What wood do you like to turn?

[radhak]

After turning a few pens, I am beginning to appreciate how different wood looks and feels in the final product, so wanted to know your personal opinion, humble or not : what wood you do like? Obviously there could be more than one, particularly when you see that some wood might be great to turn, but not so great in visual impact in the final piece.

And does any species break, split or explode () more often than others?

I just now saw Seabat's pens with carob, and am amazed at the color that popped out. I recently destroyed a piece of carob I had because of a badly aligned drill press, but before I buy more of it, maybe there's other wood I should also consider?

I also thought it might make a difference based on what is turned, right? Dramatic grain might be lost on a slimline pen, but what will work for it? And are larger objects like bowls easy to choose for?

[dbhost]

My favorite is Pecan, it isn't the easiest to turn, but with sharp tools, it peels off nicely, smoothes up nice, it has been for me anyway fracture resistant, and the colors and grain are utterly fascinating.

I like turning Mesquite as well, however it tends to fracture a bit when you cut in enough to relieve internal stresses, but a lot of the mesquite I get is limb wood...

I have some chunks of what I have been told is Osage Orange, and I can believe it because the wood internally is rather orange in color, and I have given up on turning it, I have had one too many pieces flying at my head...

More common woods, oak is okay to turn, but not the most interesting grain...

I have a friend that intentionally turns SYP, and I must admit, some of his bowls are intriguing, but the pitch builds up on the tools FAST, and his tools dull WAY faster than I would think they should. He not only has to sharpen often, but he cleans his turning tools from wood resins every time he touches an edge up...

[leehljp]

I have had more blowouts or rather small chip outs on amboyna than any other wood. (I haven't turned a pen since back in the spring.)

I really love turning ebonies (but not black wood) and olive wood. They turn smooth. But some ebonies have a tendency to crack with aging. Following these two - I like cocobolo and rosewood.

I don't know of you are aware of this but soft woods and hard woods each turn better with different chisels. Below is a quote from Russ Fairfield, seen here, that I also experienced:
"What is always left out of any comparison of tool finishes is the wood. All things being equal, shear scraping can leave a better surface finish than a skew chisel on the very hard dense and close grained species, but it can't come anywhere close on everything else.

If you really want to see the extreme differences, try using a both scraper and skew on Cocobolo, Blackwood, or Desert Ironwood. You will find that the scraper might be the better tool for these very hard species. At the opposite extreme, the scraper will be a disaster on a soft wood like Douglas Fir or Pine, while a sharp skew can leave a smooth clean cut and polished surface that doesn't need sanding."

I included that quote because the "experience and feel" of turning wood is dependent upon two different factors - the kind of wood and the specific tool. Some people love the skew, but the skew will not give the best experience with all woods. I love the shear scraper but I also know that the shear scraper does terrible with softer woods - and hence my problems with tear-outs on amboyna.

"Dramatic grain lost on a slimline" I agree with that and stayed away from slim-lines (unless specifically requested), partly for that reason.