any one ever turn wenge?

[curtis rosche]

has any one evr turned wenge? i was going to make a bowl out of wenge+bacote+hackberry but i was talking to a kid at school how has turned a lot of good segemented bowls(recently won an award at a national competition i beleive) said that he tried turning it and every time the wenge would just shatter or break apart anyone have any thoughts on this?

[robert hainstock]

I tried a pen two weeks ago and it worked fine. So far. It could be like ebony and crack two years from now. The realy hard woods are like that. See what the others say. :eek:
Bob

[Curt Fuller]

It is prone to splintering. In a segmented type piece if you cut the segments so that you're not turning across the grain it should work fine. It's an interesting wood because of the coarseness of the grain. It's also makes some pretty nasty dust that seems to choke me up easily.

[Kaptan J.W. Meek]

The guy at Rockler told me that it was more toxic than walnut.. Bad stuff, and supposedly it smells bad.. Pretty wood though, :(

[Bill Wyko]

Actually, I've used Wenge on several pieces w/o a problem. It is a coarse grain so when you apply finish you can see the voids in the grain.

[Lee DeRaud]

Once was enough:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=36067

[Dennis Peacock]

I've turned it before....once....and like Lee, that was enough. To hard and fragile, not to mention the splintering of it.

[Jon Lanier]

I use it as small slices in pen segmentation. The biggest piece I've turned with it is the back end of a bullet pen and it turned just fine.

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/2001/bulletwengejp7.jpg

[Marvin Hasenak]

I will go with the "I turned it once" but that was 2 times too many. I thought it was awful stringy. I got it a freebie with some game call blanks, after that I wouldn't buy another.

Marvin

[Allen Neighbors]

A friend in California sent me a small bowl blank of Wenge. When I began to round it, it splintered pretty bad. So I sharpened my tools, turned on the lathe, ramped up the speed and took light cuts. That's all it took... plus more time, of course. It's beautiful wood. I don't like to turn 'hard-to-turn' wood, but the same technique that works on very splintery wood, will also work on soft woods, like Aspen, Cottonwood, and Paulonia.

[ryan kelley]

I have turned wenge several times and I actually like though it does like to splinter. Sharp tools and a dust mask are definitley a must.

[George Guadiane]

I started some pieces that I might never finish - The wood was not much fun for me, I got it in a trade. Sold most of it after trying the first piece:(

[Adam Howard]

It is a bit difficult to work, but worth the effort. Very pretty.

If you're careful and learn how to work it, it becomes not such a big deal.

It's a little stinky, but not nearly as bad as marblewood or desert ironwood. To me, it sort of reminds me of the zoo, which is fitting for an African hardwood, I suppose.

Wear a respirator.

[Bruce McElhaney]

I've turned quite a bit of wenge. It's not better or worse than many other exotics, just different. Its open grain is prone to splintering or tearing out, so sharp tools and good technique is needed. It's dust is as nasty as walnut, (I'm alergic to walnut dust) Matter of fact its a lot like walnut, with even more open grain. Wenge's color is usually very dark and many turners like to use it as a ebony subsitute, especially in segmented work. You'll probably want to use a grain filler for larger applications.

[Nancy Laird]

I've turned a few pens from wenge and didn't seem to have a problem, but I'm no expert either!!

Nancy

[curtis rosche]

ok i was told that when the kid tried to turn it that because of the open grain that when it splintered the hole segments came apart question when you turned it and it splintered did the splinters come right off and into your hand? i got a splinter from the board and it has infected by the end of the day,,,,not user friendly i was planning on using the wenge next to bacote and making a patteren out of hackberry exspencive those 2 are $90 total