need an easy turning wood

Poplar - and sharp tools. Key will be to use DRY wood.

IMHO maple is the wood of choice here, although a segmented blank might hold up better than a solid one if you have the time and inclination (i.e. the grain would be running *along* the ribs instead of *across* them). Poplar is another choice, easier to turn but not as strong.

Ebony would work if you have a sharp scraper; it turns like plastic, but is obviously not cheap ;-)

Or... plastic? Turn a rough cast and make an epoxy or melted plastic blank.

I don't know what part of the world you will be looking for wood in, or how much turning you have done. If -I- were going to do this, I would look in my wood stash, get a block of sassafras and whip it out. It is free (here), turns easily and sands beautifully.

I'm in Northwest Ohio and have turned mainly pens. My wood stash for turning is mostly small pieces. Poplar and maple that was also recommended is easy to come by and cheap. I had a nice sassafras sapling till a deer girdled it.

If you are going to paint it, color does not matter, nor does the ability to get it gloss smooth. Popular, pine, walnut, mahogany, jarrah, cherry - in other words, the wood does not matter. What matters is how sharp the tools are and your skill.

Glue up a blank. Take it slow. Have fun.

Deb

ash is good, maple is good, any reasonably stable wood - avoid wood with massivly crossed grain like eucalyptus, shape it with sharp tools - you are going to paint it, right? so you can use lacquer underneath to get smoothness - tearout doesn't matter because you can fill it.

I've turned pine and it would tear out with 600 grit sandpaper. Ok that is an exaggeration but I hate turning it.

There is a special spot in the dregs of Hell reserved for those who paint cherry.

I tried some poplar and it tears out a bit but it may be partly my tools. I am going to vacuum infuse some wood hardener into it and try again. I have a feeling that will work pretty well. I promise not to paint any cherry!!!

Very sharp tools, very light cuts, to avoid tearout.

A lot depends on the wood, soft-woods are tougher, that being said, small growth ring (old growth) is easier.

Personally I prefer Maple for just about any turning

On Fri, 19 Jul 2013 23:14:06 -0500, asdfasdf wrote (in message ):

straight-grained hard maple will give very good detail, but you will want

*sharp* tools and light cuts - you have turned pens, so you know the routine. tom koehler

The last couple of days I have been playing around with some yaupon holly. It is pretty small in diameter (6-8 inches max), but it turns very well. I trimmed some yaupon's for a friend last fall and kept a couple of larger trunks. Left the bark on and let them dry in an a/c shop. Very little checking. The wood is close grained, fairly hard and smooth as a baby's butt when sanded to 220. The skew leaves an excellent surface that only needs minor sanding.

I have used yaupon for tent stakes for heavy canvas tents for over 25 years. It is superior to locust and oak for splitting when being beaten on by a 4 pound steel hammer. Yaupon is a type of holly and light in color. It would make nice chess pieces because of the light color. I wish it grew larger. I am going to use the rest that I have to replace some bench chisel handles and see how they hold up.

Regards, Roy

When living in Northern Ca, we had a place in the Redwoods. The place had roads on three sides and one side a lower road. Hill.

I had a large wild holly that was growing up into the power lines! Big holly.

Power company came by one day and sawed it down and left it lying in the bush. I got home after dark but noticed something was missing in the headlights. The next day as I drove out - the tree was down.

- Got some of the wood with the chain saw. Decided to make something.

Turned a desk set - in fact 2 sets. Small cups - and tall pencil holders. Paper clips, rubber bands and pencils. The grain was white with dark brown vertical grain. The grain was tight and to this day - 12-15 years later the cups have been used and are in great shape. I had waxed the final product and buffed the sides.

Mart>

I need to turn the nozzle of a rocket engine...

here is a picture...

or

It is going to be about 3" diameter and 4" long. It won't be incredibly detailed but the ribs should show. It will be hollowed out a bit but the wall thickness will be much greater than the picture. I need a wood that will turn easy without tear out and should be cheap. The grain is not important as it will be painted. Any recommendations?

From your picture, it looks like you need to be able to hold extremely fine details.

If you're up to it, I'd try to work with a piece of purpleheart. The grain structure is fine and tightly interlocked, and won't slough away as you work it, although it is extremely tough and requires well-sharpened tools. So you would be able to retain the finest detail that you can turn and carve into the piece.

Tom