catalpa wood turning on end

[Acharya Kumarswami]

Has anyone had experience with turning catalpa as an end grain bowl, with the pith in the center?
I came into a fair amount of it, and has been impressed with the quality of the wood, especially for turning. I plan to try a piece, mounting a full round. Any advice? I have also never done end grain turning. I will be getting some norfolk pine, which I understand turns well from the end.

[charlie knighton]

the catalpa i would tilt slightly so that the pith is on the side of vessel instead of the bottom, i have never turned any. it may still crack, try it and see.

nip you tilt the wood to use the largest amount of limbs. you will have to rough out and then change the axis slightly, normally, i only have turned one piece, you will turn away one limb, it just will not line up. instead of cutting the blank with the limbs halfway up/down in the blank, try to cut it with the branches only 1/4 down . also the prettiest piece i have seen had just barely the top of the limb at he opening and the bottom of limb at the side with the full limb showing across the top of the vessel

hope that helps,

oh, buy some new sandpaper and power sand

enjoy

[Roger Chandler]

Catalpa is a fairly stable wood.........I still would not put the pith in the center of a bowl................once nearly dry, the catalpa, if it already does not have cracks in it, is not likely to crack. The wood has beautiful grain, and sanding it is an adventure!

Here is what the grain looks like..........I did this HF about a year or so ago

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