Sawtooth Oak-- Any good for Turning?

[Steve Estabrooks]

Yesterday, we had to take down a very large sawtooth oak tree. It was at least 60' tall and it had a double trunk. The front side of the tree had died. It looks like it has some nice spalting started. Has anyone turned this kind of wood? I have not had good experiences with oak in the past due to excessive movement and cracking.
Thanks

[daryl moses]

I've never turned Sawtooth Oak so I don't know how well it will turn. I do know that it is in the Red Oak family and related to Beeches. Beech turns well in my opinion, but my experience with some Red Oak has not gone very well. If it's like some Red Oak it will be full of Tannins and will turn everything it touches black.
If it's free and you have the time give it a go, nothing ventured nothing gained.

[robert baccus]

Sawtooth oak is a victim of common names. There is also a "sawtooth" oak planted as a food source for wildlife? Native to SE asia and it has become naturalized here. Also considered a nuisance species due to fast growth and heavy acorn crop.

[Jamie Straw]

I'm turning some old, reclaimed chestnut this week that has black in it, chestnut is another wood high in tannins, but the discoloration seems to emanate from areas that had nails. With oak, if I remember correctly, the almost-black fumed oak is a result of fuming with ammonia. Then there's "ebonizing" wood using water from rusting nails and such. Raw wood, especially if cut and stacked where it won't get wet shouldn't be a danger to surrounding objects.

[Steve Estabrooks]

I cut a piece up and rough turned a bowl from it. The piece was still green, it was somewhat difficult to turn. Dulls tools quickly. It has really open grain, so I am sure it is going to crack as it dries and very difficult to get a good finish on the end grain. It cracked down the middle as I was turning it so I had to face it off and make the bowl shorter. It does have some very nice grain pattern.... I guess we will have to see what happens. My first impression, this may be mostly firewood.

[Mark Greenbaum]

Turn it at least in the 10% wall formula, and seal it and weigh it, and record the date and weight. Weigh it again every 2 weeks and when it stops losing weight, re-turn it. That may save the piece and prevent cracks, and by all means get the pith out of the blanks as soon as possible. Don't ask how I know these things!!

[allen thunem]

give it a try and get back with us
what could it hurt

nothing ventured nothing gained

[Steve Estabrooks]

Will give it a try. The grain is very attractive, would hate to make it all firewood.

[allen thunem]

someones gotta be the first in the pool to check for sharks

[Wes Ramsey]

Personally, I like oak. It does like to check and crack, so dry slowly and it won't be as bad. Some of my favorite pieces have been post oak and red oak. I'm not familiar with sawtooth oak, but some red oak species are better than others. Water oak is bad to split and turkey oak (or bastard oak as my FIL calls it) will warp if you look at it for too long. IME southern red oak is probably the most stable of them, but also probably the most boring of all the oaks, at least turned.

[John K Jordan]

Personally, I like oak....

I like oak as well, especially dry white oak. And burled/figured white oak! I find it cuts cleanly and finishes beautifully. Since I prefer to turn small things from dry wood I cut it into smaller blanks on the bandsaw, coat end grain and any figured surfaces with Anchorseal, and let it air dry for a while (years) before using it. One example, small bowl:
338917

This is from a white oak that had grown a "buttress" around the bottom, came down in a storm. While splitting for firewood I discovered the buttress was largely burl. I have another bigger one just like it in the woods that died - I wish I could find the time to cut into that one!

JKJ

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Oak wood, being Red or White is beautiful wood to turn IMO, especially if it has figure like in John’s Burly White Oak bowl.

I turned quite a few Oak bowls, and never had problems with splitting, though I always turned from fresh green wood with only a very few exceptions.

If you start out with wood that has no splits in it, make sure of that, and then rough turn it and bag it in a brown paper bag, set aside in a cool spot you have an almost guaranteed good result.

You can also ebonize Oak very nicely with the dissolved Iron in vinegar, I’ll ad a picture of one.

The rays in Oak can be very appealing if the bowl has been centered well.

New wood overgrown old wood will give a nice contrast like in the first picture of a tree hit by lightning, and then the new wood overgrowing the old wood.

338922 338923 338924 338925

[Steve Estabrooks]

Those are really nice!! Great job.
I turned a couple this weekend one natural edge and one bowl. The grain is really nice with some spalting. Put the rough outs in a cardboard box with wood chips. Will see what happens in a few weeks.