Is birch turnable?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I just found out my son just cut down a birch tree today. Is birch turnable...is it worth messing with?

[Henry C. Gernhardt, III]

Ken, what the heck are you doing up this time of the morning? I thought I was the only one crazy enough to do a "time to make the donuts" shift... :)

As for the birch tree: were it me, I'd grab some of it and try it to find out. I've never turned it myself, and I'd look to it as an experience. I think I've seen some birch used here on SMC somewhere...

[Ken Fitzgerald]

We're on PDST....Pacific time zone...Henry...It's only midnight here...My wife and I were online making travel reservations for Christmas time.....It's past my bed time by two hours.

[Corey Hallagan]

Very turnable! I will be turning some this morning that is spalted.

Corey

[Mark Cothren]

Yep. I've turned some - fresh green, then recently roughed out some from spalted Birch. Turned good for me. I posted this one a while back.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=35629&highlight=Birch

[Christopher K. Hartley]

I just found out my son just cut down a birch tree today. Is birch turnable...is it worth messing with?Ken, a better question might be..."Is there any wood that isn't turnable?" Shame on you!:p If you can turn Aluminum Burl, what else does one need to know?:D Don Orr sent me some and it turned a beautiful bowl. Come to think of it, I never posted the pics, so maybe I was dreaming it.

[Keith Burns]

Ken, is it wood?

[Andy Hoyt]

Umm, Ken. Whaddya think all them dowels at the store are made from.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Ken, a better question might be..."Is there any wood that isn't turnable?" Shame on you!:p If you can turn Aluminum Burl, what else does one need to know?:D Don Orr sent me some and it turned a beautiful bowl. Come to think of it, I never posted the pics, so maybe I was dreaming it.

Hey wait a minute big guy! That was Travis that was turning the aluminum burl! I'm a Northern Boy.....not that talented!:D

I think I may call my oldest and do a little pleading!

[Lee DeRaud]

Ken, a better question might be..."Is there any wood that isn't turnable?"My gut reaction to that question is "Yeah, zebrawood." But that's based only on my unpleasant experiences doing flatwork with it...I've seen enough ZW turnings here to make me wonder if that chunk I had was really typical.

I told GF at the time, "If I ever suggest making anything else with this wood, just go ahead and shoot me." So I'm kinda afraid of what will happen if a ZW bowl suddenly shows up in my collection...

[Bernie Weishapl]

Ken birch is very nice to turn. I turned some awhile back and it turned real nice. I would beg, borrow, plead or whatever. Don't let it go to the landfill or firewood pile.

[Bill O'Conner]

I'm glad nobody told me that Zebra wood was a hard wood to turn I gave my GF a pen set for her to give to one of her fellow empolee as a going away present turned out great. I realy need to get a camera

Bill

[Forrest Price]

Ken, get all you can of it, especially if you plan on going thru with your spalting pit!

Here's a platter and a lamp I did out of that batch I told you about today. Of course, the platter ended up going home with my Mother when she visited!

This piece was really over spalted, and was a definite challenge.