What sort of timber for practicing

[ClintO]

I bought a cheap lathe of eBay just for doing odds & ends and perhaps a few chisel handles.
With the help of books and a DVD I want to have a go
What is the best, cheap option for timber to practice turning

[Cliff Rogers]

Anything free but be warned... pine can be very disappointing for a beginner.

Street trees that are getting pruned are good while they are wet, very satisfying to turn wet gumtree.

Jacaranda, mango, peltophryne, poinciana, etc.

[issatree]

Hi ClintO,
Found wood is good. Anything on the ground, dry, say Gum of most kinds, Cypress, & not Murray Pine they call Cypress, Cotoneaster, Photinia, Apple, Ash, & so the list goes on.
Google " Wooden Handles ", & that could be a help.
As you are aware, this Turning Caper is very Addictive.
Also, you might like to join a Wood Club or even a Mens Shed. These are all on The Internet.

[JDarvall]

Kwila turns nicely.....Found I can get large offcuts of it from local mills that sell it for decking and posts, that sort of thing......what happens at my local place is they dock off 100x100mm and stair treads for the customers....and anything less than 900mm is usually something they can't sell. So I go in and take a ute full of the offcuts for say 50 bucks. Big chunky straight grained quality kiln dried bits that turns well...the oil in the kwila gives it depth too. After sanding and burnishing it quite beautiful imo....yellow fleck in some of its a bit yuck though imo.

[Paul39]

Discarded bed head and foot boards with nice posts, chairs, tables, pallets - careful of any nails you don't get out. Heavier furniture frames.

I heat with wood, so I'm always picking up stuff set out on trash day. Pallets can be found behind most stores, broken ones are not likely to be reused.

I have 20 to 30, 2 to 3 inch rounds from furniture tucked away for big tool handles.

Sunday morning is a good time to cruise around behind malls and stores.

Used furniture stores might have broken stuff you might have. Construction sites may have a dumpster full of 2 inch & 4 inch off cuts. As they have to pay for volume and weight at the dump, usually there is no problem to go dumpster diving.

Custom furniture makers may also have hardwood offcuts big enough.

[jimbur]

All good advice. Then there is the fact that most furniture is over-engineered. Does that table really need four legs?:D
Cheers,
Jim

[tea lady]

Still think Radiatta pine is good for practice, Just turn it all to shavings. Vic ash is B(&^%^ awful. Kwila/merbu is OK, if not perhaps a bit hard for learning straight off. :shrug: Any green timber is fun, although I tend to drive past gum tree of any sort. So full of gum veins.....Apple or any sort of fruit wood is great! Can be really hard when dry. Heaps of fun and great finish if green. Wattles are good to. Amazing how quickly the wood stash grows once you start. :U

[Cliff Rogers]

Green waste at the dump is good, I have picked up several good logs of 'Beenatree Dumpii' over the years.

[Grommett]

You're lucky Cliff. Our tip nazi charges like a wounded bull, and has eyes everywhere. I was dumping some recyclable metal one time and picked up an old metal toolbox. He strolled over and said I could have it for $3.

[bsrlee]

What Cliff said - keep an eye out for people trimming or removing trees. If you are interested in bowl turning, a lot of trunks are cut into chunks a bit longer than they are wide - perfect. your main competition will be the bloke with the truck mounted wood chipper.

You will need a chainsaw or a wedge & sledge to split them down the middle, then paint the ends if you are going to be keeping them for a while to stop splitting. Lots of reasonable timber for very little investment.

[Christos]

I had been practicing between centers with pine. These were part of old school tables legs and for the most part these were turned into shavings or dust.

[floody_85]

I practiced on pine. We have piles of pine gluts at work that we stack board on for forklifts. I just took a heap home, cut them to short pieces and away I went.