Plum as a wood for turning

John,

Plum, like most fruit woods, is beautiful wood and turns nicely. The only problem I've experienced with plum (and most other fruitwoods) is they tend to split more than any wood I've had experience with. Plum has some spectacular colors (red, pink, purple, white) that make for a one of a kind turning.

If you decide you don't want it, I've some cedar I'd trade for it ;)

JD

What JD said! It's one of my favorite woods to turn, but most of my work features cracks and burl.. It WILL crack, count on it.. I've played with several finishes on plum and my favorite is just sanded, buffed and waxed.. beings out the colors and produces a nice, deep glow..

I'll throw some pictures on ABPW of a plum burl bowl that sold a while ago...

mac

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In message , mac davis writes

Just saw the pictures, as you say full of colour. I think I will be having a lot of pleasure from that in the future.

Its Actually quite funny when you consider I only took up wood turning in August last year, I think I have spent more time so far accumulating wood and processing it for drying, than actually turning. But from my view, I need to accumulate a nice selection so when I want to go play, there's nothing to stop me, and when its free its hard to refuse.

I took the dog for a walk yesterday, and even that got cut short, as I bumped into someone just round the corner who had just chopped a Cherry Tree, so ended up walking back carrying the only lump of trunk they had in the trailer, the dog wasn't impressed :)

So far I have a nice quantity of Beech, Sweet Chestnut, Horse Chestnut, English Oak, and my latest acquisition English Walnut. That should be enough to keep me going for a year or two, whilst I am accumulating more. By then my skill and understanding of the various aspects of turning , the woods, and finishes should have grown enough for me to tackle something serious :)

Not sure if we will be able to smoke much meat with the left over's, I already have a ton bag full of Beech shavings, and an old Oak Whisky Barrel chipped for smoking, but we will certainly give it a try.

Its nice to see that Wax is a good finish for the Plum as I just acquired 5 gallons of it :)

Not sure what kind of wax you bought, John, but I should clarify my finishing system...

mac

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when you get it, seal it immediatly and turn as quickly as possible to finished dimensions - turn very thin - then you have a chance of having someting nice - otherwise you will have toothpicks

The wax I got was the paste variety, similar to Libron and Briwax, though I must admit I do like the carnuba wax stick and the "warm glow" it imparts

I have great results with trewax Carnuba floor wax - note that I'm using a several decades old can still, so your results with the modern product may or may not be the same.

I routinely boil the plum (and other fruit/nut woods). I don't believe I've seen any muddying - perhaps it does occur but they're still beautiful pieces.

The reason I boil is that I don't want a very thin turning that I can't true once equilibrium is reached.

boiling will muddy the surface of the wood but that "muddying" only goes down a few thousandths on the pieces I boiled.