Unusual wood

[KLJ]

I do some tree work and landscaping work, and try to keep an eye out for nice wood for turning. Have been able to save some things like plum, spalted dogwood, red bud, mountain laurel ( which turned great), yew,box elder being some of what I consider not the normal stuff like maple, oak, sourwood ,bradford pear ect. From all your knowledge do you know of some that I need not to be sending through the chipper, or making firewood out of. Boxwood and holly are two that I was curious about, maybe you know of others. Thanks

 

[Dehn0045]

Holly should be cut in the winter and immediately milled and kiln dried. If not, it will yellow quickly and won't be white.

 

[Curly]

If I had your job nothing would end up in a chipper. The nice thing about wood turning is that you can use almost anything including roots. Some will be a lot nicer looking than others and some not. Even common plane woods like Birch or Maple can have incredible figure near crotches and branches. Try them and soon you'll see what species and parts give you what you want. As for species even shrubs and ornamentals can be beautiful. Grafted areas of a tree look great turned.

 

[1080Wayne]

I second Pete`s comments . As a general rule , the more adversity a tree has encountered , the more character its wood will have , whether that be through a frequent repeated stressor such as wind , or a one time mechanical or insect damage event which the tree has to isolate .

 

[KLJ]

Thanks for the advice, since I started turning I realize I have chipped, burned and literally threw away the most valuable wood I handled, but not anymore, my problem now is getting time to turn what i save, my wife even culls the firewood now, she will see a nice looking piece and set it aside until I can see if I want to turn it.