Pine

[Wildman]

Hearing that I had a lathe a neighbor brought me some freshly cut pine, I have never tried turning sticky pine before is it possible? Will it season eventually to a point where it can be turned, will the sticky sap ever disappear, was thinking of 3 legged stools but don't fancy sticking to it. :lol: :lol: :lol:
I imagine that even when seasoned the pine resin will not do my tools any good. comments, suggestions welcome please.

 

[Richard Findley]

Hi

Pine turns ok, but as with so many timbers there's pine and there's pine.

The best stuff is the Redwood from Russia or Northern Europe. The stuff that grows in this country grows too fast to be much good and is usually used for pulping for paper.

Depending what you've got it will certainly be ok for spindle practice but I would suggest it won't be much good for bowls.

The resin is not too much of a problem and cleans up with cellulose thinners it's the knots that tend to blunt the tools and you will need sharp tools and good technique to get good results.

HTH

Richard

 

[Jacob]

Pine no prob. Easy to turn. Resin easy to deal with and certainly won't harm tools (it's really soft, liquid even :roll: ).
Worth experimenting with different materials - I turned some larch for table legs and it looked really good.
NB In the past tons of softwoods was turned for table legs and other things. It's a bit stupid this modern idea that softwood is inferior or difficult. Like all woods it has it's uses and many things can be done better in softwood than hardwood.

 

[woodturnerEric]

I`ve urned alot of freshly cut pine in the past,the sticky sap is easily delt with,just peel the bark off and 90% of it will be gone,and meths gets rid of all the residue left on fingers and thumbs/tools etc,you will find you get soaked turning it when its still green,so if you have a waterproof coat and a facemask that would be helpful,but it cuts lovely when fresh,regards, Eric.

 

[Jonzjob]

What kind of pine is it??

 

[Wildman]

no idea what the exact tree was he chopped it up and disposed of most of it. I tenatively tried to cut it into useable size today on the bandsaw but it just clogged and jambed the sawblade, so chainsaw next, hee hee.