Fuzzy silver maple?

[Lee Krause]

I was out and about today and 2 guys where throwing out some freshly cut Silver Maple. I immediately pulled over my truck and loaded some up.
Once I got a bowl blank roughed out, I started to turn. That's when I noticed that it was getting fuzzy. I understand tear out, but the fibers actually standing out? I tried to hollow out the bowl (see picture) but it just frayed more. I'm brand new to turning and don't know my fanny from a hole in the ground when it comes to wood, but is there something I can do to stop this? Wood too green? It was cut today...

I really appreciate any and all advice...

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[Bob Bergstrom]

Are you sure it's maple? Willow, cotton wood or mystery wood. There is too much good wood to bother with that much fuzziness.

[Tim Leiter]

I was wondering if it really was Maple or not too. But you should have better luck, if the wood is worth it, to speed up your lathe and make sure your tools are as sharp as they can be, that should help.
Tim.

[Reed Gray]

Quite possibly silver maple. It does tend to leave more fuzzies than other woods. I would guess that the surface is from a scraper cut, which on that wood would leave that much hair. A shear cut with a gouge would leave it a lot cleaner. There is no such thing as being too green, at least not for me. I have a bunch of bowl turning clips up on You Tube if you type in robo hippy. The one on finish cuts in maple and myrtle would help explain some.

robo hippy

[Brian Brown]

Looks to me like you are scraping rather than cutting. Cutting shears the fibers, and scrapping tears them, quite often tears them out. See this thread for some ideas on how to keep it from happening.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?235428-Tear-out-how-to-avoid-it

[Stan Calow]

It looks just like the maple (red) I tried to turn last week. Fuzziness too. Eventually got past the fuzziness with bowl gouge, but ended up splitting and got thrown away.

[Richard Wolgemuth]

I have turned some silver maple and its a lot softer than most people realize. I have had the fuzziness especially when it's fresh and wet. If you are roughing out, I wouldn't worry about it. When you finish make sure your tools are sharp. A lot of the stuff I have turned has torn out pretty bad if the tools were not sharp and the technique was poor.

[robert baccus]

Who cares. Rough it out and wax it. When dry and you recut it they will probably disappear. If not shoot a coat of SS and sand away.

[John Keeton]

Occasionally I will experience some fuzziness on rough outs of silver maple, but it is one of my favorite turning woods. When dry, it normally responds wonderfully to a nice, sharp edge. It accepts dye nicely, too. And, as a bonus, it often exhibits some nice figure and quite often, contrasting coloration. Very prone to Ambrosia infestation when stressed or diseased, and you are a lucky turner if you happen into some of that wood! When you get figure, Ambrosia and some spalting, you have hit the trifecta.;)

As Robert stated, fuzzies matter little in a rough out. I have extremely good success with rough outs by Anchorsealing only the exterior and rim, leaving the rough out to dry from the inside. Just toss the rough out under one of the workbench areas in my shop on the concrete floor. They are usually ready to finish turn in 4-6 months. No DNA, no boiling, no wrapping, etc.

[Lee Krause]

So after a bit of research, I think it's Cotton Wood, not Silver Maple. Here is a picture of the bark.

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[Reed Gray]

I have seen some poplar that has bark like that. Most cotton wood has thick coarse bark, but cotton wood is in the poplar family.

robo hippy

[Len Mullin]

I think that's poplar, rather than silver maple. It sure looks like the poplar that grows around here, the bark on the silver maple is a bit rougher.
Len

[daryl moses]

Looks like Beech to me......

[Pat Scott]

That bark is definitely not Cottonwood or Silver Maple. It looks like Aspen or Birch.

[robert baccus]

Birch anyone?

[Leo Van Der Loo]

So after a bit of research, I think it's Cotton Wood, not Silver Maple. Here is a picture of the bark.

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The wood shown in the picture is Aspen, and from a fairly young/small Aspen tree wood, I have lots of that here in the bush, when the Aspen gets older/thicker the bark gets thick and coarse, but the bark from Cotton wood does not look like this.

And of course it doesn’t look like Birch at all.

Small piece of Aspen log here and a picture with Birch, Black Spruce and Aspen all in a row, and an old Aspen tree bark .

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As I did not address the original question, let me say this, a dull scraper will give you that result every time, and no it doesn’t have to be like that at all.

I have turned a few pieces of Quaking Aspen in the last couple of years over here, as after moving here into Northern Ontario, the hardwood I had access to in Southern Ontario does not grow up here.

So sawing some Aspen logs for firewood and seeing some interesting grain I could not help wanting to turn some just to find out what it could look like, and yes the spalted Aspen did give me some challenges to get a smooth surface, it certainly is possible to get a smooth surface using a good sharp bowl gouge or spindle gouge and skew.

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