wood for bowls

[Stefan Antwarg]

Well, I am sure this has been covered, but the search will not work for me.

My property has a lot of red oak on it. I have used some (even though I am not fond of red oak) to make some bowls. It all seems to have cracks in it. What type of wood do you use for bowls? Also, is there a place to actually buy green logs of various types? If it's not on my land, where do I go?

Stefan

[Jim Becker]

"Bowls on the hoof" are all around you...in your backyard, along the road, in your neighbor's firewood pile, in the back of your local tree surgeon's truck...everywhere. Realistically, you shouldn't have to pay for any domestics and other things commonly planted or growing in your area if you keep your eyes open...although it's common practice to provide "finished work" as a gift to folks who give you material. Don't forget about trading with other turners you know or meet. I've gotten quite a bit of stuff that way.

Off my property, I get Norway maple, walnut, black birch and sometimes some other things. In the neighborhood I've scored more maple, osage orange, cherry and others. Trading with folks has given me cherry, box elder, plum, holly, mesquite, aligator juniper burl, apricot and others. The only things I've actually bought for turning are burls and the like that are not commonly available and some inexpensive 8/4 ambrosia maple "shorts" from my local lumber supplier.

Turning can cost a lot for the equipment, tooling, safety and sharpening, but for the most part, you can get the material for free in most cases!

[Richard Allen]

Hi Stefan

Red Oak is a fine wood to turn. The key to most woods is to rough turn the wood, wax it and forget about it for 6 months to a year. Keep an eye open for wood as Jim has said. Just keep roughing and waxing.

Some people like to try and hurry the drying process along.

Some people turn finished from green. You will usually have to turn thin to keep a finished bowl from cracking. You end up with warped bowls this way. Nothing wrong with a warped bowl. Just that some people like bowls round.

The process needs to be purposeful. If you leave a half turned bowl overnight you will very likely end up with cracks

Thanks

[Tom Sweeney]

You're not too far from me & I don't have any problem finding turning wood. Right now I could walk 4 doors down & grab a bunch of maple from a big tree a neighbor downed. In my wood pile I have a bunch of nicely stained box elder, cherry, a bunch of spalted maple - A bunch of figured/spalted very dry & hard maple, a 12" round by about 5' walnut log, 2 huge crotch peices of some wood I don't know , some kind of pine that I think looks neat turned, I think I still have a little Osage Orange & probably 2 or 3 other types. All of this was free for the taking. Especially after the storms of last year there was turning wood everywhere. I'm always on the lookout as I'm driving especially on public land - that's where I got my box elder, the two big crotch pieces & some of the spalted maple. Last year there was a huge pipeline project in a county park & there was tens of thousands of board feet worth of lumber for the taking. Unfortunately my chainsaw crapped out on me & I missed out on some very nice stuff.
If you have it - keep a chainsaw in your truck. If you see something interesting stop & ask - as I think Jim said offer to turn them a bowl in return for some wood.
Order some anchor seal from UC coatings to coat the ends of fresh cut logs - some wood, like the cherry I have & didn't seal, starts cracking & splitting very soon after it's cut if you don't seal it.