woods in Oregon and N. California

Hi Bob

Bob there's also Pacific Dogwood, Oregon Ash, Walnut and one heads-up on the Arbutus, it twist checks and cracks like you would not believe, has to be boiled apparently, something I didn't know when I got a 8"D branch and cut up in lengths to fit my car, wasn't barely a piece bigger than an egg cup left to turn by the time I got home.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

snipped-for-privacy@direcway.com wrote:

Bob, When are you coming? I live in Eugene, and have some sources, and of course,we have a local club, and more sources. Madrone, quoting a friend," that stuff starts to split when you fire up the chainsaw." robo hippy

Oregon Black Walnut and the similar but not-so-dark Claro Walnut

Qnc

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Two other hardwoods that are worth trying out are Golden Chinkapin and Tanoak. Chinkapin is a great wood to turn and in my experience, did not cause problems with drying and cracking. You can make big bowls out of it and it finishes well. You will have real problems trying to dry tanoak bowls after roughing, but if you let it spalt, it is well worth the effort. Tanoak and chinkapin should be available in Southern Oregon. Further North, in Washington, you should be able to find Paper Birch, but I never found it an interesting wood to turn. Good luck and happy turning, Nissan Teman

After I turned some green Madrone burl a year or two back, I could hear the wood drying on my mantle - sounded like a bowl of Rice Krispies. Amazingly no visible cracks ever developed as I'd turned it very thin and the surface distorted greatly.

On 27 Jan 2005 22:41:34 -0800, "robo hippy" wrote: Robo Hippy: I have tried two emails and no reply I'd appreciate a minute of your time about wood sources in central OR. snipped-for-privacy@charter.net Don L.

Take a look at this site:

After you plow through the cabinet makers, etc. you can come up with a list of small mills, etc. I've been to 'Exotic Woods' in Brownsville and can reccomend them. Do call ahead, as they are often on collecting trips. HUGE burl - by huge, I mean feet in diameter. I can also recommend Gilmer's in Portland.

LD

Thank you all for your useful responses. Again, I am impressed with the level of help one can get from this group. Some of you mentioned the difficulty of Madrone (Arbutus) moving and checking. When we lived on Saltspring Island in BC, I got to know a very good turner. He got Madrone trees from foresters in the winter, rough turned them into bowls, boiled them for 90 minutes in a 55 gallon drum, then slowly dried them outside, then in his basement, and finally in his house. He turns them a few at a time and sells them in the local market and in galleries. Hardly ever checked on him. You can see his work at bobmckaywoodturner.com.

There is another great location for burls, Exotic Burl in Coquille, Oregon. Here is a link if you are interested. They always sell burls at the AAW Symposiums: