I am a new turner, and I have some lumber in my shop, and I also turned a couple bowls awhile back as seen on another topic, and one of our members told me that the Walnut was a brave choice for me to use especially being a green turner that I am.

Now my bowls were pretty good from that Walnut, chalk that up to beginners luck, and my own ignorance that Walnut is a challenging species to turn. Hey, even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then right!

So, here goes my questions:

1. What are the friendly species to turn
2. What are the species that are difficult but can be worked up to with some experience
3. What species do turners avoid like the plague?

Thanks again for all your help

Where is the fun of knowing before.  I turn whatever I can get my hands on.  I like free wood the best.  Cherry, Walnut, Maple and Oak are plentiful around here and are what I turn most. 

Maple in any form is my absolute favorite wood to turn. It can present you amazingly figured grain and it also be a blank palette for embellishing. Spalted maple offers a whole different range of figure, color, and contrast. After that would be Cherry for me, Nice tight grain, polishes very nicely. Then, walnut. Just the opposite when I'm doing flat work. I also like hickory. Tried turning catalpa, beautiful wood and glows even before finishing. Also breaks me out.

Steve 

I have a pretty good sized pile of firewood @HandyDan, been wanting to get in there and split some stuff up, it's mixed, all kinds of stuff.

3 minutes ago, John Morris said:

I have a pretty good sized pile of firewood @HandyDan, been wanting to get in there and split some stuff up, it's mixed, all kinds of stuff.

Go for it John.  Even if you just turn it for practice what better fun can be had.  Free wood means nothing lost.  I turn just for fun and to practice technique or with a certain tool such as the skew.  I like the skew but need to stay up on using it or I lose it.

On 9/8/2016 at 7:53 PM, Steve Krumanaker said:

Maple in any form is my absolute favorite wood to turn. It can present you amazingly figured grain and it also be a blank palette for embellishing. Spalted maple offers a whole different range of figure, color, and contrast

Absolutely! 

Soft stuff like pine is great for getting the technique down but not so great for making things that last. The woods that Dan mentioned are all great to turn. I would stay away from locust. It makes great fence post but not very nice turnings- at least for me. Poplar actually turns pretty nice.  I've used Sapele for a couple of rolling pins. Made a bowl from butternut but it was kind of soft and dented easily. For things like finials, use very dense wood. Lots of turners use ebony for this. Ok

Edited September 10, 20169 yr by lew

1 hour ago, John Morris said:

I have a pretty good sized pile of firewood @HandyDan, been wanting to get in there and split some stuff up, it's mixed, all kinds of stuff.

 

John, I had been seriously turning for fun maybe about a year and I decided I wanted to learn how to use a skew chisel. It just happened that we'd had a sycamore tree taken down a couple years before that. I went out to my wood pile and got a piece to play with. This is the result. To this day, one of the prettiest pieces I've done IMO. It literally was firewood and I burned a ton of it before I realized what a treasure it is. 

 

Steve

 

 

Guys, thanks so much for all the great suggestions, and the encouragement. You all are the greatest! I did turn a little bowl today after I posted this question, it was a piece of firewood, I have no idea what it is, but it's colorful. Once I post this reply, I'll load an image of the lil bowl from my cell phone as that is where the image is right now.

I guess one doesn't have to go far to find material with a firewood pile on the side of my home!

I work for our Country Roads and Transportation Dept, I am a Land Surveyor, and we also have a Trees division, they go around and cut down trees from all over the county, they also maintain a huge wood pile out in the back 40 of our yard where I work, it is usually laden with Eucalyptus, but there are other species thrown in there as well. So I have an endless supply of Eucalyptus too!

 

2 hours ago, Steve Krumanaker said:

John, I had been seriously turning for fun maybe about a year and I decided I wanted to learn how to use a skew chisel. It just happened that we'd had a sycamore tree taken down a couple years before that. I went out to my wood pile and got a piece to play with. This is the result. To this day, one of the prettiest pieces I've done IMO. It literally was firewood and I burned a ton of it before I realized what a treasure it is. 

Thanks so much Steve, and that is one beautiful piece of firewood indeed! Stunning actually. Thanks for the encouragement!

4 hours ago, HandyDan said:

Go for it John.  Even if you just turn it for practice what better fun can be had.  Free wood means nothing lost.  I turn just for fun and to practice technique or with a certain tool such as the skew.  I like the skew but need to stay up on using it or I lose it.

Thanks for the encouragement Dan, the wood pile it is then!

Here is my firewood bowl I turned today after posting this topic. Just couldn't wait to dive in. It's about 5" diameter, I think, I did not measure it.

3 hours ago, lew said:

Absolutely! 

Soft stuff like pine is great for getting the technique down but not so great for making things that last. The woods that Dan mentioned are all great to turn. I would stay away from locust. It makes great fence post but not very nice turnings- at least for me. Poplar actually turns pretty nice.  I've used Sapele for a couple of rolling pins. Made a bowl from butternut but it was kind of soft and dented easily. For things like finials, use very dense wood. Lots of turners use ebony for this.

Thanks a heap Lew for the suggestions and encouragement, I greatly appreciate this. I have a ton of Walnut in my shop, leftovers and cut-offs from my chairs. I have some cherry too, guess I'll be using them too.

That is a very pretty bowl! The grain and color is outstanding

16 minutes ago, Chips N Dust said:

That is a very pretty bowl! The grain and color is outstanding

Thanks Kelly! I think the wood may be from a Fruitless Plum we cut down from our front yard after termites got to it. Got lucky again, nothing flew off the lathe yet!

6 hours ago, John Morris said:

Here is my firewood bowl I turned today after posting this topic. Just couldn't wait to dive in. It's about 5" diameter, I think, I did not measure it.

Great color! I love the shape!

John, as Steve said, Spalted Maple gives some much of a different look.

 

Here is a Spalted Maple bowl I turned several years back.

 

 

And from the same tree, here is a smaller bowl.

 

This little bowl was one of my first attempts. You can have so much fun turning them

 

And Cherry turns very nice also.

 

 

I love the one you turned. Beautiful grain and a very nice shape.

 

 

11 hours ago, Steve Krumanaker said:

 

 This is the result. To this day, one of the prettiest pieces I've done IMO.

 

Steve

 

 

 

it definitely is...

8 hours ago, John Morris said:

Here is my firewood bowl I turned today after posting this topic. Just couldn't wait to dive in. It's about 5" diameter, I think, I did not measure it..

I can see the shortage of firewood on the horizon...

you guys are gonna be hoarding it all so you can turn it into works of art like yours...

1 hour ago, John Moody said:

John, as Steve said, Spalted Maple gives some much of a different look.

Here is a Spalted Maple bowl I turned several years back.

so far above my pay grade...

most excellent John..

7 hours ago, John Morris said:

Thanks Kelly! I think the wood may be from a Fruitless Plum we cut down from our front yard after termites got to it. Got lucky again, nothing flew off the lathe yet!

Nice John.  Your first firewood treasure.  Many more are hidden there and also in the piles of family and friends.  They will never miss it.