Domestic Wood fun

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mpleis

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Joined
Apr 22, 2009
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6
Location
Nevada, IA
:biggrin:Saturday I was out and about at the local Saw mill and decided to pick up some domestic wood for some pens Has any one tried turning any of these before.

Basswood.
Butter Nut
Walnut
White Elm
Red Elm
Hickory
Cherry
Hard Maple
Ash
Red Oak
White oak
Locus
Mulberry
Red Cedar
I should be able to start cutting blanks with week and have some pens done by the weekend. The best part was that this was all shorts and scap at $0.35 per lb. and all logged local in thhe Des Moines River Valley


Mark Pleis
Pleis Wood Works
 
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Cedar looks nice but is kind of soft, takes a little patients. Both Elms turn nicely. THe Hickory, Ash and Hard Maple are very hard, sharp tools a must. Mulberry, cherry and walnut also turn an finish nicely. NOt much to go on but that is my summary in a nutshell.
 
I turned some pens from Red Oak from the Christian Conference Center near Newton. We had a family reunion there is ~2002, and when we returned in 2006, I passed out pens to the family that I had made.

In my opinion, red oak makes a pretty pen.

I have also turned butternut - it is sort of soft.

Elm makes a pretty pen if you can capture the natural check (not cracking - but sort of a houndstooth effect) that occurs in it.

Hickory turns OK but is rather plain. Cherry can be pretty and turns really nicely. Locust - yes. Mulberry - yes - makes a pretty pen.

Red cedar - too soft in my opinion, but the first pen I ever sold at a craft show was red cedar, and the person came back a year later and bought another pen from me.

BTW, I grew up near Sully in Jasper County, IA.
 
I have used red cedar, it is real soft easy to turn great to learn on. I like using red cedar for accents on the ends of a light wood.
 
I like to try any and all woods. I have a lot of cherry and walnut blanks (100+ of each) and I use them for practicing new techniques, etc. Mark, if you get a chance to get to Des Moines you might check out the Woodsmith Store on about 103rd and Hickman Road. They have a lot of neat wood (both domestic and exotic) as well as plenty of pen blanks. I LOVE trying new woods and am going to turn some Rambutan later this week!
 
I go to the WoodSmith store a lot however I feel that their pen blanks are over priced. I do buy some 3/4 stock there and cut my own exotic planks and order a lot of the acrylic and wood from Woodturningz.com. I just decied to make a road trip to Buttermore Lumber Mill in Ogen and picked up these domestic woods.
 
I agree re: the prices of Woodsmith's pen blanks. I, too, buy the boards and cut my own blanks - a lot more fun and I can "plan my grain". I did get some exotics (beautiful piece of rambutan with the order) that were 3/4 x 12 at a VERY reasonable price at a local (Omaha) woodworker's store.
 
mpleis said:
:biggrin:Has any one tried turning any of these before.

I've made pens of all except these two. Basswood, Locus. The Butternut tended to break and was quite soft - more than some cedars. Let us see what you come up with, okay?
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