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Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998

Turning Willow?

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Turning Willow?

#1

Steven Antonucci

Turning Willow?

steve antonucci

>or burning willow?

I had a very large limb (12" x 40') fall last night in the wind (woke us up).

Looking at it, I was just going to cut it into manageable chunks to get it out of the yard, but then I thought "Turn or Burn"?

Does Willow turn nicely? If not, should I look at it as firewood?

When the limb fell, it hit the swing beam on my son's playset (probably fell 30' before contact). It hit the 4x6" beam and cracked it where it joined the main structure, as well as "pile-drove" the a-frame that supported the other end 4" into the ground. But it's still standing... made me smile.

Steve

Re: Turning Willow?

#2

Sure, why not?

Dominic Greco in Richboro PA

>Steve,

I turned a willow bowl some months back (have since submitted that bowl to a gallery) and I've found the wood to be a lot like turning silver maple. Nice grain, but prone to tear out. Just use some sanding sealer or Russ' 50/50 varnish and mineral spirits wet sanding trick. You'll be surprised how smooth it comes out.

See ya around,

My ugly mug

Dominic


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Re: Turning Willow?

#3

Re: Turning Willow?

Greg in Oshkosh

>My experience with willow is that it is very soft and requires very sharp tools. Much of the willow I have received has suffered from ring shake. Please carefully check out your piece since of a large portion of the blank lets loose while spinning it could be a hazard. The grain pattern and color of the pieces I have done have been very good and made it all worth while.

Re: Turning Willow?

#4

Re: Turning Willow?

RevDoug

>It burns fast and really fairly cool. Just doesn't have the substance to create much heat.