Thread: turning douglas fir( oregon)

I've turned oregan before It has a very distinctive grain and can look great, however the grain is hard and soft which makes getting and even finish tricky. I found you need sharp tools and when sanding always use a sanding block.

Great job on the lathe, I got a home made one as well mine is about 1000mm between centres.

As Speedy inferred, it's not the easiest wood to work but the results can be worth it if you're just going to stain/lacquer it so the grain is still visible.

Sanding should be kept to a minimum, you should try to get as good a finish as possible straight off the tool, because otherwise the lightly coloured rings sand away far,far quicker than the dark rings, leaving you with a "grooved" or corrugated surface. You'll know what I mean as soon as you try. Mind you, this effect can look good too, although it's not something I'd expect on a bed-post.

If, however, you're going to japan or paint it so the grain is hidden, I really wouldn't bother. Use some timber that doesn't have the problem instead... almost any fine-grained timber would do.

Good timber if you want to dance with splinters, to pinch Skew's metaphor.

Yeap, I have turned some too & I have come to the conclusion that it is best done with a 'textured' finish.

It responds very well to burning & then wire brushing but then you need to use an oil of a spray finish as wax is not really an option unless you are prepared to work it into the groves with a stiff brush & plenty of elbow grease.

I have also used just wire brushing without burning & I did a couple of pieces with a sandpaper flapper wheel for a smooth but ripply finish like driftwood.

I haven't tried sandblasting it but I'm sure it would also respond well to that.

Recycled Oregon with black nail hole stains in it responds very well to the flapper wheel texturing.

Originally Posted by tanii51

just built myself a long bed woodlathe( 1300 between centres). i would like to have a go at turning some bed end posts.

i have some lengths of 90 x 90 oregon
any hints or maybe not worth the effort

Done heaps of it.

Depends on the grain for the results you can expect.

If you have annual rings that are less than 1mm apart where the dark rings (hard winter wood) are also less than 1mm wide it should turn quite well.

Annual rings farther apart and thick winter wood can make for some challenging turning. Mostly because the timber flexes much more. I used to turn 6 foot bed posts out of 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 where the thinest part was about 2". The farther the rings were apart the more flex you can expect. Turned alot were the wood had over 50 rings per inch and didn't flex at all. Where as a piece with 8 rings per inch had a real risk of snapping on the lathe it flexed so much if you didn't take precautions. But this shouldn't be a problem for you if all you're doing is 4 foot or less posts.

Tools need to be extremely sharp. Buffing the wire edge away after grinding is essential if the rings are far apart, otherwise you can expect a fair bit of tearout in the coves. If you have some good tight grain (20 rings/inch or less) grinding will suffice. Even then I used to still buff the edge, there was far less flex when the edge of the tool was razor sharp.

If it's old (50 years plus) recycled fir can be very hard, especially if the dark annual rings (winter growth) are thick (2mm plus). Knots are edge killers in the old stuff.

Sanding won't be an issue if you keep to a heavy cloth backed sandpaper and don't over do it, don't try to shape with the sanding. I found sanding belts the best. If the rings are spaced far apart you will end up with a slight undulation after sanding but noting that should be a problem. If you find the turning is going out of round speed the lathe up and try to only hit the high points, that's were the stiff sanding belts really work well. For the shops I was providing the bed posts and legs to they didn't want them sanded beyond 120 grit. Anything more and it was hard for them to match the stain colour on the turnings to the rest of the project. They would sand the rest to 240 and got a pretty good match.

The best solution I ever found for nail holes was a fast drying exterior wood filler made by LePages (don't know if you can get it here or not). Used to put a black stain in it, there was no point in trying to hide the nail holes and the often black stain that surrounded them. And you can never match the colour anyways so it always looks like crap when you try.

Never had a problem (anymore than any other wood) with slivers. If I did get one I just stuck it down with CA glue. But any glue will work on fir, it's very glue friendly, for lack of a better description.

Other than that it should be good.

Click on this thread Tanii. Might give you some extra ideas, but all good advice. Nice job on the lathe too1
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ad.php?t=38710

hmmm, the notion of "drift wood" finish has a great appeal especially if one doesn't have to walk miles and wait for the ideal pieces of driftwood to appear: is there a way Cliff?

Originally Posted by tashammer

...."drift wood" finish .....: is there a way Cliff?

I use a sandpaper flapper wheel.
B&D had one called a workwheel back in the late '70s but it dropped off the face of the earth.
Terry Gosschalk's Blowfly can be made to do the same thing by cutting the sanding belt into strips.
The main web site is here. http://www.piricdesign.com.au/
Click on the Blowfly Sander link & go down to the 6th drawing.

ta Cliff. i know about those ones. For years in my little hoard of found rocks and bits of wood i have had a piece of tree root that had abraded itself against a rock face down at Inverloch - lovely gnarled and twisted.

Originally Posted by tashammer

...gnarled and twisted.

Try to follow the grain, try NOT to sand across the grain as the scratches show up.
If it is very contorted, you may have to sand it by hand.

Its all good advise. My foray into Oregon was not with out its momments.

In the end, razor sharp tools, and in finishing super-sonic type speeds if you have the nerve, with light cuts. this was for bowls, might be a bit hairy with a spindle......

Originally Posted by tashammer

hmmm, the notion of "drift wood" finish has a great appeal especially if one doesn't have to walk miles and wait for the ideal pieces of driftwood to appear: is there a way Cliff?

I remember doing a fir table years ago. It was 8 foot long by 4 feet wide and 3 inches thick of solid fir. The legs were 8x8 solid fir. Sand blasted it and then sprayed on a few coats of a lightly tinted lacquer and I have to say it turned out really well. I've love to get my hands on some that thick and do one for myself.

Using a wire wheel in the drill will give a good result also.