Weirdest Wood You've Tried to Turn

[Brian Henderson]

I know this isn't all that odd, but today I was trimming the massive avocado tree in the back yard, I've been stacking logs from some of the massive branches I've trimmed back for the last couple of years and today, got to wondering what some small turnings from avocado might be like. I've got tons of other trees on my property, now I'm really thinking that I ought to see what they look like turned.

So my question to everyone is what's the strangest wood you've put on your lathe and how did it turn out?

[Paul Williams]

I get a lot of wood that isn't common to Minnesota from my cousin in Hawaii. However I think the strangest stuff I have turned is root balls. Here is a small bowl that I posted years ago, but still one of my favorites. It was from the root ball of a friend's linden or basswood tree. The wood from the tree was absolutely plain, but the root ball yielded this bowl. It doesn't show up in the photo but inside one of the dark sections looks like rows of shark's teeth.

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[jared parson]

While ripping out a row of yew hedges several years back, I noticed the figure and color (cream-pink-purple-browns) of some of the rootballs where my chains had dug into the wood....that stuff turned beautifully. I still have a few rootballs left in my stash.

[peter kulibert]

I turned some pens from spalted burning bush...306900

[David Gilbert]

I have turned a fair amount of burning bush but almost all of it in a spindle turning mode. It is a lovely turning wood with its bright yellow color and very fine grain. I have played with thread chasing and burning bush is the only American wood that I have been able to successfully use to chase threads.

Probably the weirdest wood that I have turning was green Dawn Redwood. The smell was TERRIBLE! I'm a chemist and am used to bad smells but this stuff was awful. It was a lot worse than poplar or willow and both of those drove my family out of the house (but I could finish the bowls). The dawn redwood was so bad that I threw the wood into the trash since I was afraid of the smell if I were to burn it.

Cheers,
David

[Ryan Mooney]

Funny on the avocado. I borrowed a friends metal lathe and turned a replacement handle for a frying pan about 14 years ago out of a piece of avocado. It made quite a nice handle, not exceptionally figured but reasonably dense and doesn't transmit heat to bad. Still use it all the time. Over the years its acquired quite a nice patina.

I recently got a blank of Pistachio wood from my cousin and finish turned it (finishing still in progress). Its right at the graft so it has this bizarre and crazy grain (the Pistachio is already pretty swirly and funkily colored). Neat stuff. Its quite hard but doesn't really cut like it, quite nice to work really.

[Brian Henderson]

I know I've seen people turn avocado before, it isn't that bizarre, but when you hear about people turning wood, or even using wood, avocado isn't something that's common. Yes, it's hard to make large boards out of, but for most turning, you don't need a big chunk of wood. I'm sure that people have tried to turn just about everything at least once.

[Grant Wilkinson]

I"ve turned a foam pool noodle and lots of soapstone, but I don't imagine they count. :D

[Thomas Canfield]

Avocado wood can be pretty wood in HI, and it is not unusual to see it used for different turnings and smaller fabricated pieces. I don't remember seeing any used for furniture. I did turn a piece several years back from a wood piece I obtained in HI and it is unusual, but not one of the normal woods I would want to turn.

Redbud is one of the unusual woods that I have turned. A neighbor brought me a section once and I roughed out 2 bowl and did one "hollow" form. Talk about stinky wood. It does have a different color. Again, not on my list to go out of the way to obtain, but might turn if dropped at my door.

[Jack Mincey]

Rhododendron burl is the most unusual wood I turn much. It isn't available anywhere I know of, but as much as I stay in the woods of Western North Caroina I find them frequest enough to turn turkey and crow calls from. This is a turkey pot call turned with and Rhododendron burl insert in a purple heart pot.
Jack Mincey

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v727/flyrod444/DSC00536.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/flyrod444/media/DSC00536.jpg.html)

[Russell Neyman]

Was turning a root ball that my son picked up in California (he carried it on his airplane flight in a garbage bag, probably breaking all sorts of Dept of Agriculture laws) and decided to add a bit of CA glue to a part that was punky. Well, it came ALIVE bubbling and wiggling right before my eyes! Turns out it was infested with termites.

[Bonnie Campbell]

Oddest wood I turned was sabal palm to make a turkey call.

[robert baccus]

Not sure how how rare these are but here goes----Farkleberry, pheasant wood, huge Longleaf pine knots and stump, black and red palm, Flame box elder,mango, sumac, kingwood, madagascar rosewood, lignum vitae, pecky cypress, B&W ebony, redbud, crepe myrtle, apeton, fancy bubinga, satinwood, pear, brown oak, Cuban mahogany, prickley ash, camphor, avodire, blackwood, brazilewood, chinkapin chestnut, goncalo alves, several meranti's, olive, panga panga, blue mahon, Brazilian tulipwood, water ash, yew, several ebonies. These all bowl or vase sizes except for the Farkleberry.

[Thom Sturgill]

Rhododendron burl is the most unusual wood I turn much. It isn't available anywhere I know of, but as much as I stay in the woods of Western North Caroina I find them frequest enough to turn turkey and crow calls from...Jack Mincey


My grandfather was able to find many such burls and carved them. As I sit here I have a pipeholder and wall hanging with carved deer on it. I also have the base from a bowl that my brother inherited. That will soon be turned into a natural edge platter. It was harvested at least 60 years ago.

Other than that, I turned a natural edge bowl from an old oak that fell down across the road from my brothers house. Only a 4" thick shell was left from a tree that was nearly 4' diameter. Very curly. I turned a natural edge bowl and gave it to my brother.

[Tom Wilson66]

Have turned wild grape vine and redbud.

[Ryan Mooney]

Have turned wild grape vine and redbud.

I'm guessing the vine would have been ridiculously stringy?

I've seen redbud used for branch buttons and it had some really nice contrast wood in the small stuff - does that translate into the same for larger pieces?


huge Longleaf pine knots and stump
Pine knots!! :eek: Those must have been .. interesting... Did you keep a bucket of turpentine by the lathe to wash off the pitch as you went?

[robert baccus]

The big pine knots were 8"x6" long and came out of a riverbed--very dry as pitchy goes.

[Tom Wilson66]

Muscidine vine was a bit stringy, but a sharp skew cleaned it up pretty well. I had made a bird house from a 3" diameter piece. Once sanded, it was fairly smooth.
The redbud I had did not have much sapwood, it was about 8" diameter and the sapwood was maybe 1/2" thick. It has aged to a nice chocolte brown between the rings with the rings a very dark chocolate brown,

[Fred Perreault]

It may not be too be weird, but the most guaranteed figure and contrast I have been able to find in my area is from the low stump and root sections (almost wing-like) below ground from black locust. There is usually crazy grain, and yet relatively uniform to turn. We have lots of locust around here....it's a weed...... so I get the very large stumps, wash them off, let them age gray some, hack them up and then turn both natural edge and conventional. :-)

[Wes Ramsey]

One of the prettiest HFs I've seen was from a cedar root wad. He did a CA finish on it and I've never seen such figure in cedar. The finish was spectacular as well! 6 or 7 years ago a tornado hit some property we have in MO and took out a lot of timber we'd been saving - mostly mulberry, hackberry, hickory, cherry and oak. The undergrowth was so thick that nobody had been in there for many years and while cleaning up I found wild grapevines that were 6-8", a mulberry that was maybe 18" across with bright yellow wood like Osage Orange, a hackberry that was easily 5' across and several large cherry burls. To my undying shame I traded the biggest cherry burl, which was about 26" across and wrapped all the way around the 10" trunk, for MOST of a Harbor Freight lathe that I've yet to fix up for use. I hadn't gotten into the sport yet so I didn't know anything about what he had, but he knew full well what I had. I still have one of the smaller burls and will make something out of it one of these days.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Orchid tree. The wood is not all that "weird" but very smelly. Two of my neighbors and my wife asked, "what are you turning?" I turn with an organic respirator, so I can't smell anything I turn. But I guess others can. Must have been strong, since I've turned camphor and Italian Cypress, both are very aromatic (in a good way) and no one had asked me anything.

[Michael Mills]

Jumping the gun a bit as I haven't turned it yet but I hope to in the next few weeks. I now have some Crepe Murder to try and turn. Trunk is about 5.5" and scene of the murder is about 12" diameter (more or less). Here is an article (and contest) about Crepe Murder. Maybe I can give this one a new life with a bit of turning. Note, most are pruned back to a nub each year so the new growth/limbs do not get as large as some of these. They typically form almost a ball after years and years of sprouts cut back.

http://thedailysouth.southernliving.com/2015/01/25/get-ready-for-crepe-murder-2015/

[Joseph M Lary]

307188I turned these from??????????????? composite decking. just messing around with duck call I turn some for the Duck Unlimited banquet . I did not give them these because they wouldn't hold up, they are 2 pc couldn't find a glue that would hold well enough for me .

[Scott Lux]

I've turned a fair amount of Bush Honeysuckle. It's an invasive, so I kill a lot of it. But the wood is wonderful to turn green. Dry it's a little soft for my taste. But then I like honeylocust and apple so go figure.

[Roger Chandler]

Jumping the gun a bit as I haven't turned it yet but I hope to in the next few weeks. I now have some Crepe Murder to try and turn. Trunk is about 5.5" and scene of the murder is about 12" diameter (more or less). Here is an article (and contest) about Crepe Murder. Maybe I can give this one a new life with a bit of turning. Note, most are pruned back to a nub each year so the new growth/limbs do not get as large as some of these. They typically form almost a ball after years and years of sprouts cut back.

http://thedailysouth.southernliving.com/2015/01/25/get-ready-for-crepe-murder-2015/

I have never heard of crepe murder....:eek: ....but have heard of crepe myrtle........now that is a horse of a different color! Now after reading the article, I wonder if making a beautiful turning from that will be considered murder? Something beautiful from that will be an improvement and show that sometimes we can use nature's bounty to enhance life on this planet! I guess we are "tree huggers" of a different sort...:rolleyes:.....we embrace the wood for what it can be used for! ;)

Looking forward to see what you make out of that, Micheal!

[robert baccus]

Tineo was weird--warped like crazy but beautiful. Put some on the shelf waxed up and they turned into a trapezoid.