Native Timbers

Most people are not aware of the wealth of native timbers available to woodturners and would probably be hard pressed to name more than ten yet the names are so familiar from the more common broadleaf trees such as oak, beech, ash and elm to the popular fruit trees like apple, pear and cherry with all it’s varieties including plum, damson and greengage.

Hawthorn and blackthorn used to be a more common sight in our hedgerows and poplars were grown for the matchstick industry.  Sycamore and maple are familiar to all kids because of the ‘helicopter’ seeds as is the horse chestnut for its ‘conkers’, now sadly being banned in some school playgrounds as dangerous!  Nuts from sweet chestnut, walnut and hazel appear on the run up to Christmas as does the traditional tree, the spruce and sprigs from the holly are used for decoration.  Plane trees are also still plentiful lining the streets of our towns and cities.

Many trees are now only grown in parks such as hornbeam, whitebeam and rowan but the slow growing box is still used for hedging.  Willows and alder are still common near water and the list goes on to include mulberry, silver birch, lime and many more.
Many coniferous trees are also very well known such as yew, pine, cedar and cypress and are all suitable for turning, whether used ‘green’ or fully seasoned.

It is worth noting that the terms ‘hardwood’ and ‘softwood’ have nothing to do with how hard or soft the timber is – it is merely a means of classifying broadleaf or deciduous trees and those with needle shaped leaves.  This means that a ‘softwood’ like yew which has needle shaped leaves is actually very hard and a ‘hardwood’ like the deciduous poplar is quite soft.  Confusing isn’t it?