Would you turn this piece of wood?

Hi,

I have a pretty piece of wood I would like to turn to make a "dry arrangement" vase.

I am pretty much a novice at turning. The wood has some cracks. The area where a branch started has all sorts of wood grain changes.
The long straight line is a pencil mark, not a crack.

The wood is genuine pallet. It is 1 3/4 x 2 2/8 x approx 10". It is a hard, heavy, dense piece of wood.

The questions are:
Would you attempt to turn this piece of wood?
How would you do it to protect yourself?
Just plain ole, "How would you do it?"

It looks like fun. However, I don't want to kill myself in the process and I would like it to look decent when I'm finished.

Thanks a million for any help.

Enjoy,

JimB

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hey yo ole geezer:) i wouldnt turn it for two reasons the first is i dont turn at all:) and the second reason is it has to many flaws in it,, if your outa wood good enough to turn i will send you some worth turning:) seriously it has checks and knotty area which all will cause you greif and its not wortht he the time to make something out of it burn it jim and get some good wood..
 
Larry,

I knew it wasn't good wood. However, it appealed to me aesthetically.

No, I do not want to kill myself to make something pretty. However, I do see turnings from spalted wood. To me spalted wood would have many of the same problems as my pretty piece of pallet wood. The "earthiness" of the wood appealed to me---sort of like a REALLY WATERED DOWN version of Vaughn's piece of burned manzaneta (OK I can't spell it).

Yes, I have two wood stoves. Yes, I can use it for firewood. But I don't want to.

Enjoy,

JimB
 
Jim sure you can. Would i no ,as i don't like oak, and it looks like white oak from here. The thing i don't like about oak is if it's not real dry, it will crack even more than it is. It also warps like crazy, at least for me. Now after saying all that, put some CA in them cracks, put it on the lathe and give it a spin. Make really light cuts with sharp tools, and see what becomes of it. Good luck,and make sure you have your face shield on.:)
 
I'll echo Steve. Aside from the fact that it's white oak and I'm not fond of turning oak, iIt's highly turnable...those cracks would not concern me. (Of course I'd be wearing full face protection when turning it.)
 
I can't help you there Jim but I'm surprised that pallets in US are made of oak! Here oak wood is precious!

Oak is pretty common here Toni, not all that valuable in lower grades. I see a lot of #2 oak, ash, and even occasional cherry pallets at work. Often the boards are not of a quality to have a commercial market.
 
Yep, I was at the van guy and I noticed all the huge parts for his trucks and vans came on 10,12 foot pallets or crated up.
Most of the wood was white oak. He had a pile of it on the side of his shop, with his trash bins.
I asked him and he said, you really want it? take all of it and come by once a week I can give you all you want.
but when I looked at it, it was all knots, alot of cracks, and too many nail holes to make it worth the work.
 
Pallets from Africa are made of Paduk. Had a guy in CA that would cut up pallets and send me some from time to time. Then found out that all pallets are sprayed with insecticides and the fumes can be deadly. Otherwise, I make a lot of dry vases out of red oak with the flaws you have in that piece and they make each vase an individual work of art.
 
Hey Jim,
Didn't read all the answers, but my answer is yes, I'd turn it in a heart beat... would probably spend a little time with a bottle of CA before hand though... I don't discard because of a crack or flaw... I do look it over carefully and CA any flaws I'm suspicious of .... I would turn it with caution though just to be safe... I've had a couple of "perfect" pieces of wood either fly off the lathe or explode because of a hidden flaw... take it slow and be careful.
 
Thanks for the info Don, here all pallets are made of bad pine wood.

Toni,
I suppose you could get pallets made from a variety of wood, depending on where they were made... I've seen pallets that were made from some of the more exotic woods arrive in the U.S., because the wood was plentiful at the origin... I've also seen some pallets that the only reason they held together, they were strapped to their load and the load itself held the pallet together.
 
I can run it in my stabilizing tank if that would make it more stable. A lot of pallets from Japan are mahogany and paduk. I have a friend at a shower door company that calls me when the fun stuff shows up!
 
Well I have had a good "read" and a lot of good information.

I will probably try it Tuesday. Tuesday depends on how the new in box for phone, TV and HS Internet solves my problem. If it goes well, I will have a lot of time Tues. if not---I'm not even going to think about that.

Thanks again and Enjoy,

JimB
 
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