Anyone turn Butternut?

[Joe Little]

I have the opportunity to get some butternut and I was wondering if it is good for turning bowls. Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks.
joe

[Bill Bulloch]

I bought a bowl blank a while back that I thought was Walnut. My motivation for buying it was the price -- it was about half the price of other Walnut blanks of the same size. It turned very well with sharp tools, and dried without warp or checks. I finished it with Walnut Danish Oil and buffed it on the Beale System. The results was an excellent finish, but it seemed a little lighter color than the other walnut that I had turned.

Some friends of mine seem to think it was Butternut. If it was then, yes, it is an excellent wood for turning.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I have turned some. It turns and finishes well.

[Don McIvor]

Butternut turns very well, maybe even a bit more forgiving than walnut. Enjoy the opportunity, or send it to me!

[Chris Stolicky]

In my limited turning experience it turns very easily, but will tear out much more than other woods.

They commonly refer to butternut as "white walnut". It is lightweight and can have some really nice figure.

Use sharp tools and proper cutting technique.

[Baxter Smith]

Take it! Finished a lot of NE edge bowls for Christmas presents this year. If you search for my first posts you will see some of the colors you will end up with.

[Bob Hamilton]

Butternut is much softer than walnut, which is why it is a favored wood for carvers. The first butternut I had cut beautifully and I really liked it. Then I got a 4" thick slab that the sawmill operator had cut for a woodcarver and had never gotten picked up. It was the center slab out of a large log so was basically quartersawn. It was horrible to work with, tearing out badly no matter what I did. Possible that was the difference between air dried and kiln dried wood, but I tend to think it was the grain direction that was the problem.

As I recall the wood sanded away almost unbelievably fast, which made it easy to get rid of the tearout but also made it easy to sand right through.

Take care
Bob

[Nathan Hawkes]

Like a couple of the other responders, I found it to tear out quite easily, even with incredibly sharp tools. The piece I was working with had some twists and turns in the grain, but the tearout wasn't confined to grain curl. It did sand quite easily, and really turned out beautifully. As difficult as it was, I'd jump at the opportunity to turn more!

[Sid Matheny]

It is soft but with sharp tools it cuts fine. Around here we always called it white walnut.

Sid

[Steve Kubien]

I can't touch the stuff when it is green. I get all itchy and rash-up. Strangley, this does not happen with walnut.

[Greg Just]

I got a crotch piece at our woodturners club wood raffle and have so far made one small bowl. I thought it was rather nice to turn and it has an interesting grain pattern. I would take all I could get.

[Jim Underwood]

I'd love to have some. Heard it was great for chip carving. It's actually becoming a bit scarce as there's some sort of blight that getting to it. Can't find it in the lumber stores.

I hope there's some sort of recovery plans for the tree.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I'm afraid it is another tree to disappear from the landscape, too bad, as it is quite nice wood with it's scalloped grain, though a little soft it still turns quite nicely.
Here's a picture that shows the typical look of the grain.
Butternut aka White Walnut 1.jpg


Butternut aka White Walnut.jpg

[Joe Little]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Sounds like this will be fun to try. I will check it out the weekend and see what kind of a deal I can negotiate.
Joe