Anyone experimented with Turkey Oak....?

[wills-mill]

The perceived wisdom/ lore/ superstition is that Turkey oak is 'rubbish'. I come across it fairly regularly when I'm milling trees for people and I've always been cautious about giving it the thumbs up, so I'd like some ideas rather than condemning it outright.

Has anyone tinkered with it and have any reports about how it behaves indoors or when worked?

 

[wizer]

Why don't you send me a few boards and I'll let you know

 

[wills-mill]

you'd have to come and pick them up yerself



(Seriously, I've not got any at the moment, I've always shied away from it due the way the Old Boys would shudder and wince when you mention it! I don't know if it's just prejudice or whether Turkey is really a pain in the b)

 

[wizer]

From everything I've ever heard, it's not furniture grade. The turners may like it? Otherwise, firewood.

Tho, I'm up for a challenge, if you can get some nice boards, I'll give it a go making something with it.

 

[Blister]

Please not TURKEY this soon after Christmas :roll:

 

[Paul.J]

I was given a piece of T-O at the bash last year off Cornucopia.
Haven't tried turning it yet but will let you know how i get on with it when i do

 

[John. B]

Turkey Oak (Quercus cerris) Not good for much. Used to be called 'Wainscot Oak' because it is mainly used as wood panelling.
It is prone to cracking, warps easily and distorts on drying. Not regarded much as a turning wood.
We'll wait to see what Paul.j. makes of it.

John. B

 

[Paul.J]

John.B wrote

We'll wait to see what Paul.j. makes of it.

You might have a long wait John,not at the lathe for a while :roll:

 

[Steve Maskery]

I've never used it, but I understand it has a very high percentage of sapwood compared with English oak. That's probably why it was regarded as second-rate, even more so if its working qualities are poor, too.
S

 

[Alan Smith]

Will,

I have milled up a couple of Turkey Oak logs and frankly it was a waste of time and effort. I still have a couple of big logs sitting in my wood yard but they are going to become firewood when I get time. As a timber the grain is very coarse, very unstable in drying with a lot of splitting going on. Also appears to be a surprising number of blind/internal knots and bark inclusions.

If you want a look at some milled stuff you are welcome, I'm only 15mins or so from Gatwick.

Keep it for fence posts would be my advice.

Alan

 

[Mr Ed]

I once bought a stack of air dried Oak from a local sawmill, run by a tree-surgeon. He was closing down because his resaw hit a nail and the spark started a fire in the sawpit below the floor and burned the place down.

Anyway, he was selling off stock at what appeared to be cut prices and I(relatively wet behind the ears) went along to buy some. He showed me a pile of 1-1/2" oak boards in stick that looked good to me, so we agreed a price and money exchanged hands. As a passing comment he said to me, there might be some Turkey Oak in there, but hard to tell. I knowing no better didn't make an issue of it.

When I got home I looked up Turkey Oak and discovered that its main weakness is that its very difficult to dry to a suitable MC without shakes appearing all over it...


I can confirm this is true, and most of the boards developed a myriad of shakes over the next year or so, making it unuseable - almost all of it went on the fire in the end. On the up side it burned brilliantly and I paid little more than firewood price for it in the first place.

I have therefore learned that Turkey Oak is to be avoided, unless you are planning a good fire.

Cheers, Ed

 

[bluezephyr]

Ive experimented with this

After reading the posts it may be more productive!

Sorry the pic is a bit big!!

 

[wizer]

ahh well.

I similarly went to an old Barn last year and bought a load of oak from a guy selling bits on eBay. It wasn't Turkey, but it's turned out to be low quality, rustic. I'm probably not going to use it.

 

[Ironballs]

Tricky stuff is Wild Turkey, wasn't good for my throat!

Tom is your rustic oak good enough for something like a shoe rack in a utility room? Rather than consigning it to the bonfire

 

[TheTiddles]

Tricky stuff is Wild Turkey, wasn't good for my throat!

Tom is your rustic oak good enough for something like a shoe rack in a utility room? Rather than consigning it to the bonfire

Tom's shoes probably rest on a scraped cedar throne with little purple cushions!

 

[wizer]

With pink tinsel wrapped around...

I'll use it for something, but it was intended for bubba's Toy Chest and it's not up to my high standards. When MarkW, re-sawed it up for me, there was a lot of shakes and knots. It planed up reasonably well but the grain pattern is unattractive.

Fussy, moi?

 

[Blister]

Ive experimented with this

After reading the posts it may be more productive!

Sorry the pic is a bit big!!

Now thats my type of turkey

gobble gobble :wink:

 

[wizer]

50.5% Alcohol. I wonder how that would react with Valium and Tramadol? :-k

 

[Doug B]

50.5% Alcohol. I wonder how that would react with Valium and Tramadol? :-k

I imagine you`d sleep well!!! though waking up might be a problem

 

[MikeG.]

Turkey oak is used around here for fencing. It doesn't appear even good enough for that!

That bottle looks like brake fluid or paint stripper.......

Mike