recomendations for new turner

[Mike Campbell KS]

Hello all, I am a pretty new turner, and new to this forum. I'm wanting to know of some good sites/books/videos suggesting good wood for turning. I have recently come across some fresh red oak, ash, and elm that are free for the taking. Some of this is up to 30" in diameter (it has been real work on my 16" chainsaw). I plan on using this stuff for practice, but does it have any worth in trying to preserve until it has dried to a more useful state?

I have been having a lot of fun turning some blanks that I bought from Woodcraft, but I can see that turning rather expensive very soon.

[Barry Elder]

Free wood is alway good!

[Jeff Nicol]

Mike, You will find over time some woods just fit your methods and what you percieve as beauty more than others! Oak has some wild varible grain and is very durable to turn, and I like the smell of most of it! Ash is fun when it is green but gets hard when it is dry, and also like Red oak it is pretty pourous or open grained. So that makes it a bit harder to get a smooth glass like finish if that is something you would like. Elm is wonderful too with all its grain and colors, but the smell can get to some, but that is part of the pleasures of turning! So when you are cutting up the "FREE" wood select a few for later that have some figure,crotchwood, or something that catches your eye now for when you think you are ready for the big time!! But truthfully we all are practicing every time we turn,as there is something to learn every day! Have fun and make as many curls as you can in practice and things will fall into place as you go, turning is just plain fun!!!!!

Take care,

Jeff

[Chris Hayes]

I too started with the curious woods of Woodcraft and Rockler and also found it to be expensive. Although I've got a decent stash of store blanks, I'm finding that I enjoy turning wood from trees that fall over (or are taken down) from neighbors' houses.
So far I'm finding that Pine is a bit of a pain but extremely cool when you get a coat of oil on it. Bradford Pear is hard as sin, mostly boring, but very good to practice with (and cheap in this neighborhood). I've lucked into 4 logs of spalted Birch which is 1)HARD and 2) looks like marble when it gets done.
My suggestion is, especially as you get going, use what's local - free - and transportable. You'll find something you like for the price you don't pay...and you'll make something very nice that others won't ever see in log/tree form.

[ROY DICK]

Mike welcome to the Creek.
I typed in green wood in the serch option and this is what it had. http://www.google.com/search?q=green+wood&sitesearch=www.sawmillcreek.org
Also youtube/enter woodturning.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=woodturning&search_type=&aq=f
As for videos:
Bill Grumbine "Turned bowls made easy
Alan Lacer "The skew chisel".
Google has a bunch of stuff. Hope this helps a little bit.

Roy

[Richard Madison]

Mike, Definitely worth saving, but do not expect it to get a lot drier. You probably already know to rip the logs lengthwise through the pith, or even remove a 1"-2" slab through the pith, and wax the ends. The goal is to SLOW the moisture loss from the ends so they do not check/crack/split. May want to leave some small logs (6"-8" diameter) whole for end grain turnings (hollow forms or whatever). Some prefer to leave longer (4 ft. or more) pieces in log form. Store off the ground, protected from rain and direct sun. See, you already knew that.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I would take all that wood you can get. Split in half removing the pith cutting a 1/2" on each side of the pith. Anchorseal the ends. Green wood is a lot easier to rough turn than dry wood. I rough turn bowl blanks to 10% thickness. I then let them dry and once dry return to the lathe and finish. There are various methods of drying wood when it has been roughed. Google and you will find many ways. I anchorseal the whole bowl like Mike Mahoney and also use the denatured alcohol method. Google David Smith and you will find his article on it. Mike Mahoney has a DVD From the Tree to The Table. Excellent bowl turning DVD. A excellent book is Woodturning: A Foundation Course-DVD by Keith Rowley.Free wood is good.

[ROY DICK]

Dang did I misread that or what?
<~~opening mouth, inserting foot.
My apologizes.

Roy

[RL Johnson]

I believe that the book, Turning Green Wood, by Michael O'Donnell is an excellent reference source on how to select, prepare and turn green wood. I have seen it available at Woodcraft and Barnes and Noble.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I believe that the book, Turning Green Wood, by Michael O'Donnell is an excellent reference source on how to select, prepare and turn green wood. I have seen it available at Woodcraft and Barnes and Noble.

I've seen that book and often wondered about buying it. Any reviews out there?

Oh, I agree with any free wood is good wood to turn. If you don't already own a chainsaw, I'd get one. But then the wood won't be "free". More excuses to buy more toys. I gave my chainsaw a workout this past weekend with a truck load of free wood.

[Thomas Canfield]

Adding to what Bernie said, the slab cut out to remove the pith is also usable if you then cut the pith out of the slab. It is then quartersawn wood and good for smaller bowls, saucers, or even endgrain turning. It is often passed over and you miss out on some excellent wood.

[Mike Campbell KS]

An embarrassing sidenote to this story. I hauled some of the more managable pieces home with me, without cutting them up. I have a couple of chainsaws, but my favorite one t use recently is a 16" Stihl. After i fired it up, it would not cut butter. I thought that the chain might be dull, because the last time that I used it was a day lon trip clearing a field of hickory trees. I put a new chain on it and it still would not cut a thing.


Stupid chain was on backwards.

[Harlan Coverdale]

You're in good company Mike. I'll bet a lot of us here have installed at least one blade or chain backward before. Haven't done the chain trick, but I've done it with a tablesaw and bandsaw. And we won't mention running the lathe backward. :rolleyes:

[George Guadiane]

Mike,
Welcome to the Creek!
One thing to watch out for is the red oak (all wet oak really)...
You MUST clean the shavings off any steel it touches before leaving your lathe and/or tools alone.

I learned the hard way that red oak practically ROTS steel. I couldn't believe how quickly I rusted some of my tools by leaving them in a fairly small amount of fresh oak shavings.

Oh, the finished products turned from red oak can be stunning, I really like the wood and how it turns.

[Rusty Smith]

Mike, where in KS are you? It sounds like you have plenty of green wood. If you are in or around Topeka I can get you some nice dry walnut if you are interested.

[Curt Fuller]

My suggestion would be to cut all the straight sections of the logs for practice. Save the crotches, and all the stuff with irregular grain for when you get the hang of turning. It will usually be the prettiest wood. But any wood is good for turning.