Thread: Turning mango tree wood

Mango turns well. It rots quickly though and the borers love it, although even the rotten mouldy bug eaten stuff can be stabilised and still used.

I recommend cutting into blanks ASAP, and rough turn into bowls if you can, then seal with wax (90% paraffin + 10% bees wax) before storing them to dry in cool ventilate area out of the sun. I DO NOT recommend burying in sawdust as it will just rot. Allow 1 year/inch thickness to dry

Some mango wood can have have a bit of silica in it. If you encounter that, turn it a bit slower than normal. It can also develope some very nice pastel blue pink colours. Good to turn, as Neil said, rough turn it and seal it as soon as possible.

JIm

Nice stuphph to turnQ Mostly has very interesting grain. Sands and polishes well.

As nail says borers love it sofollow his instructions and you should have some good looking pieces.

Hi mac, welcome back , mango is nice to turn , here is one
I turned green a while ago , turned thin and and left to warp !
The other half left thicker , both are from the same large log

Thanks guys for all the info. Unfortunately I didn't end up with a lathe as it got sold it from under me. However there are plenty more being advertised in the area. Love the bowls in the photos. I will get my lathe soon.
Cheers
mac

Quick update. Bought a second hand Technatools tl10008s last weekend. Came with original manual if anyone needs a copy. Turning tools ordered so should be covered in mango shavings soon. Meeting Powderpost at the Mareeba markets on Saturday so looking forward to some good chat and great advice. I need to get some paraffin and beeswax.
Mac

Hi All,
Just did my first bit of turning today. Nice mango bowl. No. Nice pen. No. Resizing a piece of pvc pipe to repair a cracked plastic fitting on wife's hand blender using a wood chisel as a skew. Worked a treat. Necessity is the mother of invention so they say.
Mac