Thread: English Oak

Darrell

I was once given a piece of Oak from a supplier who thought the timber was too flawed to sell. I turned a bowl out of it that came up beautifully. It was burl timber so it was well figured. My recollection is that it was a good timber to turn and polish.

As for what is the best timber, I guessing that could start a lengthy debate. There are many many timbers that have excellent turning qualities and some that are best suited to particular applications. It's really horses for courses.

A lot of woodturning texts include a guide to timber and its qualities. You just need to find an Australian one.

At a club I used to be in a very new turner asked one of the acknowledged experts what sort if timber can be turned. The old fellow looked at hime and thought for a bit then said "I don't think a banana tree would turn real well, but I'd give most other things a go!"

English oak is good for turning, hard and finishes well. However most woods are OK too and their different characters present challenges.

A couple of different interpretations:

1) the best wood for turning is ...... free wood!

If you're starting out, you can make useful stuff from all sorts of offcuts. So far only the last 6 of my 120+ turned articles have been made from wood that I've bought, and even that's been $1.70 jarrah pickets from Bunnings.

2) the best wood for turning is .... green wood!

Green wood is much nicer to cut, and produces nice long shavings rather than clouds of dust. It does move and distort as it dries, but it also often fits into category 1) above.

Cheers,
Andrew

Originally posted by arose62

1) the best wood for turning is ...... free wood!

Andrew

Maaate, the best wood for anything is free wood! My wife swears that I'm only in the building game so I can bring stuff home from work!

Mick