Identifying wood and choosing particular pieces

[MarkAndrews]

Hello All,
The voyage continues. I've spent the past weeks turning a number of square edged bowls, I'll post the results soon. In the meantime, I've discovered a treasure trove of fresh wood near my home. It's a wood yard that recycles all of the city tree cutting in Orange County CA. They sell firewood, mulch, and slab wood for the most part. I went there yesterday and talked to the owner. He's a great guy, very much into wood, but he's not a turner. He does carvings and large pieces using a chainsaw. He showed me around, they had stacks of logs 20 ft high and 50 yds in length, it was truly overwhelming. I asked him what the most common variety he had in stock was and he immediately answered eucalyptus. I know some eucalyptus is not turnable while other varieties are really colorful and turn well. They also had Cherry, Acacia, Maple, Ash, Carob (which he said turned beautifully), Walnut, Beech and more. My question is what do I look for and what should I look out for? He showed me a Cherry log that was almost completely burls. He said that often the Cherry has termites, is that cause for concern? I guess my basic question is how do I look at a log and know if its going to be good for turning? I realize this is a very broad question and only experience is going to get me the knowledge that I seek but any pointers will be greatly appreciated.
Mark

 

[hockenbery]

Mark,

Sound like a great find.
What I do is look at the log and visualize what it can become on the lathe.

For cut rim bowls I look for round trees that will yield a symmetrical grain pattern.

For my natural edge hollow forms I look for odd contours that will translate into interesting rims.

For natural edge bowls I like wood with a sap ring like cherry. Also the barks needs to be injury free.
I rarely keep the bark on natural edge bowls but an injury to bark usually means injury to the wood.

I also look at the wood integrity. I like fresh cut green wood best.

Have fun,
Al

 

[Richard Coers]

Did you really ask if termites can be a concern? Absolutely! You also need to consider powder post beetles, and anything else that eats wood, unless you live and work in an all concrete shop/home. A fair number of those trees didn't show up in that yard because they were healthy, and all those bugs usually live just under the bark.
My favorite technique to identify turning stock, is to knock the bark off. If cut in the spring or summer, a couple of hits with a hammer knocks off the bark. Now you can see blisters, waves, and curly figure in the tree. Another advantage of those kind of places is that you can see the end grain of the tree when it shows up. No advantage if it has sat for a while and oxidizes, but cutting off a 1" slice lets you know really quickly.
It will just take time and experience to find the species you like. Some will crack in a couple of days no matter what you do to it, short of submerging in water. Other species will sit with no issues. Some will dry easily, others will distort a lot.
I harvested for years from just such an urban lot. My advice, get a big chainsaw. I was cutting trees over 3' in diameter.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I would suggest wood only from the trunk and symmetrical as Al said. Freshly cut green wood is the best. Don't take injured wood. If it was pushed over with a bulldozer or other brute force methods then there will be hidden cracks. Don't get really short pieces - just assume that you will need to cut about six inches off each end add the size of whatever you want to turn for a ballpark idea of what length to get.