Anyone ever turned this wood? Cut one down today, but it was mostly hollow. The wood seems very light in weight and has a nice grain color, but it leaves a frazzled edge on sawing, just like willow. Just wondering what to expect on turning it.
Gerald, It turns really well with shearing cuts, not quite so well with a scraper. It gives up it's water incredibly easy, almost no checking!! The dust does give me a little trouble in the throat, must be the oil. It's rated extremely well for outdoor uses, but it seems odd that so many of the trunks are hollow. It finishes quite well and can give a nice show with some glimmer in the grain. Cut some blanks from under the big branches, really nicely "curled".
Rich
I ran into some Catalpa for the first time a couple of months ago. I think it was 8 trees. One of them was 34" across. It was fun being able to just pick up a big hunk of the trunk and throw it into the truck bed by myself. It's a really lightweight wood.
I turned a couple of small bowls out of it while green. A little fuzzing but not bad. Sanded well and quick. It doesn't look like it to start with but it takes on a nice sheen/glimmer and the grain definition is nice for such a bland wood. No noticeable movement and no cracking on those bowls. I didn't really take care of them like I normally wood green wood either. Fairly stable but I did notice that some of the logs that I haven't cut and split yet are starting to do a little splitting on their own at the ends. Haven't tried spalting it yet either. Carvers like it.
The gentleman (a relative) that let me cut his stand of Catalpa had sold a few 8' trunk sections to a carver making walking sticks out of them. Fence posts made from it last quite some time too. I still need to go back and cut on that stand sometime but I have enough logs of it right now that I'm in no big hurry.
- Andrew
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