Lane Phillips: “Life is too short to turn ugly wood!”
Compiled by Dale Dallon
Every piece of wood under consideration for turning should be compared to a piece of firewood by asking a few questions:
- What is there about this wood that is different from firewood?
- What special qualities or uniqueness do you see in this wood?
- What could you make from this wood to show off that uniqueness?
The objective of woodturning is to expose and show off the unique and interesting features that characterize a piece of wood. A turner should always turn the best wood first.
Interest and uniqueness might arise from several factors:
- Density or hardness
- Color and contrasts
- Grain and figuring
- Defects such as void, worm holes, etc.
- Circumferential irregularities
- Stability
Density or hardness
Very dense, hard woods take a very nice finish and hold fine details well such as small beads. Soft and pithy woods can be more difficult to turn, but are less likely to split. Soft woods will not give very high gloss.
Many of the challenges presented by soft, pithy woods can be overcome by repeatedly soaking the piece in boiled linseed oil. Soft areas that take up a great deal of oil can become translucent. This process usually involves soaking a nearly finished piece in boiled linseed oil containing one tablespoon of Japan Dryer per gallon of oil for one or two days, allowing the piece to drip dry and thoroughly air dry. The piece can then be re-cut as needed or buffed. Several soaking/drying cycles might be needed to achieve the desired effect and this can take several months. Generally, the softer or more punky area of the wood should be kept at the top to the piece.
A satisfactory soaking bath can be created by placing a triple layer of plastic garbage bags in a crater in a large mound of wood shavings and filling the inner bag with the oil mixture in which the wood will be submerged.
Turned objects that are structurally weak due to softness or defects can be enhanced by inlaying a ring of strong, dense wood in the rim of the object. It is generally best if these rings are a darker wood than the body of the object. Rings can be collected over time by cutting rings from the areas of a blank that will be wasted in turning, e.g., the lower edges of a bowl blank or the inner area to be hollowed in turning an open-form bowl. Avoid making rings from woods that are naturally oily. Generally the ring grain should be aligned with the body grain. However, if there are cracks or voids near the rim, the ring should be oriented to give structural strength across the defect.
The conclusion is soft woods can be used successfully for turning.
Color and Contrasts
Very dark woods are more interesting if they show some color contrast such as light sap wood contrasting against dark heart wood. When dealing with light/dark variations seek balance between the contrasting zones. Choose a shape and orientation that will provide interesting contrast patterns. Light sapwood can be shown off by leaving two natural edges on a square-edged bowl. To retain contrasts in ambrosia, the wood must be dried quickly. The ambrosia tends to fade over time due to oxidation.
Eastern redbud offers interesting color banding and surprising density.
Grain and Figuring
When sectioning logs with a growth center not at the log center, orient the axial cut through the pith center such that the pith center of the log will be near the centerline of the bowl. This provides a more pleasing growth ring pattern as well as reducing stress-related stability problems.
Fiddle-back figuring is most visible in quarter sawn surfaces and will be found mostly in the wood nearer the circumference of the log since the inner wood grew when the tree was young and relatively stress free. This figuring is usually lost in a bowl. It is best captured in relatively flat bottomed platters, calabash bowls, square-edge bowls, or in closed-form vase shapes.
Open grain woods with alternating hard and soft growth rings are good candidates for sand blasting. They provide a weathered sandstone appearance.
Plain and ugly can also be a uniqueness feature. Very light colored woods with little visible grain structure are good candidates for carving or other decoration such as dying. The whiter the wood the better for dying. Bradford pear is one of the smoothest and most uniform-density woods. It can be turned to very thin pieces. Open grained ash can produce very interesting color contrasts when dyed.
Defects
Worm holes, voids and other defects can be features of interest rather than disqualifiers. Use of rings at the rim can be important to stabilize the piece as discussed above.
Circumferential Irregularities
Logs with a non-circular circumference provide special features. A flat-sided log makes a good natural- edge salad bowl since the rim will be nearly flat. A lobated circumference provides a nice wavy natural-edge bowl, end-grain vase with a non-circular rim, or an end grain vase with interesting contrasting color bars running axially up the vase.
Some trees show these irregularities in the trunk. Sometimes they can be found at the root flare near the base of the tree.
Stability
An unusually dry piece of wood that is still sound can be turned to a thick-walled finished form without danger of splitting.
Mesquite is a very stable wood that makes it very good for kitchenware. Aspen and cottonwood are also good candidates for kitchenware.
Most fruitwoods are very unstable and will usually split on drying. Apricot is an exception. It is the most stable of the common fruitwoods.
Madrone is famous for warping. It is futile to try to escape warping this wood, but the warping can be used as a feature in designing a piece.
General Principles
Turn the best wood first. Save large logs to turn large items. Avoid cutting them up into small blanks if possible. Trunk wood is generally preferable over limb wood. Turn the trunk first even for smaller items. Simple bowls are a logical choice from non-special log sections. Think in terms of "what are the special qualities that make this log unusual and how can I take advantage of those qualities?"
Clicking on the images below will get you a slightly larger version.
A few photos from Lane's demonstration. Sorry not to have more. If you were there, you know how good Lane was.
Some of the work, including raw wood and turning blanks, that Lane brought in for the demonstration.
The Timp woodturners group is growing.
Lane's own theme poster for the evening.