Willow wood

[Breck Whitworth]

Hello fellow wood turners I have turned quite a few different woods but never willow, a friend is taking down a large willow tree and I have never turned this type wood so If anyone has, please let me know how it was to turn and if it has any color maybe a pic. or two. I make and sell most of my bowls so if your experience with willow was good or bad please let me know. At my age I don't want to spend a day using the chainsaw on a wood that won't be worth it. Thanks

 

[hockenbery]

Willow can vary a lot in color. The willow I have turned has all been a bland white.
My suggestion is that unless you see interesting color or have no other wood to pass.

I took down a willow shortly before a weeklong workshop.
I turned a test natural edge bowl without thinking much about it. All I noticed was that shear scraping degraded the surface because the wood was so soft. For me it made a nice NE bowl.

We used it one day in the class. It was challenging for intermediate skilled turners.
However after ample criticism of my choice of woods they were able to relearn the basics of cutting riding the bevel and avoiding the scraping cuts many had come to rely on. Bevel riding cuts - good. Scraping - bad. Coming off the bevel - worse.
A few bowls had beards, before corrective bevel riding cuts were employed.

There are several different species. It is soft, stringy, rarely interesting grain.
Some will have nice dark colors.
It is probably too soft for a functional bowl as daily use will dent it.

One round log about 6” diameter got stuck in a corner and a few weeks after the class it began leafing out.

 

[Dave Landers]

Similar experience as @hockenbery here -
The one willow tree I turned was probably not really worth it. Bland white color, no interesting grain or figure. Didn't take dye well, so no help with the color there. Might be good if you're going to significantly embellish/paint/etc to hide the actual wood.
It was soft and sorta stringy to turn - it liked to tear out. Needed good shear cuts to get a clean surface.
And the result was really light weight - the bowls just felt way too light for their size.
But I expect there are variations in what folks generically call "willow" and probably even regional/environmental differences.
My willow was an urban yard tree, and I sorta had to turn at least one keeper bowl for the homeowner, but I personally didn't like it or any of the others.

 

[Randy Anderson]

Breck, I've turned quite a bit of black willow. Bowls and some large vases. It can be a challenge to get a good surface since it's soft and does not tolerate scrapers. Not even NR scrapers. Takes a good bit of careful gouge work and some high angle sheer scraping with a sharp gouge. It will dull tools very quickly so keep them sharp. I've had some with great coloring and variations, some fades and loses some of it's character. I still have some older stock I intend to work but it doesn't age well so not sure how it will turn out. If you can keep the bark on it does have a very bold and prominent look. This one is black willow recently finished.

 

[Richard Coers]

My experience is that not to turn it wet. The fibers just want to push about. It's a common question here.

Turning Willow

Everyday for the past 20 years I have driven past a huge willow tree that is just packed with burl. The 48" diameter trunk is covered with burl almost completely and the branches are similarly covered. Yesterday much to my surprise the homeowner "pruned" 50% of the tree cutting off several large...

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Turning willow?

Neighbor has a tree service and doing a lot of cleanup after the tornadoes. Got a piece of willow about 24 inches long and 6-7 inches in diameter. Worth keeping? Rough turn wet? Advice is welcome.

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How is Willow for turnings

I had a tree service drop off some Willow today. A couple of pieces are pushing 30 inches in diameter. Does it make nice turnings? I'm thinking about putting the outboard attachment on the Vicmarc to use and attempt to turn some large platters. Mounting and turning tips are welcomed. Or is it...

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Handling Willow

I've read through a number of threads here about turning willow and got some good pointers. I've never turned it until today. I have a lot of it available due to a recent ice storm in our area that took out a big one in my neighborhood. I turned a couple of good vases out of it today (pic of...

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Turning willow

We were heading out and saw that the power company had just cut down a large willow tree. The owner of the property said "come get all you want!" So I got 6 chunks; I cut them to rough length. Some were 26" across. I'm just wondering who has turned this stuff before and should I be looking out...

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[Breck Whitworth]

Ok thanks guys, I turned it down because I am not sure it is black Willow, the color there would be tempting. But bland white wood is what I was expecting.

 

[Dean Center]

Whoa. Willow can be very pretty. I've turned a fair amount of it, and it seems that some trees are stringy and some are not so much. (I have a theory about why that has to do with how wet the soil is where the individual tree has been growing) All willow I've turned has been soft and doesn't take detail well, though. Here are some willow bowls I made as gifts for Christmas in 2015, one I made for my daughter, and one of a half dozen I made out of a tree that friends' sons climbed all over growing up.

 

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I turned small and large Willow wood, yes you do need to know how to turn difficult wood, it is certainly no scraper turning wood.

I found that yes it is softer wood but that should not be a problem unless you want to use it as a malled or such

This bud vase is turned out of a dead branch with cancer growth on it, quite nice to get that wood showing what's in it..



Turned a larger candle holder, got taken to the EU, good the wood is not heavy .




These two pictures are showing a Large Willow Burl I turned into a nice large bowl, the color of this matured quite a bit, but I choose to show the quite fresh color of the wood.

 

[Breck Whitworth]

Whoa. Willow can be very pretty. I've turned a fair amount of it, and it seems that some trees are stringy and some are not so much. (I have a theory about why that has to do with how wet the soil is where the individual tree has been growing) All willow I've turned has been soft and doesn't take detail well, though. Here are some willow bowls I made as gifts for Christmas in 2015, one I made for my daughter, and one of a half dozen I made out of a tree that friends' sons climbed all over growing up.
View attachment 58995
View attachment 58994View attachment 58990

These are very nice the color is sweet

 

[Breck Whitworth]

I turned small and large Willow wood, yes you do need to know how to turn difficult wood, it is certainly no scraper turning wood.

I found that yes it is softer wood but that should not be a problem unless you want to use it as a malled or such

This bud vase is turned out of a dead branch with cancer growth on it, quite nice to get that wood showing what's in it..

View attachment 58996

Turned a larger candle holder, got taken to the EU, good the wood is not heavy .

View attachment 58997


These two pictures are showing a Large Willow Burl I turned into a nice large bowl, the color of this matured quite a bit, but I choose to show the quite fresh color of the wood.


View attachment 58998

View attachment 58999

Wow sure wish this one had burl like this but no.