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Thread: Nicest turning wood ever?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Northern MN
    Posts
    389

    Nicest turning wood ever?

    I'm going to make an odd nomination -- burning bush. I was given a piece of dry burning bush by a denizen of this board (I leave it to them to identify themselves if they wish) for the purpose of turning a sphere to add an unusual species to my growing collection. It turned out to be an amazing turning experience, without doubt the most compliant turning wood I've ever met. Not soft, but buttery smooth to turn, the wood came off in ribbons regardless of grain orientation. Extremely fine grained and sanded to a great polish. Pleasing canary yellow wood. What a shame it doesn't grow larger; I'm told that this 2.25" diameter piece was extremely large in the burning bush world. Dried in the round without cracking though.

    I'm not dissing other woods. I turned a piece of dry madrone burl that was really nice and is a notable runner up. But I've never experienced anything like this piece of burning bush.

    Other nominations? I'd suggest it be limited to dry wood, as many woods turn nicely green.

    Best,

    Dave

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  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Wayland, MA
    Posts
    3,655
    Funny you should mention this. I just cut a whole bunch of boards intended to make pen blanks from it. (I cut a couple 8" diameter ones in our back lot) It's an evil invasive plant in our part of the world and my wife is busy organizing community efforts to plant native shrubs instead. She wants me to make a bunch of pens from it that she can give to landscapers and designers along with the message that the only good burning bush is a dead one. I look forward tot he project more if it turns well! So far it looks pretty boring as wood goes, your finished picture gives me a lot more hope for a good outcome.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Northern MN
    Posts
    389
    Burning bush doesn't grow here in northern MN (AFAIK) -- our evil invasive is buckthorn. It generally doesn't get more than about 4" in diameter (though sometimes more), but I decided to see if I could dry a piece in the round by roughing it green and drilling out the middle. We'll see how it does, in my experience it is very prone to checking where the grain curvature is severe, which is kind of odd, since both its absolute shrinkage and its T/R ratio are favorable. It's actually a pretty wood, heartwood is a warm orange color. But man does it take over the forest understory. I found a place on our property where there appears to have been an old homestead and there were five very large buckthorn in a row, I think they were planted there intentionally (it was introduced as an ornamental planting as many invasives are). The surrounding 4 acres or so are just a horror story of buckthorn invasion. Every spring I spend some time cutting and poisoning it (cutting alone just creates more), but it definitely feels like swimming against a rip tide.

    Best,

    Dave

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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
    Posts
    12,298
    Quote Originally Posted by roger wiegand View Post
    Funny you should mention this. I just cut a whole bunch of boards intended to make pen blanks from it. (I cut a couple 8" diameter ones in our back lot) It's an evil invasive plant in our part of the world and my wife is busy organizing community efforts to plant native shrubs instead. She wants me to make a bunch of pens from it that she can give to landscapers and designers along with the message that the only good burning bush is a dead one. I look forward tot he project more if it turns well! So far it looks pretty boring as wood goes, your finished picture gives me a lot more hope for a good outcome.
    Yikes, 8" diameter burning bush? I planted some at my previous house and the stems never got over an inch or so in about 15 years. Perhaps the soil there wasn't good or it was a different type. I had a short hedge by the paved road and mowed the yard side, it never go out of control. My brother in Ohio had a couple of plants from the same stock and said his never got very big either and didn't spread. However, my local forester also referred to it as an evil shrub. I think his professional suggestion was something like "Die! Die! Die!" BTW, he recommends Garlon 4 for woodland control of invasives - it can be applied to the stump or even painted on the bark of the plant near the base. One treatment took care of some Ailanthus that kept coming back.

    A brief search shows the Winged Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus) is universally dispised, https://www.invasiveplantatlas.org/s....html?sub=3023, but one reference indicates all cultivars are considered undesirable as well. The ID of the Winged BB indicates leaves up to 2" long. I think the leaves on our plants were smaller, around 1".. Perhaps we have a different cultivar.

    In this area the worst invasive species are privet, bush honeysuckle, and some type of horrible vine. I've pulled up a least a ton of bush honeysuckle by the roots (the excavator is perfect for this) and probably three times that of privet. I've seen privet growing over 40' tall but it was still small diameter at the base. But last year I found the biggest privet I've ever seen - it was large enough in diameter to cut some squares for spindle turning. The oddest thing - both the heartwood and sapwood have the properties (density, shrinkage) and appearance of dogwood!

    JKJ

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