# What Wood Do Absolutely Hate To Use?



## BrentWin

We all can name our favorite wood for calls in the blink of an eye. But, what is the wood that you absolutely hate to use.

For me, it's oak. The only good use for the stuff is for in a fireplace or sent to Kingsford to be burnt up and put in a blue and white bag. It's dusty, splintery and you spend twice the normal finishing time just trying to get the grain filled. And after all that effort, it still isn't pretty wood.

I have an order that I have been putting off doing for a week, just because it's an oak grunt call. I tried to talk the guy out of it. I offered him every wood that I had, but he was dead set on oak.

OK, that's the end of my rant. Anyone else?

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## DKMD

I haven't made calls, but I'd have to say cedar is my least favorite wood to turn... Soft and oily with the smell of a gerbil's butt!

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## SDB777

Hmmm.......Oak, really?

What about this little fella?
http://i29.Rule #2/albums/c271/SDB777/Available%20pens/EFROak003_zps7c2f402e.jpg
http://i29.Rule #2/albums/c271/SDB777/Available%20pens/EFROak002_zps38411744.jpg

or maybe this one?
http://i29.Rule #2/albums/c271/SDB777/Available%20pens/UncleDavidsWoodPile002.jpg
http://i29.Rule #2/albums/c271/SDB777/Available%20pens/UncleDavidsWoodPile003.jpg

I got more Oak....


How about yellow pine? Other then material to build houses....eck?




Scott (ain't turnin' no pine) B

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## NYWoodturner

Thats one hell of a case for oak! Nice pens Scott

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## SDB777

Ooooh, Eastern Red Cedar......

http://i29.Rule #2/albums/c271/SDB777/Available%20pens/ERCxcut001.jpg

http://i29.Rule #2/albums/c271/SDB777/Pens/EasternRedCedarLongClicker_zpsb248e6a3.jpg

http://i29.Rule #2/albums/c271/SDB777/Pens/308cartridgeeasternredcedar1.jpg

http://i29.Rule #2/albums/c271/SDB777/Bottle%20Stoppers/DSC01740_zps72332fed.jpg


I got more of these too....

How about Pine?


Scott (do another, please) B

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## Karl_99

I am not crazy about working with Wenge. It is splintery and not real nice to work with for penmaking.

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## SDB777

I'll admit, my worst to just turn due to the time and amount of thin CA that is used(the stuff burns my eyes something awful), is an Afghan Pine Cone. But results....nothing but amazing!

Sorry about the photo quality, didn't know what I was doing back then...
http://i29.Rule #2/albums/c271/SDB777/Available%20pens/308CP-APC1N.jpg

http://i29.Rule #2/albums/c271/SDB777/Pens/ExposureFusionPineBlackWalnut.jpg

http://i29.Rule #2/albums/c271/SDB777/Pens/DSC01006.jpg



Haven't done too many of these, they are like hens teeth or something....they fall out of trees in New Mexico and Arizona, but getting someone to pick them up and mail them to a fella is hard!?!!?!?!?




Scott (likin' this topic.....) B

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## SDB777

Karl_99 said:


> I am not crazy about working with Wenge. It is splintery and not real nice to work with for penmaking.




Crud.....now I'm going to have to use those four blanks I have in my 'stash'.....



Scott (maybe Wednesday) B


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## Karl_99

Scott: What kind of oak is that in the closed end pen you showed? That grain is awesome.


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## SDB777

Karl_99 said:


> Scott: What kind of oak is that in the closed end pen you showed? That grain is awesome.



White Oak from Wisconsin...Beetown actually. I picked it off a firewood stack outside a pub while visiting the grandmother(wife's side).


Scott (zebrawood kinda smells bad when you drill it hot) B


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## Kevin

Scott, the question wasn't what are some of your favorite woods - it was what are some of the species of wood you hate to work with.

It's a good question Brent. For me the two species I have ever hated to work with were cypress and the particular old growth pine I have (maybe not all old growth would affect me way this has - could be a mold). Both beautiful woods (we can all post pics of beautiful specimens), I just hate working with them. On sort of a different vein, I don't hate working with oak, it just doesn't do anything for me aesthetically, unless its a arts and crafts/ Greene and Greene or even some of Frank Lloyd Wrights stuff. Some of those beg for oak, but other than that I don't like it. So my answers are:


Bald Cypress
Some old growth pine
Oak - just cause it's ugly. There are exceptions.

(Scott, get your grits together man we want to know if there's a wood you don't like. Methinks Scott's truths are only ever found in parenthesis and it gets old sometimes but sometimes they are hilarious. Glad none of the rest of us do it. Has anyone seen my nail clippers?)


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## Kevin

Brent let me know if I need to start a new thread for Scott's wonderful pens.

:undecided:

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## WoodLove

For me its monkeypod. Its beautiful wood but it causes me have an asthma attack....... That's one wood that is not allowed anywhere near my shop anymore.

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## BrentWin

Kevin said:


> Brent let me know if I need to start a new thread for Scott's wonderful pens.
> 
> :undecided:


 
No need, as they say "one man's trash is another man's treasure". Those are some beautiful pens. I should have clarified by saying straight grain oak. To me burls are always beautiful and they give you great payback for the extra effort.

Scott, no harm no foul. I just started this thread to wake everybody up and get them talking.

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## barry richardson

MDF........ hate it

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## Kevin

barry richardson said:


> MDF........ hate it



I guess I have to cram another bag full of sawdust. You just won a contest that doesn't even exist yet. That . . . . was funny. And true.

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## BarbS

P-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-ine.

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## Alan Sweet

Cypress is the pits... And I like to make boxes out oak and cedar. You can do so much with the grain and colors


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## Knotholeexoticwood

EX


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## HomeBody

I cut a small tree in my woods called a Shadbush. (aka serviceberry) I wondered why it was called Shadbush until I put it on the table saw and opened it up. It STINKS LIKE FISH! I don't mean a little bit, but a LOT! I had to wash my hands 3 times with my deer hunting scent killer soap to get the smell off my hands. My dog wouldn't come around me either. My least favorite so far. Gary

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## bearmanric

Camphor burl and Alaskan yellow ceder. Werent fun calls to turn. Rick

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## Fret440

It's probably heresy, but I don't like to use Western Red Cedar for guitar tops. The fibers pull too easily causing joint failures and it's too easy to mar the wood before putting finish on it. It also sounds like cardboard until you put strings on it.

Jacob

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## Molokai

Oak definitely. It warps and move even after decades of drying.

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## kweinert

Had something called Chocolate Heart once - couldn't really find out what it was but it caused a respiratory issue for me.


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## Woodman

I absolutely hate oak if it has less than about 10-12 annual rings per inch. However, I love slow growing oaks that have been ekeing out a living in the shade of larger trees and show 20 or more rpi. Blackjack Oak is one such. Sometimes I use a magnifying glass to count them if it's been sun starved. It's kind of a wiry scrub tree that never gets more than 15' high in the local woods due to poor soil along the Atlantic and sun blockage by white oaks and pines. It makes great strong gnarly hiking sticks(it doesn't grow straight) and very dense knife handles. In full sun they can grow a lot taller but then they don't interest me.
http://i594.Rule #2/albums/tt28/lakeridge3/100_1220.jpg


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## SDB777

Oops, forgot about Black Palm(run out of thin CA halfway through turning)...stuff falls apart when I look at it!


Scott (I ain't too bright no ways) B

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## Dennis Ford

Mimosa, it is very pretty but the dust makes me sick.


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## Kevin

SDB777 said:


> Scott (I ain't too bright no ways) B



But you ain't too dim neither. So have a nice cold Hamm's in the new space-age seamless aluminum cans.


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## myingling

I got a thing for walnut ,,I use it but just don't like turning it


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## robert flynt

Desert iron wood! Love the look of it but hate to work it because it clog up expensive belts, smell, is extremely hard and it's hard to get anything but CA to dry on it.

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## BrentWin

myingling said:


> I got a thing for walnut ,,I use it but just don't like turning it


Ditto


Kevin said:


> But you ain't too dim neither. So have a nice cold Hamm's in the new space-age seamless aluminum cans.


 
Man, I haven't seen a beer "from the land of sky blue waters" in a long time. Come to think of it, I haven't seen a Lone Star for a long time either. Do they still have Pearl down in TX Kevin?


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## Nobby40

robert flynt said:


> Desert iron wood! Love the look of it but hate to work it because it clog up expensive belts, smell, is extremely hard and it's hard to get anything but CA to dry on it.


 Yea, Have to go with Ironwood, dust is toxic, smells awful, there's a reason those Seri Indians used to use Machetes to carve it,they still might be for all I know. They used shoe polish as a finish.


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## NCWoodArt

I don't like anything that has a lot of checks & voids in it. I will turn anything but don't love Camphor burl & Antler- smells horrible

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## Kevin

BrentWin said:


> Man, I haven't seen a beer "from the land of sky blue waters" in a long time. Come to think of it, I haven't seen a Lone Star for a long time either. Do they still have Pearl down in TX Kevin?



I don't know Brent. I haven't been a beer drinker for well over 10 years closer to 15 now that I think of it. I'm not even sure they make Pearl or Lone Star anymore, I'm like you, I never see it or hear anything about it. I'm retty sure they stopped making Hamm's though. Damn good thing too. And Schlitz. Yuck.

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## BrentWin

goslin99 said:


> This thread has been very informative. Not just us beechin about what we don't like, but saying why, which helps me with characteristics of different woods and thus revealing the likelihood of me liking them or not. Granted I might still try something, but I won't invest much into some of the open grained stuff that's been mentioned because that's a characteristic I hate.
> Thanks guys.



Well, if you don't like open grained, put Zebra wood on your list. It looks great when you're done, but it is as open grained as oak.

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## Bean_counter

BrentWin said:


> Ditto
> 
> 
> Man, I haven't seen a beer "from the land of sky blue waters" in a long time. Come to think of it, I haven't seen a Lone Star for a long time either. Do they still have Pearl down in TX Kevin?



Yep Brent, we still have pearl down here comes in a salmon/pink colored can.... Probably the worst beer I have ever tried besides arrogant bastard. Schlitz is around to, had a buddy from ol' Mexico that drinks the hell out of it... Stuff will give you the Schlitz Shitz as well... Love me some lone star though if I'm in a cheap mood

I hate desert ironwood, smells and is hard as a rock but it sure is pretty when done.


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## Mike1950

Any wood that does not do what i want it to or lets me cut it too short or any of the many other ways to screw it up- I HATE DUMB wood!!!!!

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## El Guapo

Bean_counter said:


> Yep Brent, we still have pearl down here comes in a salmon/pink colored can.... Probably the worst beer I have ever tried besides arrogant bastard. Schlitz is around to, had a buddy from ol' Mexico that drinks the hell out of it... Stuff will give you the Schlitz Shitz as well... Love me some lone star though if I'm in a cheap mood
> 
> I hate desert ironwood, smells and is hard as a rock but it sure is pretty when done.



You can't exactly make a trip to the lake or river without stocking up on Lonestar in a can. 

As far as wood that I hate, right now it is African Blackwood. I got a splinter in the fold/webbing of my third finger on my right hand two weeks ago... you could have made a pepper mill out of this splinter, it was huge and DEEP. 45 minutes three people digging in my finger/hand and we finally got it all out.


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## BrentWin

Mike1950 said:


> Any wood that does not do what i want it to or lets me cut it too short or any of the many other ways to screw it up- I HATE DUMB wood!!!!!


 
Amen! I hate dumb wood. I had one piece that was so dumb, I cut it 3 times and it was STILL to short!

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## daugher12

canarywood, it makes me feel like I have cotton stuffed in my head.


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## bald9eagle

A second vote for black palm. I bought a piece when I was just starting turning cause it was cheap. I learned the hard way. It was the first thing I ever tried to turn on my lathe. It didn't help that I didn't know a thing about sharpening tools so I was trying to turn this thing with a dull 3 piece set of cheap tools.

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