How Is Butternut Wood For Turning?

[Daner Steel]

I have been pointed In the direction Of a old Butternut tree that was hit by lighting back In the bush
I went to see It today, It had tall grasses all around, but could be hauled out by my tractor.
It looks like Its been down for a while, and has some small pin holes In the wood here and there.
I'm guessing the bigger end Is about 24" dia.
Would It be worth while to try to turn some of this? It would take me aprox 3 hrs to get It out of the woods and back to my shop

TIA...Daner

[John Keeton]

Daner, butternut is wonderful wood to turn, particularly after it gets bugs in it!! Beautiful color and soft. It can get a little tricky on rough endgrain, but still nice.

The problem with this tree - other than the 3 hours! - is the lightning. When a tree is struck by lightning, often it literally explodes inside - depending on the time of year and moisture content. The wood inside the tree may be filled with damage. You won't know that until you cut into it, but I certainly would do that before I move it.

I had a large locust tree get hit up from the house, and pieces of the wood were found well over 100 yards from the tree and the tree was still standing. The next year, we had it taken down for firewood.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Butternut is a great wood to turn. I do agree with John if lightening hit it you might want to take a cut or two to check out the wood. I have had some that had bug holes in it and it really looks nice when finished. The end grain can be a pain with tearout but is worth the effort if the wood is solid.

[John Keeton]

Here is a butternut bowl I turned last year. The wood was dry and wormy, but BLO really brings out the color.

[Richard Jones]

Gorgeous bowl, John. Anyone would love to own that.

Rich

[Ralph Lindberg]

Something else..... it stains your hands a "butternut grey", and it takes a bit-o-time to wear off

[Daner Steel]

:D
Hey Guys,
Sorry It took me this long to get back on here, My Internet has been down.....And still very slow......Any guys I got that tree
And It looks like It was just a high wind that took It to the ground

[John Keeton]

Then, you have some very nice wood to turn!!! I look forward to seeing what you do with it, Daner.

[Daner Steel]

Its hard to load a pic here.......but I will try......John The wood Is good......It has some ants In it though.....but good solid sections.......thanks for your reply.........I cut most of the wood In 8- 10' pcs......I will be turning somthing soon
Dan

[John Keeton]

Daner, sweet haul! I wish I was there - love butternut!

[Jim Underwood]

Shoot..... Guys I was gonna tell him that it was just AWFUL stuff, and to send me all of it so I could tur... dispose of it for him...

Seriously, wood carvers like this stuff because it's fairly soft, easy to carve, but keeps crisp detail, and has a nice grain. It's related to Walnut, isn't it?

And I've never even touched a piece of that wood. Isn't it a shame?

[David E Keller]

Something else..... it stains your hands a "butternut grey", and it takes a bit-o-time to wear off

Try lemon juice! It's actually the only use I've found for the nasty 'lemon juice' that comes in the little lemon shaped bottles.

[ray hampton]

Shoot..... Guys I was gonna tell him that it was just AWFUL stuff, and to send me all of it so I could tur... dispose of it for him...

Seriously, wood carvers like this stuff because it's fairly soft, easy to carve, but keeps crisp detail, and has a nice grain. It's related to Walnut, isn't it?

And I've never even touched a piece of that wood. Isn't it a shame?

butternut other name is WHITE WALNUT

[Sid Matheny]

Yeah White Walnut is what it is known as in my part of the world.

Sid

[Jake Helmboldt]

It is the same family as walnut, and much lighter color, hence the common name "white walnut".. It is a little softer than walnut, but machines nicely like walnut (though even easier). Nice score, and nice save. Give that wood a new life.

[Daner Steel]

Daner, sweet haul! I wish I was there - love butternut!

Hi John here's some of that butternut finished.....It dried preaty fast

[John Keeton]

Nice, Daner - very nice!! Amazing coincidence, though - I just received a nice, large chunk of butternut from fellow creeker, Jerry Rhoads! I will take care of the thank you in other ways, but thanks, Jerry!!

[Russell Eaton]

The grain in that piece is great. How big of a bowl is that? Hard to tell from the picture.

[Daner Steel]

The grain in that piece is great. How big of a bowl is that? Hard to tell from the picture.

It's 19"......I'm going to ware It when I cut the grass this summer.:D...I think it will keep the sun outa my eyes:)

[Jerry Rhoads]

Great looking supply of Butternut Danner. Could make 100's of things with that.

[Dan Gaylin]

Reviving an old thread here, as I had a chance to turn some kiln dried butternut over the weekend. It turned out pretty nice, but I found it an unusual wood to work with -- it is very light, and somewhat soft. It's finicky. End-grain took real care and I found that everything just needed a light touch to get good results. Also, it didn't want to be sanded with the lathe in reverse created slight un-eveness and fuzzies. That was new to me.

When I looked at this thread prior to doing the turning, I was surprised to see the wood called "white walnut" because it doesn't seem to have any of the properties of walnut (which I love to turn), which is much denser, harder, and IMO easier to turn. BUT, then I sanded the piece and put some finish on it, and I laughed because it LOOKS exactly like a lighter version of walnut. Anyway, very interesting and fun all in all.

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[Matt Hutchinson]

It looks very nice. Good work!

[Keith Outten]

A couple pics of the Butternut I recently received from Forest2Home. I have never worked with Butternut and I am looking forward to doing some intarsia projects to start with and turn some pens for friends and family.