Hello,

I'm no big fan of Oak, but on occasion you can run across a nice blank...
This is a link to a Spalted Water Oak piece I did a few years ago that
turned out rather nice. Sometimes, new turners opt for Oak because its so
plentiful in most parts of the country and it's so easy to get green. When
they turn it, they find out that it can be a very bad boy and usually
migrate to other easier and more highly figured timbers.

http://www.woodturningvideosplus.com/images/jorell.jpg

I must say that Oak burls can be quite impressive, although they experience
quite a bit of shrinkage and gross deformation upon drying. Quartersawn Oak
blanks can be nice as well, but I would much rather be turning Mesquite,
Ash, Elm, or Pecan-crete, which are easy to get in my neck of the woods.
That way, I can leave all of the Oak for flooring... :-) It looks great as a
floor! Take care and all the best to you and yours!


On 6/28/07 8:00 AM, in article ,
"TonyM" tonym.le"at"comcast.net wrote:

Figure not included. :-) In our club we have one turner who likes oak, none
of the others will touch the stuff. With all of the oak we have here in PA
I have seen only about 20 turnings (out of 100's if not 1000's) made from
oak. I've turned about 150 species of wood into spheres but never tried to
make a bowl out of oak, why work a difficult wood when there are so many
others to choose from.
Tony Manella
ndd1"at"prolog.net (remove "at")
http://home.ptd.net/~ndd1/
Lehigh Valley Woodturners
www.lehighvalleywoodturners.com

--
Better Woodturning and Finishing Through Chemistry...

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

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