Hello,

As a professional woodturner, I have turned thousands and thousands of bowls
platters and hollow forms over the last 12 years from all of the mentioned
species and can offer these observations:

Note: Here is a link to an article I wrote on oil finishes that shows some
of these timbers finished, to give you an idea of what they look like when
completed:

http://www.woodturningvideosplus.com/oil-finish.html


Elm: Nice to work and can offer really nice colouring on some species. I
particularly like the American Elm's (spalt nice) and the Winged Elms.
Winged Elms turn like a dream and have a contrasting darker heartwood.

Oak: My least favourite of those mentioned, but if quartersawn to show the
rays, or if the piece has lots of curl (fiddleback), it can be rewarding.
Oak has really large pores, so if you're going to be turning bowls, you may
want to seal the interior surfaces to make cleaning easier. I usually use
Shellac for this, but other products will also work. BTW, Water Oak makes
really nice hollow forms when spalted...

Sugar Maple: Nice Maple to work. It can be a tad bland at times, but it
offers a nice background for colouring and burning and it easy to work.

Silver Maple: Oh how sweet it is... :-) I love Silver Maple!!! Did I mention
that I love Silver Maple??? :-) It is a magnificent timber to work and can
produce some ultra high figured blanks with exceptional colouring. I can't
say enough good things about Silver Maple!

Cottonwood: Only nice if you can get some really coloured logs with lots of
fiddleback. It can smell like an outhouse, so it has to be exceptional or I
pass on this one.

Osage Orange: We call this Bodark in Texas. Nice timber to work, easy to
turn and finish. It takes a really high polish and can make some nice
pieces. The yellow colour darkens over time, unless you apply preventative
measures to forestall this degradation.

Locus: Nice timber, interesting grain patterns on some examples. Worth your
time if you can get some.

Hackberry: Grows like a weed around here... Pretty bland unless you spalt
it, which is easy to do. Otherwise, it's rather boring and bland.

Mulberry: Really nice timber to work and grows like a wee here as well. Nice
yellow colour that mellows like Osage unless preventative measures are taken
when finishing. Mulberry can easily ripple between the early wood and the
late wood rings unless properly sanded. However, if heavily over sanded on
purpose, it makes a very interesting textured piece. Sort of like a blasted
poor man's Cedar of Lebanon.

Good luck to you and best wishes in all of your woodturning endeavours!
--
Better Woodturning and Finishing Through Chemistry...

Steven D. Russell
Eurowood Werks Woodturning Studio, The Woodlands, Texas
Machinery, Tool and Product Testing for the Woodworking and Woodturning
Industries

Website: http://www.woodturningvideosplus.com

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On 6/27/07 9:09 AM, in article
, "
wrote:

Living in the rural midwest I have many oppotunities to collect newly
fallen timber. My question is given this selection of timber what's my
best selection and what should I just stay away from. BTW, I'm very
new to turning!

-Terry

Elm
Oak
Sugar Maple
Silver Maple
CottonWood
Osage Orange
Locus
Hackberry
Mulberry