Turning cottonwood

[J. Tyler Klassen]

I am new to SMC but a very much impressed with what I've seen so far.
I am pretty new to turning as well. Started with spindle turning and am now turning bowls.
I am interested in turning some bowls or platters from cottonwood, but I have never seen anything written or posted on working with cottonwood.
Is cottonwood a turnable wood? Any special challenges associated with it?
Any information would be helpful.
Thanks in advance.
Tyler

[Scott Hussey]

I have turned some..it's pretty stringy and "cottony" when wet :)

I have rough turned it, let it dry then final turned it and it's ok. I have had some tearout issues, but that may be me and my skills.

I have also turned it to final shape when wet and it warped pretty badly when drying - no surprise.

If nothing else... it's great wood to practice on.

[Matt Hutchinson]

Scott pretty much said it. Good technique is important when turning cottonwood, due to it's stringy-ness. It has some gorgeous figuring in crotch areas, but it can be challenging since it's so soft.

Hutch

[Bernie Weishapl]

Curt Fuller turns a lot of cottonwood. He has turned some beautiful pieces. I have turned a few pieces. It is kind of difficult but when done the wood can be beautiful like Hutch said especially the crotch. Sharp tools and patience is what it takes. At a demo Mike Mahoney said he like cottonwood for utility items and turns a lot of it. He said it is difficult but is what he considers a good wood for these items.

[David E Keller]

I agree with Scott. It can have some beauiful figure and caramel color with an oil finish. It seems pretty resistant to cracking if you get the pith out. Looking forward to seeing some finished pieces.

[Tom Collins]

As Bernie mentioned, Curt Fuller has done some beautiful work in cottonwood. Image 14 in his photo gallery shows a bowl in cottonwood

TomC

[Steve Harder]

I learned to turn using cottonwood - it was what I had in the firewood pile freshly cut.

It does have it's challenges, but if you find chatoyance or catseye you will end up with beautiful pieces.

Mine dried well both paper wrapped, DNA soaking also worked well.

Smartflix.com will rent you Mike Mahoney's "Heirlooms" DVD - he turns cottonwood exclusively in that DVD and I learned a lot about handling tearout that I've used when turning other woods.

So not the easiest wood to turn, but you will learn a lot of useful skills working with cottonwood.

[Allen Neighbors]

Cottonwood is my favorite wood to turn for bowls and plates. It's soft, so it takes very sharp tools, and a light touch. I turn it at very fast speeds, and using a light touch, I get very little tear out.
It dries to be a very lightweight bowl or plate. I finish with Danish Oil, which brings out every nuance of the grain... unless I'm going to use the piece myself... then I don't put any finish on it at all - just sand to about 6oo, then burnish at high speed with brown paper sack. If you dampen it with H2O after final sanding, the grain will raise somewhat, then final sand one more time with 320, 400, & 600, then sack.
It makes beautiful bowls, plates, kitchen utensils, coffee scoops, biscuit cutters...

[Steve Schlumpf]

Tyler - Welcome to the Creek!

Curt does some amazing turnings and it is worth checking his gallery out to see some of his other work as well.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/album.php?albumid=274

Looking forward to seeing some of your work!

[J. Tyler Klassen]

Thanks to all for the ideas and encouragement.
As I am new to turning, it may be a while until my skills develop enough to work with cottonwood. However it sounds like a worthwhile challenge.
My idea is to turn a college graduation gift for my four nieces and nephews who live in Kansas and Nebraska. Cottonwood is the state tree of both states. The oldest is done in six months so I better get moving on practice. If I can produce something worthy of showing I will post some photos.
Tyler

[Steve Mawson]

Tyler,
Welcome to the Creek, you will find huge amounts of helpful information and folks very willing to share.

A gentleman in our turning club in Lincoln, NE has finished several pieces of Cottonwood, he is also the state forester so he knows wood and trees. The pieces I have seen are really nice so I would say if you have access to Cottonwood turn some for sure.

[Jon Finch]

Cottonwood/poplar and quaking aspen are probably the most abundant urban tree in this part of the country. They're popular because they provide shade so quickly. I was pretty skeptical about turning this wood because... well for no real reason, more or less just because it's a "junk" wood. I've really changed my mind this past month or so. It's very soft and cuts like butter. Tear out can be a problem (it is for me) when it's wet, but once it dries it can be cut without tear out. It drys quickly and does not split even without any post turning treatment (DNA, anchorseal, etc). It is very light which makes it great for utility (salad, fruit, popcorn) bowls. And it can have great figure! Only drawback of the wood, imo, is it's too soft.

Here's a couple cottonwood/poplar bowls I turned last month that have great figure and color, even though my photo skills miss a lot of it.

150627150628

[Curt Fuller]

Cottonwood/poplar and quaking aspen are probably the most abundant urban tree in this part of the country. They're popular because they provide shade so quickly. I was pretty skeptical about turning this wood because... well for no real reason, more or less just because it's a "junk" wood. I've really changed my mind this past month or so. It's very soft and cuts like butter. Tear out can be a problem (it is for me) when it's wet, but once it dries it can be cut without tear out. It drys quickly and does not split even without any post turning treatment (DNA, anchorseal, etc). It is very light which makes it great for utility (salad, fruit, popcorn) bowls. And it can have great figure! Only drawback of the wood, imo, is it's too soft.

Here's a couple cottonwood/poplar bowls I turned last month that have great figure and color, even though my photo skills miss a lot of it.

150627150628

I would echo everything Jon has said. Also, the "chatoyance", a word I really can't even pronounce but I think means that shimmering look that wood gets, is very common in the crotches and the base of the tree near the ground. Also, cottonwood gets some really great colors in it if the tree is left to stand in the weather for a while after it dies. The only things I would say against it is the straight grain wood between the crotches is pretty bland unless it's weathered and the green wood is so stringy that it's better to just find standing dead trees to work with.