You cannot turn PINE - HA

[John Szarek]

I have been told many times, that you cannot turn pine. Well I say it is not so. The 2 side bowls are Douglas fir, and were a great learning experience when it comes to patience and sharp tools. The white in the left bowl is due to the was still drying before buffing it out. I also coffee died that bowl.

The others are black walnut (my first real hollow form), and curly ambrosia maple.

http://www.penturners.org/forum/uploads/doghouse/200683024612_4bowls.jpg

[Jim Underwood]

So let me get this straight....

Pine = Douglas Fir?

:confused:


Nice bowls by the way.

[Bernie Weishapl]

The Douglas Fir bowls look good. That is a nice HF out of black walnut. I love the ambrosia bowl. Ambrosia is just a good wood to turn. Nice job.

[John Szarek]

Last I knew pine refered to most of the conifers as a general term. Those bowls were from a leftover piece of 2X12. It happened to be Douglas fir.
So yes I consider Douglas fir to be a type of pine. JMHO

[Lee DeRaud]

Color me stupid, but...
1. I never heard that you can't turn pine.
2. I never heard that you can't turn douglas fir.
That's about all they have in common.

[Mark Rios]

Sorry John. While pine and fir are in the same family, they are not the same wood. Just as ash and hickory are family members but not the same wood.

However, the Janka scale lists Doug Fir as having a 660 hardness rating and S. Yellow Pine (short leaf) as having a 670 hardness rating.

I also have a cousin in South Dakota.












(I really don't know what the doo doo I'm talking about but nice turnings):D :D :D

[Jason Christenson]

This link leads to one of my favorite turnings that I've ever seen, and it is pine. Your stuff looks good too, whatever it's made of!

Cool pine bowl. (http://www.customwooddesign.com/turninggreenwood-1.html)

[Bob Noles]

John,

Beautiful work and the pine (family) is one of my favorite woods albeit very difficult to work with in many cases.

I think you did an excellent job and thanks for sharing.

[Steve Clardy]

Never had a problem turning pine.

Till I bought up a bunch of Red Pine 4x4 stock and tried turning table legs.:(

I won't make that mistake again, unless I forget:rolleyes: :eek: :)

[Ernie Nyvall]

Real nice turnings John.

[George Conklin]

Very nice turnings, John. I like the NE hollow form. I don't hink I've ever seen one of those before.

Thanks for sharing:) .

[Henry C. Gernhardt, III]

Nice looking turnings, John. I've read about people having fits with both pine and oak, however have seen some stunning works done with both. Although I have never personally turned pine, I'm sure I'll wind up doing so sometime, if only for the practice.

[Tom Hintz]

When I got my first lathe, one of the things people told me was that turning pine was a waste of time. That, of course meant I had to try it.
I think I learned more turning pine than anything else, especially when learning to rub the bevel. I have not found any wood that "tells" you so quickly when the tool is right (smooth surface) or when it is being presented wrong. (fuzzy surface).
I also turned a bunch of bowls, gobblets and such from pine that were good learning projects.
Every once in a while I come across a scrap of pine that just needs to be made round so I check out my bevel-rubbing just for the heck of it.

[John Szarek]

Thanks for the complements.

George,
The only problem I had with the hollowform was not knocking the bark off while working the inside. It did make for and interesting first hollowform. I am working on a lamp for my second. We will see how that turns out.

Henry, Tom

There are a lot of houses being built around here (yes, even with the new market) and they are just burning piles of wood. I keep going by and grabbing a few pieces to practice on. Pine really teaches you a lot. Although with oak, I have never had problems, just the occasional chip when going to aggressive at first.



The title of this post was intended to be eye catching and a little humorous. Not attempting to restructure the phylum.

[Travis White]

My dad came home last week with a bunch of fir, and I decided it wasn't any good! I may go dig it out of the dumpster now. Great work!

[Mike Ramsey]

Whatever it's called, (wood!) you have done a great job on it!!

[Rich Stewart]

I have always just thought that pine was such a mess to work with. I have turned 2x4's and had fun. Maybe what they were trying to tell you when they said to not turn pine was the sap goofs up your bandsaw blade, throws sap all over you and your shop, dulls your tools and just generally makes a mess.

[Kurt Johansson]

Hello
We turn quite a lot of pine here in Sweden and we have no problems
using that wood . By the way, I have been turning dolls heads from styrofoam, works allright if your chisel is razor sharp.
Kurt Johansson, the hook and ringtool man.

[Jim Becker]

You can turn just about anything. Of course, sometimes it will be less fun...but sometimes it will be incredibly entertaining! (Soft materials require really sharp tools... ;) )

[Jim Underwood]

Well...

I might just take up the offer on some of the Larch/Tamarack that an aquaintance mentioned the other day.

If I can make it look as good as your Douglas Fir, I'll be quite satisified...