Has anybody ever turned...

[Brian Brown]

Has anybody ever turned Colorado Blue Spruce? My neighbor is cutting down a largish blue spruce, and offered me the wood. I have never seen anything turned from one or heard of anyone using it. I would imagine the pitch is really messy, and the softwood may be hard to turn. Any thoughts???

Brian

[Jamie Donaldson]

...the Scotch pine I have turned, but the pine was quite dead and sap wasn't a real problem. These were dead trees I cut off the golf course, and the spalting in some pieces looked much like Norfolk Island pin without the branch eyes.

[Sean Troy]

If you can, put it in a deep freeze and turn it frozen. It can be a really pretty wood. Very natural looking. Sand to a high grit and put a oil finish on it.

[George Van]

Looks good Jamie. Did you soak this one in thinned oil as one would with NFP?

[Bernie Weishapl]

Brian I have some waiting to be turned. I was told to let it dry for a year before turning because of the pitch. I turned one and had to clean the tools with mineral spirits to get the pitch off but it sure turned out pretty. In fact so pretty my sister got it before I could get a picture. If I get to her place I will get one though.

[Al Wasser]

Bernie, I don't understand. If you have pitch now you will have pitch in a year, perhaps a bit less runny but still sticky, etc. So why wait a year? Just curious Tkx

[Ron Ainge]

I live in Colorado and turn quite a bit of Ponderosa Pine and Blue Spruce. If you can wait for a while to turn it you will give the wood some time to stabilize and loose some of it's moisture. I normally have my shop in the basement but my wife will not let me turn either of these woods there because or the turpintine (sp) smell. I am lucky enough that I have a second lathe in my garage and that is where I turn those woods. As has been said the turnings can be striking. As with most soft woods sanding can be a problem so try to make very good finish cuts and eliminate most of the sanding. Best of luce with the spruce.

[Lisa Gilbert]

You will have a lot of pitch, so just to let you know, DeSolv It from WalMart takes it off anything, including clothing and hair -- oh, and tools. We just had 2 heavy spring snows that snapped hundreds of trees in our neighborhood, so have been cutting a lot of green pine for firewood, and having to clean a lot of it out the children's clothing and hair. It's amazing stuff.

[Brian Brown]

Jamie,

I can't tell for sure, but it looks as if you turned a whole log here with the pith in the center of your bowl. If that is the case, was the pith a problem, and did it crack? How did you handle the crack?

Brian

[Lisa Gilbert]

I live in Colorado and turn quite a bit of Ponderosa Pine and Blue Spruce. If you can wait for a while to turn it you will give the wood some time to stabilize and loose some of it's moisture. I normally have my shop in the basement but my wife will not let me turn either of these woods there because or the turpintine (sp) smell. I am lucky enough that I have a second lathe in my garage and that is where I turn those woods. As has been said the turnings can be striking. As with most soft woods sanding can be a problem so try to make very good finish cuts and eliminate most of the sanding. Best of luce with the spruce.

I think Ponderosa Pine smells like vanilla. Tell her that, and maybe she'll let you turn it inside. ;)

[Jamie Donaldson]

... I turned the pine when almost dry, and made most of the bowl a uniform thickness(thinness?) then stabilized it in a Polish kiln(brown paper bag!) for several weeks. Finish is Watco Wiping Poly, and I didn't let it swim in oil for a week because it was not going to be worth the trouble! I often turn with the pith as a design element in several stable woods like ash, elm, etc. and uniform wall thickness(thinness!) is the secret, not CA glue and all those other urban legends.