that grabbeda large chunk of fig - I think it's fig. I've heard that fig isn't all that good for turning (a bit plain) BUT the next day he dropped off two lovely Black wattle logs, one a crotch (really nice).

Problem is most free wood is green so will need to be seasoned etc. My advice Peter is to get some advice from members of a woodturning club, if you can, as what wood turns well (localally obtainable) and don't be afraid to turn any interesting looking wood you can get your hands on for free. I am lucky too in that the guy I have woodturning lessons is very knowledgable about local wood/timber and offers good advice and has quite a few turning blanks of many not so well known local and desert woods.

I have just posted a pic bowl turned from an African Mahogany stump I found that has seen several Darwin wet seasons and quite a few termites. The wood has spaulted to the point of being almost rotten but full of colour. It was quite difficult to turn but I think it was worth the effort.


Happy Turning - Peter

[Babytoolman]

I got my hads on an load of Camphor Laurel and it cost me only time. My workshop smells lovely. Great wood to work with and great results from turning it.

[barnsey]

You'll be surprised at what you can find at the cheap/free end. :)

Examples?

There is a furniture maker up here who specialises in cabinet and boat joinery.
When I go there I can find things like the ends off 12" x 2 1/2" teak boards that are no good to him - got 3 of them 12" - 15" long for 5 bucks :D - off cuts of all sorts of fiddle back timbers and it's fun going through his scrap pile. ;)

Got a 900mm length of teak 100 x100 that I turned into a pair of table lamps - think that cost me 10 bucks. :D

The local council just came around and cut down 2 old mango trees from the front nature strip - a tradgedy really but when I spoke to the guys they kept all the stumps and crotches for me and cut most of em up so that all I need to do is get out the Sthil and halve em length ways - great crotched bowl blanks with spalting and grain :D :D

Happy turning

[adrian]

Its very handy for woodturners that two trees like Camphor Laurel and Mesquite have been declared noxious weeds. The only trouble is that they may not be around for too long if councils get their act together.
Lets hope the powers that be are as prompt at getting rid of them as they are about doing everything else.

[rsser]

A lot of Melbourne's streetside elms are getting too old for safety and will be culled selectively. A good timber to turn green.

[barnsey]

They've been saying that about Camphor Laurel around these parts for as long as I can remember. Trouble is the birds and mother nature in general keep spreading them quicker than anyone can get rid of em and they grow like wild fire.

Actually it's spawned quite an industry up here, furniture made of it, some friends with the most stunning natural edge kitchen benches and cupboards. Every time you open one you can still smell it 5 years down the track - and no nasty bugs either!!

Now there's a possibility :rolleyes: Get some of those taswegian sawmillers up here and get em to start CL plantations whilst they clean out all the weed ones we've got already :D :D

That way the old growth forests 'll be preserved, we manage to rescue all those families from living in a frozen hell for half the year and with camphor laurel wood chip toilet paper - every loo in the world will smell clean as :D :D :D :D

[Mulgabill]

Hey barnsey! That's lateral thinking.

[rsser]

Yeah. Don't go into politics Barnsey, you make too much sense.

And that's not a party political comment! It's a policy statement ;-}