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.
As the name implies, some viewers believe that the figure in Bee’s Wing Narra looks, well, like the wings of bees. I’m not always sure that I can …
By far the most common form of Madrone is burl veneer so it is safe to say that veneer is the most common use of Madrone. That veneer …
To be frank and honest, I don’t care to work with Wenge. I think that was already clear, but just in case there was any doubt, I won’t …
Bloodwood should be readily and widely available in both lumber formats as well as turning blanks of a wide range of sizes. However, while Bloodwood is technically available …
The major reason that Afzelia spp. is considered difficult to work is the very same reason that it is so incredibly popular for wood working projects: the interlocked grain …
Unfortunately I was only working with small pen blank sized pieces of Kingwood so my experience is accordingly very limited. However, that said, I had a great time …
As expected, I did find the Argentine Osage Orange wood to be quite hard but that in turn meant that it turned cleanly and easily on the lathe. …