Can all wood be turned ?

[martkt10]

Just started today with my new shiny lathe Nova Comet II ,
I have some old teak planks that i'd like to cut into 9" squares to try
to turn into plates,

Is that safe to do ?

Thank you for any advice

 

[TFrench]

If you have some wood to practice on between the centres (spindle) turning first I'd do that. I found it much easier to get a feel for tool control that way.

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[Random Orbital Bob]

A good practice medium is cheap pine 2x2 lengths mounted between centres. Practice beads, coves, v grooves, ogees etc.

Also, any green branch wood (or trunk wood for that matter) is very forgiving (but don't expect it to keep its shape once turned). You'll get long shavings like linguini and there's very little dust when freshly cut.....very nice to develop tool control.

 

[Dalboy]

All wood can be turned some better than others but whether you can turn all woods depends on the wood type and if it reacts to you as some can give rashes and even effect your breathing. So have a look at a wood toxicity charts, unfortunatly I can't find mine (changing computers) maybe someone can point you in the right direction

 

[sunnybob]

Teak is FAR too valuable to practice on.
Work your way up to that stuff, its worth the wait.

 

[KimG]

teak will cause you to despair, it has the worst blunting effect on edge tools of any timber I have ever turned, I made a small 6" x 3" bowl from it once and had to resharpen an HSS bowl gouge about ten times during the cut, as a comparison, I would not expect to resharpen the same tool more than once on a timber like ash or sycamore. I even put some of the teak planks through a planer thicknessner, it wrecked the edge on the tungsten blades. This was real teak mind you, not some lookalike. I used parts of it for the slats on a garden bench, all this was about 25 years ago, the bench slats are just as sound now as when i fitted them. For outdoor use it cannot be beat.

 

[sunnybob]

I dont have a lathe, but your comments on teak intrigued me.
have you ever turned rosewood?

i make boxes from all exotic woods, and I find rosewood the hardest most brittle of the bunch. It will burn on a sander before any other wood.
I have two office stair treads of teak, stripped out of a big london building about 30 years ago. 10" x 3" x 6 ft long. Just waiting for something to make that would be worthy of it.

 

[KimG]

I have turned Rosewood sunnybob, Sonokeling, mexican and cocobolo which is similar. There seem to be quite a few timbers called rosewood though and I guess it depends on which one you get as to its nature, cocobolo is more an exotic than a rosewood, but is also quite a brittle wood. It isn't necessarily the hardest woods that blunt tools though, Teak isn't particularly hard, not in comparison to Old oak, blackwood, Lignum or greenheart, but it blunts edges really quickly. I think it may be due to the presence of and additional compound like silica or something that causes it.

 

[J-G]

teak will cause you to despair, it has the worst blunting effect on edge tools of any timber I have ever turned, [...] I used parts of it for the slats on a garden bench, all this was about 25 years ago, the bench slats are just as sound now as when I fitted them. For outdoor use it cannot be beat.

I would take issue with that statement Kim - - - - have you ever worked Keruing? - - - - I'll admit that it is not a timber that would normally crop up in wood-turning discussions but you have mentioned bench seats

The one time I did work it (some 40 years ago) was to make a 6" x 6" gate post for a customer - I vowed never to use it again. I believe that it is primarily used to manufacture flat lorry bases. I would sooner work genuine Lignum Vitæ.

I find Teak - yes REAL Teak - when you can get it (last I got was from a refurbishment of a laboratory at the University of Warwick) easy to work but lacking in 'character'.

But of course we can only speak from personal experience!

 

[KimG]

teak will cause you to despair, it has the worst blunting effect on edge tools of any timber I have ever turned, [...] I used parts of it for the slats on a garden bench, all this was about 25 years ago, the bench slats are just as sound now as when I fitted them. For outdoor use it cannot be beat.

I would take issue with that statement Kim - - - - have you ever worked Keruing? - - - - I'll admit that it is not a timber that would normally crop up in wood-turning discussions but you have mentioned bench seats

The one time I did work it (some 40 years ago) was to make a 6" x 6" gate post for a customer - I vowed never to use it again. I believe that it is primarily used to manufacture flat lorry bases. I would sooner work genuine Lignum Vitæ.

I find Teak - yes REAL Teak - when you can get it (last I got was from a refurbishment of a laboratory at the University of Warwick) easy to work but lacking in 'character'.

But of course we can only speak from personal experience!

True enough J-G, the teak I had was several planks from once source and a couple of blocks from a totally different source, but the effect was the same nonetheless. The plank i put through the planer is now (and has been since) my front room mantlepiece. It isn't a striking wood to look at I agree, nice enough though. Oddly enough, years after he gave me the wood, the person got back to me, he was working on the restoration of the victory and they were desperate for real Teak no matter how small to use for the task, he wanted it back! Too late.
I have heard of Keruing, I am pretty sure my Dad used some at one stage, many years ago, I also seem to remember him saying much the same as you about it too!

 

[woodfarmer]

I have used teak and Keruing building boats. They are like balsa wood when compared to old Greenheart.

 

[John. B]

Teak! long lasting? There is a very good reason why ships rail (taff rail) is made from teak.
John. B