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Favorite wood? (Read 1,905 times)
 
Ed Weber
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Favorite wood?
Mar 27th, 2017 at 8:27am
 
Whether initially or over the course of time we all seem to have been drawn toward certain species of wood for various reasons. There are also species we won't accept if it's offered for free, again the reasons are many.
So this weeks Question Of The Week is:

QOTW
What are your favorite and least favorite woods to turn and why?
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Bert Delisle
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Re: Favorite wood?
Reply #1 - Mar 27th, 2017 at 9:18am
 
Favorite turning wood for me is Vietnamese Rosewood. It cuts very nicely and finishes beautifully. A very close second favorite would be cocobolo, another of the Rosewood family.
Least favorite would be dry red cedar, cuts , rather splinters, horribly and dust is horrible. I was given a log once, made a small box and then gave the log back for fire wood. Never again, life's too short to turn that species. MTCW.
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Al Wasser
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Re: Favorite wood?
Reply #2 - Mar 27th, 2017 at 9:53am
 
Favorite is Mesquite.   I hate Russian Olive and Alder
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Ed Weber
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Re: Favorite wood?
Reply #3 - Mar 27th, 2017 at 10:09am
 
Al Wasser wrote on Mar 27th, 2017 at 9:53am:
Favorite is Mesquite.   I hate Russian Olive and Alder


Care to elaborate as to why?
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Buck Nemitt
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Toronto,Ohio, Ohio, USA
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Re: Favorite wood?
Reply #4 - Mar 27th, 2017 at 10:12am
 
I've used Apricot on the Lathe to make accent pieces for some toys and I just really enjoy using it while I tried Basswood for the same use and wouldn't use it again as the grain wouldn't sand smooth out at lathe use.-  Great question to ask.
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What the heck,Give it a try---
 
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Steve Arnold
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Re: Favorite wood?
Reply #5 - Mar 27th, 2017 at 10:58am
 
I'm still very new to all this and so I haven't had the opportunity to turn very many species yet. Having said that, my favorite so far has been figured black walnut. I love the way it reflects the light in different ways as you rotate it slowly on the lathe.
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« Last Edit: Mar 27th, 2017 at 11:12am by Steve Arnold »  
 
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Glenn Jacobs
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Re: Favorite wood?
Reply #6 - Mar 27th, 2017 at 12:06pm
 
Least favorite is any exotic (do not want to risk allergy. poison oak puts me in hospital. Too many South American species are related))
favorite: any free "native" wood: Ash, oak, osage orange, photinia, Bradford pear, sycamore, Mesquite, maple.

Glenn J.
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Don French
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Re: Favorite wood?
Reply #7 - Mar 27th, 2017 at 12:09pm
 
Maple  I can get a lot of it for free. Black Palm like cutting straws.
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Al Wasser
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Re: Favorite wood?
Reply #8 - Mar 27th, 2017 at 1:19pm
 
OK, I like mesquite because the wood usually has good color and figure and rarely do I get any tearout to deal with.

Russian Olive: large hardness difference between summer and winter wood that ends with the final sanding feeling live waves on a lake,

Alder I don't like for bowl turning because it is soft and I generally get quite a bit of tearout.  It is not too bad for spindle turning
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David Moeller
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Re: Favorite wood?
Reply #9 - Mar 27th, 2017 at 3:03pm
 
Allergy to many exotics other than Zebra, Mahogany & Tulip. Love turning fruitwoods (if they don't crack, split, twist). Lilac aroma is addictive and polishes right off the chisel but also cracks like fruitwood.

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Chris Neilan
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Re: Favorite wood?
Reply #10 - Mar 27th, 2017 at 6:22pm
 
Olive is my favorite. Love the grain and aroma! Black palm is gorgeous if you can keep it from exploding or tearing apart....
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Delta 46-460: awesome
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Bill Rockwood
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Re: Favorite wood?
Reply #11 - Mar 28th, 2017 at 1:10am
 
Olive, lignum vitae, and kingwood are among my favoites because they just smell so good to me, and they work nicely.  Walnut and purpleheart are among my least favoite because their smell is not appealing to me and tend to be briitle in turning.
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Al Wasser
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Re: Favorite wood?
Reply #12 - Mar 28th, 2017 at 1:37pm
 
Let's add spalted wood the to loved and the hated list,   Get it when it is still solid with nice black lines and it is fun to work with.  Wait till it gets some soft or punky spots and it is a bear to get smooth and finishing becomes much harder
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Ed Weber
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Wilton, California, USA
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Re: Favorite wood?
Reply #13 - Mar 30th, 2017 at 10:48am
 
While I still have thousands of species that I'd like to try, I do have a couple of favorites.

I'll go with the theme and start with domestic.
I enjoy turning Claro Walnut, it's easily worked and finishes well. The grain patterns and color are the main draw.
Non-domestic, currently I would have to say Makore, for all the same reasons as Claro Walnut.
Both species share many similar properties.

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Least favorite:
I would say Black Palm but that's actually a grass.
Currently my least favorite (just because it made me very angry) is Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to Login or Register
Although it's not a "true" Rosewood, it does share many of the characteristics, one of them is that of being a sensitizer.  Angry Angry
This was one of my favorites but now the pieces I have are sequestered in a safe place until I figure out what I want to do with them.
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Ralph Fahringer
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Re: Favorite wood?
Reply #14 - Mar 30th, 2017 at 2:56pm
 
Well.... you could swap them for something I might have in my pile.

Just sayin'... Smiley Smiley
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