Best wood species from USA used in pen blanks.

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I have used some really fun Walnut burls this year. Actually, anything with "burl" in the name can make a very eye catching pen. For non burl then curly maple is one that I look to use. I'll dye or stain it and then sand back to really show the stripe.
 
American hardwoods include maple, black walnut, black cherry, white and red oak, sycamore, desert iron wood, acacia, osage orange, the locusts and more.
Softwoods such as pine, redwood and cedar are common.
I have a real affinity for using crosscut old growth heart pine—classified as a softwood, it's anything but!

I've just touched the surface.
 
GaryMGg said:
American hardwoods include maple, black walnut, black cherry, white and red oak, sycamore, desert iron wood, acacia, osage orange, the locusts and more.
Softwoods such as pine, redwood and cedar are common.
I have a real affinity for using crosscut old growth heart pine—classified as a softwood, it's anything but!

I've just touched the surface.
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I forgot to list Redwood in my post above. I've used a bunch of that too.

I'm also surprised no one has mentioned buckeye burl yet
 
Niner said:
…I've only turned 3 pens so far and wondered what you folks use most often.
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My advice is to practice making spindles using any wood you can find—inexpensive is best.
In case you don't know, hardwoods are typically sold per Board Foot (BF) which is 144 square inches—BF is calculated on hardwood as thickness X width X length.
So, a 1" thick, 12" wide, 12" long piece of walnut is 1BF.
If it were 1" thick, 6" wide, 24" long, it's still 1BF.

If you're practicing on roughly 5-7/8" long, 7/8"x7/8" blanks, you can get almost 26 blanks from 1BF of rough stock if it's about 1" thick.

Once you're happy turning spindles from various woods, you can use the high end woods many people use. Some of us go for burls and other exotics; some do segmentation and make art from a variety of woods and/or materials; and, some turn beautiful pens from that piece of timber found in the backyard.

One more thought, for now: how the wood is cut affects the look as much as anything else.
A piece of Osage Orange or Honey Locust cut with the grain can be very plain. Crosscut it and, while much harder to turn well, it's much more interesting and, IMO, beautiful.
 
In any event, if you're just starting out, have a lot of fun with whatever you turn! There are a million options out there. One of the best things about pen making (in my opinion) is you can use some really neat wood without it costing an arm and a leg because you need small pieces
 
Check with anyone who makes custom furniture in your area. The most interesting grain patterns are the ones that furniture makers reject because the grain will cause issues with expansion and cracking, but are the exact ones that make the most interesting pens!
 
Got it! Now for the next question. If I size my blanks on the table saw, do I have to joint or plane so that there is little run-out using pen jaws for drilling and using a barrel trimmer?
 
Niner said:
Got it! Now for the next question. If I size my blanks on the table saw, do I have to joint or plane so that there is little run-out using pen jaws for drilling and using a barrel trimmer?
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If you're just making plain wooden pens, it doesn't matter much if they are square. If you get into segmented pens the it matters greatly. Also do yourself a favor and ditch the barrel trimmer.
 
For a Canadian, maple in its various forms is obvious. Locally, it is mostly soft maple versus the hard eastern maple. Plus, in my neck of the woods, Pacific Yew, particularly the root burl, and Arbutus (Madrone). Some pieces of Arbutus can have a kaleidoscope of colors.

Niner, when it comes to buying expensive kit, try to hold off until you have gained some experience. We all have our pet likes, and dislikes, and tend, somewhat foolishly, to fearlessly defend them. Put 2 pen turners in a room and ask, "what is the best way to square/trim the end of a turned blank?", and you will get at least 3 answers with "it depends". The "traditional" way is to use a barrel trimmer, and carbide is good because it needs to be sharp, and stay that way. I started out using a barrel trimmer, but now almost always use a small disc sander. Notice the "almost always". The IAP is a great place to ask these kinds of questions. Just bear in mind that you might get more answers than you wanted :).
 
NGLJ, thanks for your pleasant response. I started turning a few years ago and know I can always depend on the folks to lend some advice. I saw some video's with the folks using a disc sander, I have one but the table is very cheap and I could not depend on it's accuracy, so began using the less than 20.00 barrel trimmers which was short lived, hence the carbide trimmer. I use the lathe for all prepping of blanks.
I have a large hardwood lumber yard that has all the north American hardwoods in stock and a good selection of exotic's of which I know nothing about, that's why I asked the question about the most popular wood used by the experienced members.
 
If you have exotics then that is what most pen turners would opt for, if they are affordable. With a few notable exceptions, they tend to turn and finish superior to most NA domestic hardwoods. I can purchase some exotics where I live, that is if you can afford it! Being in Florida you have access a few NA hardwoods that might be considered "exotic" because of their density and hardness. I purchased my 5" disc sander/blank squaring jig from PSI, and it has had lots of use apart from pens - Disc Sander. There are occasions where even a carbide trimmer might not work. For example, with punky wood or some burls, where it chips rather than cuts. For those occasions a disc sander is better.
 
I saw that jig but wouldn't trust my harbor freight disc sander's table. What wood do you use? I see a lot of burl this and burl that but never seen it offered at my lumber yard.
 
Lots of folks get the squaring jig from Rick Herrell, a member here.

Rick's "Custom Made Tools" PDF Catalog

Attached is the recently Updated PDF Catalog of Rick's "Custom Made Tools". Revised 10-2-24 It replaces the previous lengthy thread. (Old linked to this thread) Includes a table of contents All links, web, internal and document are live links It is searchable [Ctrl F] Images are large...
www.penturners.org
It's used with your lathe.
 
In my case it is mainly maple burl, which is not difficult to find here. It isn't something that you typically find at local wood stores. You have to have the good fortune of knowing the right people, or buy from pen supply stores. A big plus for pen making is that you don't need much wood to make a pen. So, even more exotic burl pen blanks don't cost a fortune. Just saw the post about Rick Herrell. I don't have his squaring jig but his products are first rate.
 
Niner said:
Really not interested in anythijng but wood so I guess I'm good to go. Just dropped 50+ on a carbide barrel trimmer :-((
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Yeah, I spent more than that on a barrel trimmer. They do work, some woods very well, some woods not so well. Segmented blanks, never. You may love it, some do, some don't.
 
Niner said:
Got it! Now for the next question. If I size my blanks on the table saw, do I have to joint or plane so that there is little run-out using pen jaws for drilling and using a barrel trimmer?
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I teach there is a face and edge on everything before using a table saw , good habits
 
I much prefer to use a bandsaw to cut/size pen blanks, and I suspect that is true for a lot of makers. There is less wastage and it can be safer when dealing with small pieces and re-sawing.
 
Niner said:
I saw that jig but wouldn't trust my harbor freight disc sander's table. What wood do you use? I see a lot of burl this and burl that but never seen it offered at my lumber yard.
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generally speaking you won't see burls at a lumber yard as they're typically interested in selling bulk or large quantities.

The other thing to think about that I should have put in my post earlier is some hardwoods will turn better when they've been stabilized. Ed Brown from Exotic Blanks gave a talk about pens and components at the MPG this spring and it was interesting to hear his take on when and why to stabilize some woods. I can't even pretend to be an expert on stabilization but will say many of the burls that have caught my eye have been stabilized and I think provides additional strength and stability to the wood. I think this also is probably why you won't see as many burls at a lumber yard because they're not as structurally stable?

I honestly can't tell you if one supplier's stabilized blanks are better than another's because I've not tried to really do any formalized review or study. I have only ordered stabilized blanks from Exotic Blanks and a small number from PSI. (To be fair, Exotic Blanks is right up the road so shipping is fast and Ed & Dawn are fantastic people)
 
Thank you bugradx2, appreciate your interesting response, my lathe experience has been mostly spindle work making table lamps, lidded boxes, and vases of various sizes and types, so 'burl' and 'stabilized' are all new to me.
 
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