# Weepng Willow



## justturnin (Jun 12, 2012)

Has anyone ever dealt w/ Weeping Willow? Is the wood any good or worth resawing into blanks or flats? I wanted to see if it is worth my time to go pick it up.


My 5 year old wanted me to add some smileys.....
:rotflmao3::gigglesign::plane:


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## Mike1950 (Jun 12, 2012)

I have about 500 ' of willow boards up to 15" wide. Some of it has really nice figure- very light weight pretty color. I have not figured out what to do with it though.


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## Betty (Jun 12, 2012)

justturnin said:


> Has anyone ever dealt w/ Weeping Willow? Is the wood any good or worth resawing into blanks or flats? I wanted to see if it is worth my time to go pick it up.
> 
> 
> My 5 year old wanted me to add some smileys.....
> :rotflmao3::gigglesign::plane:




It is worth your time ~ it's a beautiful wood! Try it for turning. You will luv it. 
Betty


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## Dane Fuller (Jun 13, 2012)

That's interesting, Betty. I'll keep that in mind. I figured it would be so soft all you'd get would be tear outs and fuzzies.


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## justturnin (Jun 13, 2012)

I went and grabbed a few of the logs. I sliced a small chunk and the grain was a little wavy (you can kind of see it in the pic below). The pieces I got were all crotch so if there is anything interesting in a Weeping Willow I would expect it to be there. Once I get some chainsaw time to break them down I will get them on the bandsaw to make some blanks and see what we get..... They did have some spalting going on already since the tree was dead for about a year before cutting (Texas Drought) so I may see about allowing that to continue too.


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## Dennis Ford (Jun 13, 2012)

justturnin said:


> I went and grabbed a few of the logs. I sliced a small chunk and the grain was a little wavy (you can kind of see it in the pic below). The pieces I got were all crotch so if there is anything interesting in a Weeping Willow I would expect it to be there. Once I get some chainsaw time to break them down I will get them on the bandsaw to make some blanks and see what we get..... They did have some spalting going on already since the tree was dead for about a year before cutting (Texas Drought) so I may see about allowing that to continue too.



That willow should be very pretty when finished. You did good by getting the figured pieces, willow is not easy to turn cleanly but can be beautiful. The plain straight grained sections can be more trouble than they are worth in my opinion.


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## EricJS (Jun 13, 2012)

Very nice wood, but get it stickered & weighted soon after cutting to minimize warpage.

And don't spill water in your shop because the willow will fall off the lumber racks trying to get to the water.


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## Mike1950 (Jun 13, 2012)

My boards are very dry but when it goes through the planer parts of it fur up and needs a shave. Lots of figure and very nice color. I am hoping your post gives me some Idea what to do with it. I have a bunch................


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## West River WoodWorks (Jun 13, 2012)

Looks a lot like the cottonwood burl i picked up earlier this year. It was dripping wet when I cut it, I coated it with anchorseal and now I am waiting. I have heard the same thing others have said about turning these softwoods, but heres hoping its all worth it!:dunno:
Good luck with your projects!
Tom


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## DKMD (Jun 13, 2012)

West River WoodWorks said:


> Looks a lot like the cottonwood burl i picked up earlier this year. It was dripping wet when I cut it, I coated it with anchorseal and now I am waiting. I have heard the same thing others have said about turning these softwoods, but heres hoping its all worth it!:dunno:
> Good luck with your projects!
> Tom



Cottonwood burl can be gorgeous stuff, but be ready to pull out all the tricks to get a clean cut… It's worth it.


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## justturnin (Jun 13, 2012)

West River WoodWorks said:


> Looks a lot like the cottonwood burl i picked up earlier this year. It was dripping wet when I cut it, I coated it with anchorseal and now I am waiting. I have heard the same thing others have said about turning these softwoods, but heres hoping its all worth it!:dunno:
> Good luck with your projects!
> Tom



I will be running some through my stabilizing chamber to see if I can sure it up some. It is sure wet as CW.


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## justturnin (Jun 15, 2012)

I had the chainsaw out yesterday, bad storm blew through and was helping the neighbors, so I had to cut at least one of these Willow logs up. This is the largest log but the smallest crotch. The branch coming out of this was only about 2-3" and it put some nice feathering in the log so I have high hopes for the others.


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## Kevin (Jun 16, 2012)

I bet Willow would make great indoor paneling/beadboard/ceilings etc. Cottonwood does. And if it's real pretty, as it appears to be it would be a very shipping-friendly wood once dry since it's so light. Hope to see some sanded and finished when you get it dry.


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## justturnin (Jun 19, 2012)

I just stabilized 2 pen blanks as a test run and they started at 66gr combined and came out weighing 137gr combined. This stuff loves the Juice. Still cooking now but will snap a pic of them if they are worth snapping.


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## gvwp (Jun 19, 2012)

Kevin said:


> I bet Willow would make great indoor paneling/beadboard/ceilings etc. Cottonwood does. And if it's real pretty, as it appears to be it would be a very shipping-friendly wood once dry since it's so light. Hope to see some sanded and finished when you get it dry.



Willow can be beautiful. We put a few bowl blanks on the website and they went very quickly. It dries very quickly. At the sawmill we never used Cottonwood for anything but pallet wood. This is interesting. I've never tried to dry Cottonwood. We have some VERY large Cottonwood trees to be harvested on a couple jobs. I think I may saw some of the butt logs into 4/4 and try to dry it. Has anybody tried to kiln dry Cottonwood? If so any advice on drying?


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## justturnin (Jun 20, 2012)

Well as a pen the wood is less than stellar so I will be resawing this to 4/4 to dry them maybe use the crotch pieces for lids and the rest as walls and build some boxes.


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