Is Elm & Birch a Good Turning Wood?

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MrAudio815

New User
Matthew
Hello NCWW's,


I heard the Dump where I live gets some good logs every once and a while, so I went to take a look.


I got 11 half logs aproximatly 18+inches for most of them and 14" for the smaller birh logs.

I just wanted to know if this is good turning wood?

By the way since I had so few, I got it for free~! If I had filled my entire sport trac bed and a little above, it would have only costed me $2.50 :elvis:

Welp here are the logs.


Birch with some cool streaks







Thanks for looking. And let me know if anyone would like to turn some~! Also remember I live in Utah now...All this was found in the Logan Dump~! :eusa_danc
 
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CrealBilly

New User
Jeff
Hello NCWW's,


I heard the Dump where I live gets some good logs every once and a while, so I went to take a look.


I got 11 half logs aproximatly 18+inches for most of them and 14" for the smaller birh logs.

I just wanted to know if this is good turning wood?

By the way since I had so few, I got it for free~! If I had filled my entire sport trac bed and a little above, it would have only costed me $2.50 :elvis:

Welp here are the logs.


Birch with some cool streaks







Thanks for looking. And let me know if anyone would like to turn some~! Also remember I live in Utah now...All this was found in the Logan Dump~! :eusa_danc

From what I seen from the dark side, spinners are pretty crazy and will turn just about anything... including but not limited to plastic, shards of old beer cans and antlers. So why wouldn't those be good for spinning? Although I still have yet to have anyone take me up on turning my peice of wood from the petrified forest :eusa_thin
 

jcz

Johnny
Corporate Member
Matthew I dont see why those blocks wouldnt turn well. The last pic looks like it has some nice grain in it. It should turn out to be a nice piece. What have you covered it in?

Jeff, I have turned basically everyting you mentioned there and also you can add corian countertop material to the list. Carbide tips are the way to go on the hard stuff. In fact Id put one of my carbide tips up to try on your petrified wood. Just dont know how to get it cut down to a call blank size. :gar-La;
 

CarvedTones

Board of Directors, Vice President
Andy
Just guessing, but I think we might be looking at the bottom of the barrel of AnchorSeal over most of it, with some latex covering the last bits of side grain.

My experience indicates all wood can be turned. Odds of success (defined here as the turner being pleased with time spent turning it versus watching Idol and final product quality getting roughly equal share) do go up and down with various species, but new and especially challenging wood gets bonus points for being a good way to spend time.
 

willarda

New User
Bill Anderson
Elm was traditionaly used for turning wheel axles becasue it has a very tight and interlocked grain if I understand rightly. They wanted a wood tha twould not move or deform too much after turning. Birch is a lot like maple in its characteristics.
 

MrAudio815

New User
Matthew
Just guessing, but I think we might be looking at the bottom of the barrel of AnchorSeal over most of it, with some latex covering the last bits of side grain.

My experience indicates all wood can be turned. Odds of success (defined here as the turner being pleased with time spent turning it versus watching Idol and final product quality getting roughly equal share) do go up and down with various species, but new and especially challenging wood gets bonus points for being a good way to spend time.


Andy your right it is AnchorSeal, full gallon from Highland woodworking. And where it is thicker is just more AnchorSeal, mostly on the problem areas I have encountered in the past.

I figured it would turn, just didn't know how well and also wondered if other turners wanted to get their hands on some as I don't have a JOB and will be quite poor once summer hits, so I was thinking if it is highly desired than I may try to get more and sell it on ebay or here??? :icon_scra But I wanted to get a feel on what other turners thought of the wood.




Elm was traditionaly used for turning wheel axles becasue it has a very tight and interlocked grain if I understand rightly. They wanted a wood tha twould not move or deform too much after turning. Birch is a lot like maple in its characteristics.


Bill,

Wow that is some interesting information~! :icon_thum Birch is a lot like Maple ~! :banana: I like Maple. I will surely get more of this as it is everywhere in Utah.

Now if I can get my hands on some of that Box Elder Burl, as it is also very abundant here.


Thanks for the replies, info, and advice~! :icon_thum :eusa_clap :icon_thum
 
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