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+-- Thread: right wood for turning? (/showthread.php?tid=7363301)
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RE: right wood for turning? - MichaelMouse - 06-15-2021
(06-15-2021, 06:19 AM)Grey Mountain Wrote: Northern OKlahoma is home to "Bodark; Bois D'Arc; Horseapple; Hedgeapple; Maclura Pomifera" (Same wood, diferent name) Hard as nail, but beautiful results. Cottonwood, on the otherhand, is pretty much useless for anything except to hang up parachutes.
GM
Osage orange. Doesn't hold the color, though.
RE: right wood for turning? - AHill - 06-15-2021
What is your ultimate goal with turning? Spindle work? Pens? Mallets? Bowls? Green wood turns nicely, but it'll shrink and twist and cup and warp, so if you're looking for a final product from green wood, you will need to turn to an oversized piece, then let it dry for several months before turning to final dimensions. For bowls, unless you're cutting your own bowl blanks, you're probably getting bowl blanks from a supplier already dried. Dry wood turns differently than wet wood, and can require more care in turning.
I highly recommend avoiding any green pine or fir. The sap will get all over your tool and you will curse turning during the time it takes to remove all that sap.
Bodarc is also known as Osage Orange. It's stable as a rock but also very hard. You will need sharp tools. Learn how to sharpen your turning tools - it will pay big dividends when turning.