Willow Wood

Good, but it'll make a man out of you. Tends to smell bad, and is loaded with water, so revise your roughing area and procedures acccordingly. The wood is soft and long-fibered, so it wants good angles and edges to cut versus pushing it around and making a fuzzy mess. Can be discouraging when your best efforts seemingly go for naught.

It's almost impossible to get drying degrade on the interlocked fiber, so no special care there. Once dry, it responds to good edges with good surfaces, and a proper finish makes it shimmer. If you wet it before final sanding a lot of stink will come back until it dries again.

Willow is very soft - I mean VERY soft - and stringy. Tends to smell bad when wet, worse depending what it was able to suck up through its roots. Once in a while it shows some character, but not enough to fight for a piece, IMO. But by all means try some, even just to say that you did... and let us all know how it turned out for you.

The first dozen or so bowls I turned were of willow, from a huge tree that blew down in my backyard many years ago. I still have the first two in my shop holding pencils and the like. They look awful, but serve their purpose very well holding pencils and reminding me where I've been.

Michael Latcha - at home in Redford, MI

I turned my first bowl from willow. (I am now up to 2 bowls). I rough turned it the day after I cut the tree down and it spit water at me while I did it. There was so much fuzz that I thought it would be a failure, but it sanded out really nice. This particular piece has some really nice character. I roughed it out that first day, leaving walls about 1/2" thick. I put it in a paper bag for a couple of weeks. It warped some and dried pretty much. Then I finished it and it looks pretty good. (My wife likes it and the daughters in law are ticked that they can't have it).

Pete Stanaitis

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ManaMan wrote:

I've turned a few varieties of willow and liked it, can't say what type you're getting..

If it helps, I tell folks that I'll take ANY wood and what I can't turn I'll burn..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

I'm alot like Mac, I've never turned away a piece of FREE wood. If I can have it, I'll take it. Maybe it will turn something, Maybe it will just make a large pile of saw dust. I spent one day turning a piece of red oak that I thought was going to be spectacular, it serves the purpose of feeding the dog now. Point is, you never know what you will get until you try it. I saw in a magazine the other day where a guy was turning poison ivy vines into pens (sounds like a good gift for an enemy). I'll probably not accept any free poison ivy any time soon, but I'll guarantee you that I'll stop and ask for some wood when I see a guy along side the road cutting his winter firewood. If for no other reason, turn the willow so you can say you did it once.

JD

Agreed with all of the above.

Because of the smell and other issues, it's worth being choosy about which peices you use- looks for the most character you can get, and cut that section out of the blank, even if you feel like you're wasting wood to get it. I looks great when you get a good chunk, and unrewarding if you don't.

supposedly its GREAT for carving..

--Shiva--

A bit off thread, but never mind.I too take anything free. What doesn't turn feeds the multifuel stove.The turning shavings and sawdust goes to my brother-in-law who runs livery stables. I saw someone cutting down a dead stagshorn sumac once,scrounged it, and made the mistake of burning most of it (splits etc.) before turning some , and finding it had the most colourful and beautiful figuring and grain that I've ever seen.I'm still kicking myself for the wasted oportunity. Moral being:- try it, you may not like what you find, but what have you lost? xx cleshe.

I take it you don't turn walnut, or related specie.

I would if I was given it!Unfortunately, no-one ever offered me walnut.

If anyone does, don't give the woodchips to your horsy friend. Horses to not tolerate the compounds in walnut

In message , c.les hewitt writes

You may be surprised , on New Years Eve I picked up a 6ft trunk 2ft wide in Kent

I had a 3ft diameter, 9 foot log of walnut given to me just last month. JD