Wood for turning - or whatever

[bobscarle]

I am going to have an ash tree felled in our garden in a couple of weeks time. Talking to the tree surgeon it turns out that they are cutting trees all the time (as you would expect) but the wood simply gets chopped up for firewood. He says he has some very nice pieces of Yew in the shed at the moment along with ash and oak and others. Of course none of the wood is dried. He said there would be no charge for it. Not sure if that would apply for a large van load, but you can ask.

I am hopefully going to get a small lathe and will be getting some bits to practice on. If anybody else is interested and would like to go to the yard and look through the log pile, send me a PM and I will give you the phone number. The yard is in Redditch, Worcestershire.

Bob

 

[RogerS]

pm sent, Bob

 

[greybeard]

Nice one Bob!

Wish I lived a good bit closer! - sounds like a very helpful tree feller.

Although, envy aside - briefly!, my experience to date has been that most such guys/firms are more than helpful. After all it helps them too!

Just a thought/suggestion - when you go looking, select some nice bits of yew etc of course (that envy is back already!), but also collect some 'green'/'wet' stuff (although I guess you'll have plenty of bits of ash to play with too?!). Simply because when/while you're learning the ins and outs of the turning chisel family the 'wet' stuff cuts a whole lot more easily than the seasoned. Which also means it's a lot more forgiving!
Well-dried oak can resemble concrete to a maybe slightly hesitant approach.
I have known of a few would-be learner-turners who were turned off completely when their first few attempts seemingly resulted in either dig-ins or bevel-banging, with nothing in between of any note.
Green turning a 6" diameter log can easily produce 18" to 24" long shavings, a sure sign that the wood is really being cut rather than hammered or scraped (don't worry too much about the initial end product being anything other than a thin round stick, it's the technique you need to practice!),
And that does wonders for the confidence!
And that also gives you some freedom to experiment with different angles and holds/grips.

Happy turning!