Old Growth Southern Yellow Pine

[Steve Chaplin]

Anybody turn any green old growth southern pine? I put some on the lathe and the experience was less than wonderful. Almost seems like it might be easier to turn dry.
Any tips?


First post. Been reading the forum for about 2 years, great community!

 

[Dave Landers]

I turn Ponderosa Pine sometimes. When wet, it can be sticky with sap, and makes the shop smell like I spilled a gallon of turpentine or something. Dry, it can be ... well, dry ... Splits and cracks and defects etc tend to show up. Not my favorite. But I do like the look of the staining in our beetle-killed pine, so it is sometimes worth it.

 

[Steve Chaplin]

Dave, the beetle staining sound nice, post a pic if you have one.
Got one roughed out. Had to sharpen every couple passes. Does not cut well unless tool is very sharp.

 

[Mike Johnson]

I have turned a fair amount of dry yellow pine lumber into tools over the years, also laminated a fair amount of dry yellow pine lumber
into various tools and prototype items. Turning green yellow pine is not much fun.

 

[Tom Lucas]

not worth the time wasted

 

[John Tisdale]

To my thinking, overcoming tear-out would be the challenge. Good time to perfect your sharpening and "fast speed/slow tool movement" technique.
You da man - most of us would be deterred by the first long yellow pine splinter shoved through a finger.

 

[Dave Landers]

Dave, the beetle staining sound nice, post a pic if you have one.

Found a pic of some hollow forms - 3 are beetle-kill ponderosa, the other 2 are wormy ash. They're roughly 8" tall.

 

[Richard Coers]

I think this was long leaf pine. It was a window sill in an old commercial building. I had to wet sand with mineral spirits as any paper gummed up in seconds. It was as dry as a 100 year old outdoor piece of wood could be.

 

[Curt Fuller]

Steve, I've turned a few pieces from pine that looked very similar to your example. It was a commission for some folks that wanted a few pieces to remember an old tree in their grandparents yard. I don't think I'd do it again, it was very messy. The wood is very difficult to cut cleanly and even more difficult to sand in addition to making a mess of my tools and lathe. I resorted to spraying it with WD-40 and wet sanding. The sandpaper would clog instantly without the WD-40. I'm sure any solvent would work, I just had that on hand. I had to use it through all the grits. After sanding, I let it sit for about a week if I remember right and then used Deft rattle can lacquer for the final finish. In the end the pieces actually turned out ok and they were happy. I'm sure that even if you could find some 100 year old wood it would still be difficult to work with, it's just the nature of the wood.

 

[Mike Johnson]

There are plenty of spectacular artistic pieces turned from segmented pine configuring the grain orientation in patterns on the piece,
Pine is one of those woods that gets no respect it gets a bad reputation because it is commonly used in the construction trades.

 

[Spike Cornelius]

I’ve been turning some Mugo Pine, and I find it interesting. I get sap buildup in the flute that has to be cleaned every sharpening, and it seems to need frequent sharpening, but it is probably not similar to SYP.
The high resin content makes the knots really pass light.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

The southern yellow pine that I have been exposed to has been sourced from lumber yards so I have not tried turning any, however it is excellent structural lumber.
The pine that is grown locally hear is eastern white pine and norway (red) pine.
The red pine will gum up everything especially sand paper but it is excellent structural lumber. The one major project that I used it for was a retractable stair way for the loft in my shop. The balusters were all turned to as close to a finished surface as possible. The wood was cut from one tree and custom milled by myself using a WoodMizer band mill to 10/4 to get 2" finished material for the stringers stair treads and balusters.

The white pine I have turned some bowls from, a few goblets, and some barber poles, but it is kind of uninspiring and it oxidizes to a worse look. The clear wood is easy to sand and does not clog sandpaper, but the knots usually have a lot of pitch. The barber poles were painted by the barber but on the first one he didn't seal the knots so now they show through the paint.

 

[Steve Chaplin]

Found a pic of some hollow forms - 3 are beetle-kill ponderosa, the other 2 are wormy ash. They're roughly 8" tall.

Wow Dave, those are really nice!

 

[Steve Chaplin]

I think this was long leaf pine. It was a window sill in an old commercial building. I had to wet sand with mineral spirits as any paper gummed up in seconds. It was as dry as a 100 year old outdoor piece of wood could be.

Going to remember the mineral spirits trick when I second turn. Thanks.

 

[Steve Chaplin]

Steve, I've turned a few pieces from pine that looked very similar to your example. It was a commission for some folks that wanted a few pieces to remember an old tree in their grandparents yard. I don't think I'd do it again, it was very messy. The wood is very difficult to cut cleanly and even more difficult to sand in addition to making a mess of my tools and lathe. I resorted to spraying it with WD-40 and wet sanding. The sandpaper would clog instantly without the WD-40. I'm sure any solvent would work, I just had that on hand. I had to use it through all the grits. After sanding, I let it sit for about a week if I remember right and then used Deft rattle can lacquer for the final finish. In the end the pieces actually turned out ok and they were happy. I'm sure that even if you could find some 100 year old wood it would still be difficult to work with, it's just the nature of the wood.

Curt, that wood does look like what I have. Guess it is just going to be difficult to work with.