Turning Red Oak

[Band Saw Box]

One of my brother's wife as for a Red Oak pen. Is there anything special I need to do to it?

 

[Dan Masshardt]

I'd use a skew rather than a scraper

 

[kyaggie]

The way the grain is on red oak makes it a little tough to sand perfectly smooth so I do a couple of coats of thin CA and with 400 grit sand back to wood between coats. This will fill in everything smooth and you can go on with your standard finish.

Mike

 

[kruzzer]

I just recently made two Maj Jr's for friends of mine from a red oak tree they had to cut down near there house. Its pretty corse wood so periodically during turning (sharp tools) I soaked with thin CA. I finished with CA also. It took a bunch of coats but they came out nice and smooth. Hope this helps..
Sorry for the poor pics... not one of my strong points

 

[monophoto]

Use a skew for the final pass.

Red oak has open grain, and getting a really smooth surface requires additional steps. One option is to sand with medium CA so that the sanding dust will be forced into the pores of the wood - that would be ideal if you are using a CA finish.

I don't care for a CA finish, so my preference is to smear some wood filler over the turned piece before finish sanding, and then several applications of sanding sealer, sanding between applications. The final finish is then either a lacquer-based friction polish or WOP.

 

[terry q]

My suggestion would be to wet sand with CA. Use fresh 180 and thin CA. Hold the paper to the wood and drizzle CA at the junction. You will create a slurry that will fill the pores nicely. Sand, slurry, cover the entire blank, wipe with a paper towel before the CA gets too hard. Sand with your normal grit progression after.

 

[KenV]

Red oak can be " chippy" - especially if fast grown.

If you have troubles, stabalization makes a difference. Note that Allan Shaw has the oak stabalized for his 500 pen order.

The pores on red oak are like soda straws and thin CA can move through them a fair distance.

Quarter sawn to get the "flecs" is attractive.

 

[mchech]

If you've turned plastic red oak is a piece of cake. I also find a dab of thin CA helps when you run into a problem. Take your time with a sharp tool and be ready for hard and softer spots. For a cheap piece of wood red oak can make an attractive pen especially with a blank showing several distinct medullary rays.

 

[wouldentu2?]

After turning and sanding I dyed and then stained it. I was after an arts and craft finish. Otherwise Oak can be less than exciting.

 

[flyitfast]

Another thought is when you are sanding from 320 up, wet the sandpaper with sanding sealer. The sanding dust becomes a slurry and will fill the grain crevices. When you are done with 600 sanding, it should be pretty smooth.
gordon

 

[Band Saw Box]

Thanks for the all the tips, I have the blank cut to size and I've soaked it with thin CA. She wants it left natural. I think it should look nice with 15 or 20 coats of WTF.

 

[Wildman]

I really love Red Oak, never had a problem turning, like to cut blanks on diagonal.

 

[vtgaryw]

I could turn a 100 red oak pens a day for the rest of my life and not use up a fraction of the oak on my property...

I've turned quite a few. I actually *like* being able to feel the grain, I seldom try to completely fill the open pores.

Gary

 

[jzerger]

Fwiw I've turned red oak blanks and then put them under a small plastic container with a small bowl of ammonia under there as well. The fumes from the ammonia made the blank a bitt darker and made the grain pop a little better ( I don't have much patience so only let it sit overnight).

 

[jsolie]

I turned a pen out of cross-cut plain plain old red oak that I got from one of the big box stores years ago. It does not look like plain oak. I've gotten several comments like "now this feels like a wooden pen" about it.

 

[Band Saw Box]

Here is my Red Oak Blank, I took a 3/4" X 3" board and cut a blank at a 45 deg. angle it came out really nice. It going to my brother's wife.