Woodturning Materials
So, what can you use as a wood turning material? The better question is, what CAN’T you use! The wood lathe can certainly be used to create objects from most any wood you can imagine, and probably a fair amount of woods you have never heard of much less imagined. But the possibilities don’t stop there. I also use acrylic plastics, deer antler, water buffalo horn, off-cuts from Corian counter tops, corncobs (no, really, I swear), wood composites, and even custom made pens with items encased in special polymers that allow you to do decoupage-like items. One can even rescue the shavings from today’s bowls to make tomorrow’s pens through a process named by its creator, Phoenix Pens. Really, the only limitation is your imagination.
Box Elder is a terrible turning wood. It is much too soft so it chunks rather than cuts. It proved to soft to hold a divot for the chuck …
Continuing to work my way through the Craft Supplies USA “Box of Blocks”, 20 pound grab bag so to speak, I turned a small Poplar and a small Maple …
I didn’t find Red Oak to be an ideal turning wood and that is reflected in the fact that retailers specializing in turning wood tend to not stock Red, …
I have twice now bought what Craft Supply USA cleverly calls "A Box of Blanks." Seriously, the blanks come labelled, B.O.B.. These blanks have no flaws, the wood is …
I recently made some relatively small bowls from some left over Red Oak that was used for making a beautiful Murphy Bed and library table, the same table used …
Gonçalo Alves is a remarkably beautiful South American wood. I have written about it at length in a previous post. While I was at West Penn Hardwoods, at their …
The knots, reddish-orange in color in the bottom of the bowl, and showing through on the reverse, make for a very interesting feature that reminds me of the prominent …