However, be careful of the sharp edges as it does scratch easily. The grain is tight and really is beautiful. I found them to be very helpful, fast and affordable. The Sonoran Woodshop 10 months ago edited. Thanks Sandra! Jim Sollows 9 months ago. Yew is a softwood, and it has a very tough and durable quality.

Hardwoods don't come much tougher than hickory. It is renowned for its ability to take a beating, so it is used when hardness is a requirement for the project. Ironically, hickory turns extremely well with very sharp tools, but it does scratch easily, so always sand hickory with the grain rather than holding sandpaper on the turning while the lathe rotates it in the spindle , as the wood scratches easily opposite the grain pattern.

Mesquite is a hardwood indigenous to Texas and the desert southwest of the United States. Some might argue that mesquite is more of a weed than a wood, but those who have embraced its unique qualities would likely beg to differ.

Working with mesquite is all about highlighting the wood's imperfections. It turns cleanly but is not available in large quantities, so it is ideal for projects like pen turnings, bottle stoppers or pepper grinders. The blemishes inherent in the wood can give every piece a one-of-a-kind look. Much like ebony, rosewood is a hardwood steeped in a bit of controversy. The most popular varieties of rosewood were mass harvested from Brazilian rain forests a few decades ago, and little of that species remain.

Bows of this hard, strong wood even were found by explorers in use as far north as Montana. That's why in many parts of the nation the wood carries the name bois d'arc, French for wood of the bow. Americanized, the term becomes bowdark. In species such as sycamore the face of the quartersawn lumber will display a prominent ray fleck on its face. These rays are part of the cell structure of the growing tree that radiate outward from the pith of the log to the sapwood.

When the log is sawn with the annual rings perpendicular these rays are bisected and show up on the face of each piece of quartersawn lumber as a shiny band. When sawn, each log reveals its own unique figured pattern of ray flecks.

This is only visible in those species that have these rays in the cellular structure. Turning by Marlen Kemmet. Light in orange color, with occasional pinkish colored streaks, Bradford pear is an extremely hard and dense wood, but turns easily. It sands well and will takes on a high polish. Usually available in very limited quantities, as the tree is an ornamental found most often in urban landscapes. The bowl shown was turned from a natural-edged live oak blank harvested from a tree base where roots meet the trunk.

The natural edge is the "underground edge" of the tree facing downward. According to the turner, this wood turns wonderfully when green and doesn't split due to the interlocking grain. Padauk grows in tropical climates, although the geography changes from rain forest to dry, nearly treeless plains with each species.

Depending on the species, padauk's coarse-grained heartwood varies in color from a lustrous purple-red to orange-red. With age and exposure to sunlight, it turns deep maroon. Quartersawn wood features a pronounced ribbon stripe.

Turning by Ron Lenz. Cocobolo Dahlbergia retusa belongs to the same genus as Brazilian rosewood, and in fact, has similar properties. Rosewood, however, likes South America's rain forests.

Cocobolo prefers the drier, upland savanna country of Central America's Pacific Coast. This wood is a well-known sensitizer that can produce a poison-ivy type rash or other reaction in allergic individuals. If you have an allergy history, work cocobolo with full protection: gloves, long sleeves, a dust mask, and a protective skin cream. After marking and installing biscuit joints in several boards that I've glued up edge-to-edge, I Skip to main content. Reader's Choice - Top Woods to Turn.

Previous X of 15 View all Next. Reader's Choice - Top Woods to Turn With so much effort put into such a small piece of wood, turners are very serious about their stock. Figured Maple There are several types of figured maple including curl, fiddleback, spalted, tiger, birds-eye, and more. Walnut Walnut turns best at a lathe speed of , rpm, and requires sharp tools. Cherry Although oil finishes and clear lacquers or varnishes work equally well on cherry, you'll get a smoother finish on this fine-grained wood if you thin the first coat to act as a sealer.

Maybe I got lucky that mine one is a healthy one, but these are all underpowered motors, so I respect their limitations. I changed mine from Pen State. But honestly changing belt is not that of a big deal to many turners.

Learning something traditional way is always classic. In that case, I would suggest you go for the Jet I listed below. As for the bed extension, it took some time for me to level that up properly.

I would be delighted if it were four bolt holes instead of two. Shop fox mini is pretty famous among the beginners, and they are offering almost everything possible for the price. But still, I think a little lower would have been great.

Absolutely a good idea to start with. They did have some negative reviews for bad quality controls and parts unavailability, but they have upgraded. The most brutal review caught my attention from a woodturner was like 11 years ago—nothing significant in the past few years. The manufacturing faults are the exception in some particular products as they are all human-made. I have turned on W, not this one, but as far as I talked with other owners, they seem to have no contrition for what they have.

Take the Mophorn 10 x 18 with variable speed and other lucrative features, for example. Almost 50 percent of the users have got critical reviews on Amazon alone in Price is very good for the quality. Besides, five years of warranty for a machine at this low cost is pretty surprising for me. Rikon is a trustworthy brand among turners. To be honest, it was quite tough not to give this unit a place over the Excelsior and PSI.

HF has a grumble about their motor that it gets hot very soon, but it looks like Rikon got a better motor on it. One thing you will notice if you shop around, this one goes on sale a lot. But, if you only wish to turn miniatures, especially pens, I suppose 2 inches is not that bigger, and they both got almost the same motor power with a little more.

So you will want to go with unless you want to focus on bowls. It will do the job perfectly for you. Easy solution. Things happen when you are actually on the field and working on the machine. Say, for example, the bolts for the rubber feet are not appropriately tapped, and you are having trouble mounting it during assembly.

The price is pretty high for a mini to consider as they have upgraded the motor with variable speed. But I think I would go for a midi like the Delta amazon link instead, at this cost point. Talk about the qualities; they absolutely nailed it. Jet is the go-to choice for many beginners, as well as the pro-level turners. They have built trust. Jet is very much able to give your wood chunks the treatment it needs.

You can lock the workpiece into 24 positions. They tend to keep the price high for their tools. If you want to turn only small bowls, then the side cost for other accessories would be much lower. But if Pen is something you want to focus on, the total cost might get pretty high as you might need more accessories.

They are smaller in size and power from their immediate seniors. Very well made for any novice as well as regular turners who likes the small spindle works. Now you know your projects as well as the limitations. My experience has overall been positive. He had three units in total, including HF and Wen. I found the Shop Fox much better in action some may have a different opinion, and they are welcome. It was way less vibrating, even in the used condition.

The variable speed control was easy to use and convenient, which is something we all want to have nowadays, to get rid of the belt changing pain. In a nutshell, an excellent choice for beginners, but just to remind you that this is not something a professional would go after. The common dissatisfaction that people have is the way they designed the tailstock that makes it difficult to get a real negative rake angle.

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