What is the Best Wood for Turning Bowls?

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Last Updated on December, 2024

Selecting the correct type of green wood is essential for successful wood-turning projects, especially when crafting bowls. The type of wood you choose to turn bowls can greatly influence the process and final outcome, which can affect its beauty and functionality. 

Whether you’re a professional lathe turner or just doing some woodworking as a hobby, the right wood selection is critical for bowl turning. 

This article will explore the best wood for traditional bowl turning while explaining the characteristics of each of these wood species and how they are vital for the process, the factors to consider when choosing green wood for bowl turning, and so much more! 

Stick around to find out. 

Quick Summary

  • Wood Selection is Crucial: The type of wood chosen for bowl turning significantly affects the process and final product. Various woods like maple, walnut, and cherry have unique characteristics that influence workability and appearance.
  • Factors to Consider: Key factors such as wood health, grain type, moisture content, and log size must be considered before turning a bowl to avoid challenges like cracking, warping, or difficulty achieving a smooth finish.
  • Proper Storage and Sourcing: Storing wood properly and sourcing it from reliable providers, like tree doctors or sawmills, ensures longevity and quality for bowl-turning projects.

List of the Best Wood for Turning Bowls

Several types of wood are used to make all kinds of furniture. Here is our comprehensive list of the top 9 best woods for traditional bowl turning. 

Maple Wood

Maple is a diffuse porous hardwood (more on what that means in a sec) known for its straight grain, which means it is relatively simple to achieve a smooth finish. It comes in various types, such as soft maple, tiger maple, bird’s eye, curly maple, and spalted maple, each having unique characteristics and patterns. 

The trick to turning maple is to let the wood age slightly before using it for bowl turning. Freshly cut maple does not accept finishes well, so it’s best to let the lumber sit for a while in a dry place. 

maple wood bowl

Walnut Wood

Fresh walnut is a good wood to work with on the lathe. Once oiled, it reveals a stunning aesthetic– its tight grain allows for a smooth finish. Black walnut, in particular, has a striking contrast between its dark heartwood and light sapwood, which can add a unique touch to your bowl woodworking projects. 

Walnut, including black walnut, is semi-ring porous, which means it has traits of both ring-porous and diffuse-porous hardwoods. 

However, you have to be extra careful when turning walnut wood into bowls. The dust produced can be irritating, so ensure you wear a dust mask during bowl turning.

Hand carved wallnut wood bowl

This issue is particularly significant if you’re using a power lathe, as they produce more particles than a pole lathe. 

Apple Wood

Apple and other fruit woods, such as plum, share similar traits. They often come in a variety of colours in their grain and can achieve a great finish. The diffuse porous growth rings add significant character to the wood. 

However, fruit wood bowls tend to crack easily. To mitigate this, it’s crucial to keep the bowl’s walls and base thin. Additionally, allowing the bowl to dry slowly can reduce the likelihood of cracking. 

Hand carved apple wood bowl

Cherry Wood 

Cherry is a particularly appealing diffuse porous wood for bowl turning, known for the striking contrasts between its sapwood and heartwood. Cherry is a good wood that yields a remarkably beautiful finish. 

However, like fruit wood, cherry wood tends to crack. To minimise the damage to your cherry bowl, it’s essential to keep the bowl thin and follow a careful drying process. 

Hand carved cherry wood bowl

Beech Wood

Beech is an appealing wood for bowl turning, thanks to its pinkish-brown hue, fine tight grain, and diffuse porous growth rings. It finishes beautifully and captures detail exceptionally well, which is why it is considered one of the best woods for bowl turning. 

Some people report that beech bowls tend to warp or crack. Moreover, it is also a harder, denser wood compared to some other woods, meaning that your tools will require more frequent sharpening. 

Birch Wood

The heartwood of silver birch typically has a light reddish-brown colour, while the sapwood is nearly white.

Due to the minimal distinction between its diffuse porous growth rings, birch can sometimes appear rather plain and uniform, which makes it the best wood for more plain-looking bowls. It is relatively easy to turn and achieve a fine finish because of its close grain. 

However, the main difficulty lies in storing the wood as it is highly susceptible to insect infestation and rapid decay when kept outdoors in the sunlight and when it gets wet. 

Oak Wood

Oak is a strong ring-porous wood that is relatively easy to turn while still green. It can achieve a nice finish, and its end grain becomes quite attractive once the bowl is completed and oiled. 

However, oak tends to become brittle during the bowl-turning procedure. When you create bowls with thin walls of around 3-4 mm, the rim can easily break. Additionally, the fibrous nature of oak can make it challenging to achieve a good finish on areas with pronounced edges, such as the rim or the base of the bowl. 

Hand carved oak wood bowl

Pine Wood

Pine wood is a great material for beginner turners due to its softness and ease of shaping on a lathe. For between-centres turning, a gouge or skew chisel produces a smoother finish than a scraper, while a well-burnished scraper is needed for bowl turning.

Practice and experimentation will improve your skills. 

One of the drawbacks of using pine is that it can have issues with pitch. However, proper acclimatisation and drying usually minimises this. Growth rings may cause surface undulations, but sharp tools and light sanding can help achieve a good finish. 

Poplar Wood

Poplar wood is a good choice for bowl turning thanks to its straight grain, great texture, and ease of use, which gives it that natural edge over other types of turned bowls. Although not as dense or durable as other lumber, it is versatile and affordable for various projects. 

Despite being a softer wood, poplar can be appealing with its range of colours, especially in splayed pieces. Turning it using a high lathe speed helps minimise tear-out. However, poplar bowls often end up with fuzzy edges. 

Hand carved poplar wood bowl

Understanding Wood Types: Ring Porous VS. Diffuse Porous Woods

We’ve mentioned the terms “ring porous” and “diffuse porous” to describe different types of wood. But what do they mean? 

Choosing the right wood is crucial for a bowl-turning project, so you should know the difference between ring-porous and diffuse-porous woods because this affects how easy the wood is to work with, as well as the quality and longevity of the finished piece. 

Ring Porous Woods

Trees like oak are known as ring porous and have large pores in the early growth part of the tree and smaller, tighter pores in the latter growth. This creates distinct annual rings that are easily seen and adds a unique look to any project. 

The large pores in the earlywood section of ring porous wood take in finishes differently than the denser latewood, which can result in varied effects when staining or finishing. This uneven absorption can be challenging, requiring extra care to achieve a consistent finish. 

However, thanks to their structure, ring porous woods are ideal for projects needing durability. Their striking patterns make a great choice for decorative bowls and other functional pieces for your home.

Diffuse Porous Woods

Diffuse porous woods, such as cherry and beech, have an even distribution of small pores throughout the wood, lacking a noticeable difference between earlywood and latewood. This results in a consistent pattern and texture, prized for its visual appeal. 

These woods are typically easier to turn on a lathe due to their uniform density, which allows for smoother cuts, and reduces the risk of wear and tear. Diffuse porous woods usually take finishes more evenly, making the finishing process simpler and resulting in a fine, smooth surface perfect for bowls. 

Diffuse porous wood

Additionally, the uniformity and subtle patterns of diffuse-porous woods are ideal for detailed work. They are often selected for their ability to highlight precise craftsmanship and intricate designs, making them excellent choices for artistic bowls, decorative pieces, and fine kitchenware. 

Read more:

Factors to Consider When Choosing the Right Wood

Once you have selected the species of wood you want to work with, there are a few factors you must consider before you create your bowl. 

Wood Selection

After determining the ideal wood species for your bowl-turning project, the next step is to choose the right piece of wood. 

Select wood that is healthy and free of disease or rot. It should have a straight grain with few or no knots, as knots can complicate the turning procedure and affect the final appearance of your bowl. 

Ensure the wood is cut to the appropriate dimensions for your project before turning. 

Size and Shape

image of a wood logs

The size and shape of the log are crucial factors in traditional bowl turning. Choose a log that is straight and free from knots or branches. The diameter of the log should be at least as large as the bowl you intend to craft. 

For example, for a traditional bowl, a diameter of at least 8-10 inches is ideal. Consider the length of the log as well. A longer log can be sectioned into multiple pieces, while a shorter log may restrict the size and shape of the object you can turn. 

Moisture Content

Moisture content is a crucial consideration when selecting wood for traditional bowl turning. Wood that is either too dry or too wet can pose challenges during turning. You can often gauge the wood’s moisture content by feeling it after it is split. 

If the wood is too green, it can result in a rough, fluffy finish or a halo of moisture when spinning on the lathe. To improve the finish, allow the wood to dry out in the sunlight for a bit.

Avoid wood that shows any signs of rot after you split it, as this can compromise its structural integrity and make it difficult to work with. Rotting wood can shatter during turning, making it challenging to finish the bowl successfully. 

Sourcing Wood

image of large number of a wood logs

Securing a dependable source of wood can be difficult– if only it were that easy to get free wood from fallen trees. 

One option is to contact local tree doctors. These professionals specialise in tree removal and trimming, and often have access to a variety of wood species.

They can also provide details about the wood, such as the species, age, condition, and whether it was sourced sustainably. 

Another option is to visit local sawmills and wood suppliers. They often carry green wood suitable for various projects and may stock wood from sustainably managed forests. 

These are excellent ways to find the materials you need while ensuring environmentally responsible sourcing. 

Storing Wood

Once you’ve obtained a supply of wood, it can be stored for several months if managed correctly. You can leave the wood near the felling site, in your garden, or your garage. 

To slow the drying process, follow these steps: 

  • Avoid cutting the logs smaller than necessary. 
  • Seal the cut ends of the logs with PVA glue or a similar product. 
  • Protect the wood from wind and sunlight by covering it with a tarp. 

A word of caution: Greenwood may harbour woodworms, and you don’t want to introduce these pests into your home. Therefore, it is best to store untreated wood away from any buildings. 

FAQs

The best finish for turning bowls is applying mineral oil or varnish to achieve a smooth and shiny surface.

Wooden bowls crack due to moisture content, causing expansion and cracking. To prevent this, store bowls in a dry place away from water.

A wood bowl should have a base thickness of 6-12 mm, side wall thickness of 3-10 mm, and end wall thickness of 12-20 mm.

The disadvantages of wooden bowls include being prone to burning, absorbing stains and odors, trapping moisture, fungus, decay, and insects, and being more susceptible to cracking and warping.

Wrapping Up

Deciding which wood species to use to craft your bowl with, depends on your project’s specific needs and the look you want to achieve. Think about your bowl’s purpose–will it be mainly decorative, or does it need to handle regular use? 

Ultimately, personal preference is key. Wood turners have their preferred species based on their experiences and the qualities they enjoy working with.

Happy turning!

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