Is Alder good for turning?

- S
- Steve Bak
  
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posted
19 years ago

Wed, Oct 20, 2004 7:29 PM

Yesterday I noticed someone cutting down an Alder tree. They said I can take any of it I wish. Since I won't be able to try it for a few weeks I thought I'd ask if this would be any good for woodturning. Any advice? Also, if anyone is near Derby, UK and wants some, mail me. There are about 40 pieces 4" to 12" dia, up to 5ft long. I think there is also some Poplar mixed in there.

As an aside, there is also a piece of Poplar 40" dia (yes, about 3.5 feet diamieter) about 10ft long which might be a bit heavy for most cars? :-)

Steve

- L
- Leo Van Der Loo
  
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posted
19 years ago

Thu, Oct 21, 2004 12:14 AM

Hi Steve

Yes alder can be very nice to turn, even more so if you can get it to spald a bit. Then the 40" x 10' poplar, should not be a problem, unles you want to turn it in one piece (:>

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

Steve Bak wrote:

- K
- Kevin & Theresa Miller
  
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posted
19 years ago

Thu, Oct 21, 2004 2:16 AM

Alder isn't great, but it's OK. It can have some nice figure, similar to cherry at times, and some has really nice chatoyance, but the end grain tears out a lot

- it's pretty soft wood. It's about 75% of what I turn, as that's mostly what grows around here. Sometimes spalts up nicely. Burns better than spruce or hemlock which are the predominate woods here. If it's free it's worth taking it, unless you have a ready supply of better woods...

...Kevin

- I
- Ivar Tyrhaug
  
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posted
19 years ago

Fri, Oct 22, 2004 10:07 PM

- D
- Derek Hartzell
  
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posted
19 years ago

Mon, Oct 25, 2004 7:09 PM

Please keep posting. It's nice to hear from people all over. This forum is for woodturning information and not for English grammar, punctuation or spelling.

Derek

"I think Alder is ok to turn, I have turned a lot of Alder wood. But you need sharp edge. It is very light in weight, so if you turn a bowl of Alder very thin, it will be almost weightless.( excuse my english, I am a norwegian, and not so good in English) Ivar Tyrhaug, Norway"

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- Denis Marier
  
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posted
19 years ago

Mon, Oct 25, 2004 8:32 PM

I like to turn red alder. At first I did not know what specie it was as It came from the firewood pile. It has red streaks which makes it look nice. The other day the Crime Stopper organization were collecting objets to be auctioned for the benefit of gathering money. I gave two 6 inches bowl one made with alder and one made with maple. The bowls were auctioned and the alder one sold for $25.00 and the maple for $20.00. Not a lot of money but people did appreciate the beauty of the red alder wood over the sap maple. Now I am on the hunt for alder wood preferably red and 8? to 12? in diameter if I can find that large of a diameter?