What's a good "practice" wood?

[Wally Dickerman]

A good place to find very inexpensive local wood is a place that sells firewood. Someone mentioned that you live in Washington state. In Western Wash. most firewood is alder, some will be maple. Not much character in alder but a very nice wood to turn. In eastern Wash. you might find fruit wood. Apple, cherry etc.

Here in Arizona if I go to a firewood sales place I'll find mesquite, pine, juniper, citrus and palo verde. Prices are very low because it's priced by the cord. A pile of wood 4 x 4 x 8 ft.

On Del Stubbs advice, I once went to a fireplace wood lot in Chico Ca. where he lived. Most of the wood was walnut. I even found some claro walnut.

Wally

[Josh Reet]

That's a very good point about the firewood. I had never thought about that.

I know for a fact that my step father has a stash of applewood firewood for his woodfired oven that I could swipe from.

I'm up in the northwest corner of Wa state in between seattle and vancouver.

[David Hostetler]

Not sure what grows up that far north except apple. Which you could try to chuck up. Around here I tend to grab pieces of Mesquite and Pecan out of the smoker wood pile and have a good go at it. Sometimes it works well, others not so much, but the learning is priceless...

I have also had scraps of oak, lots of Cedar, etc... Yeah, just about anything but Pine / Fir. Tried that at first, and gave it up REAL fast...

[Lee Koepke]

I just started turning too, and my first turn was a 2x2..... 2 minutes later, I took it off and replaced it with a limb from an oak tree that fell in a storm a year ago ....

One thing none of these guys warned me about was now I look at every limb/tree/firewood pile ..... knowing theres something in there that could end up beautiful (if I knew what I was doing ..haha)

Even my wife is now pointing to trees .... "hey, if THAT one falls in a storm, you could use that 'lump' .... "

[Wally Dickerman]

That's a very good point about the firewood. I had never thought about that.

I know for a fact that my step father has a stash of applewood firewood for his woodfired oven that I could swipe from.

I'm up in the northwest corner of Wa state in between seattle and vancouver.

Hey Josh, we must have been neighbors. Before moving to Arizona I lived in Anacortes. Spent most of my life in Puget Sound country.

There is a woodturning club that I used to belong to in that area. They used to meet in Mt. Vernon but I think it's Snohomish now.

Wally

[Josh Reet]

Hey Josh, we must have been neighbors. Before moving to Arizona I lived in Anacortes. Spent most of my life in Puget Sound country.

There is a woodturning club that I used to belong to in that area. They used to meet in Mt. Vernon but I think it's Snohomish now.

Wally

How funny! Small world sometimes.

[David Woodruff]

Josh, Go to one of the BORG's and have a look at the scrap pile of skids out back. The runners are usually hard wood of some sort in 4"x4". Take a big hammer and knock off the boards. Sometimes they are free, sometimes a few bucks. Good Luck

[Tim Thiebaut]

This was a good question, thanks for posting it. As a newbie myself I kind of have the same issue, I want something cheap and affordable to practise on before I spend a lot of dough on good wood for projects. I did trim my peach tree last summer, and in anticipation of getting my lathe this winter I saved a few of the limbs to practise on when I get it, wish I had saved more now though. It seems to have dried nicely, the ends have just a few little checks on it and thats all, and it was in my HOT garage drying for 4 months before it turned cool this fall, overall has been drying for about 6-7 months now, so it should give me something decent to mess around with. I am also going to have my Uncle box me up and ship me some wood from his firewood pile back home in Maine, it is full of maple, alot of it sugar maple, I hope that is good to turn? Anyway, sorry for being long winded here, I will go and try and get some poplar as was mentioned here and use that to practise on as well.

[Christopher K. Hartley]

Josh, you live in Washington and you can't find free wood? Contact your local tree trimmer and tell him what you need. You'll have more in an hour than you can turn in a month.

[Rodney Walker]

I'm new to turning and this is my first post here. I live south of you in Centralia, WA. Hope this helps. Keep your eyes open as you drive around. Storm damage and tree trimming operations will often leave a few pieces behind that you will be able to use. Native hardwoods here in the western half of the state include alder, maple, dogwood, madrone, wild cherry, cottonwood and up north where you live, maybe some birch. Also look for recent logging activity where hardwoods are growing, you may find a few pieces laying around those areas as well. If you find some maple that has been on the ground a year or two, even better. You may get some good spalted wood out of it. You'll probably find yourself looking to acquire a small chainsaw if you decide you like turning.
Rodney