Favorite Turning Woods?

[Ankrom Exotics]

Hello all,

We were recently approached by one of the major exotic hardwood importers and have signed on as distributors. This allows us very good pricing on an incredible selection of exotic lumber, turning squares, bowl blanks and burls from around the globe.

Our hopes are to take advantage of this opportunity and pass some great savings along to all of you.

Before we place an order I was hoping to get some feedback from you that might give us a good idea what types of woods we should initially invest in?



So?........ What are your favorite woods for turning? Do you have favorite sizes to work with?


Just some of the species we can order:

Aniegre (curly), Ash, Beech (spalted), Bloodwood, Bocote, Bubinga, Canarywood, Cedar, Cherry, Cocobolo, Ebony (several varieties), Imbuia, Jatoba, Kingwood, Leopardwood, Lignum Vitae, Makore, Mara, Moabi, Movingui, Pau Rosa, Purpleheart, Redheart, Rosewood (several varieties), Sapele, Shedua, Tulipwood, Wenge, Yellowheart, Ziricote, Zebrawood.


Available in 4/4 and 8/4 skip planed lumber.


Turning Stock:

African Blackwood, Black Palm, Bocote, Bubinga, Caranda, Cebil, Chakte Viga, Chechen, Cocobolo, Brown Ebony, Ebony, Ebony (striped), Macassar Ebony, Granadillo, Guapinolillo, Guayacan, Hormigo, Figured Imbuia, Imbuia Burl, Ivorywood, Jicarillo, Jobillo, Katalox, Kingwood, Kou, Brazilian Lacewood, Lignum Vitae, Loganberry, Mara, Black Mesquite, Honey Mesquite, Mopani, Mora, Olivewood, Osage Orange, Padauk, Pink Ivory, Purpleheart, Quina, Redheart, Red Palm, Rengas Tiger, Bolivian Rosewood (Pau Ferro), East Indian Rosewood, Honduran Rosewood, Tamboti, Tulipwood, Wenge, Yellowheart, Yucatan Rosewood, Zapote, Zebrawood, Ziricote

Turning stock sizes:

1 x 1 x 6
1 x 1 x 12
1.5 x 1.5 x 3 (6) (12) (18) (24) (30)
2 x 2 x 6 (8) (12) (16) (18) (24) (30)
3 x 3 x 12 (18) (30)
4 x 4 x 12 (18)

Bowl Blanks:

4 x 4 x 2
5 x 5 x 2
5 x 5 x 3
6 x 6 x 2
6 x 6 x 3
8 x 8 x 2
8 x 8 x 3

Please note that not all species are available in all sizes of turning squares or bowl blanks.

Burls available:

Afzelia, Amboyna, Asian Redwood, Australian Burls (all of the most popular), Cherry, Claro Walnut, Cochinchin, Coffee, Gmelia, Kou, Hard Maple, Mesquite, Pyinma, Ramon, Redwood, River Gum, Rosewood, Sindora, Thuya, Western Maples.


Your feedback is appreciated as we would obviously like to invest in material that will move easily.

Also, please feel free to contact us with your lumber needs as we are now in a much better place to help you out.

Thanks in advance.

 

[RAdams]

I prefer the plastic woods...

Acrylic, trustone, PR, etc. etc. But your list is indeed impressive. There are several species on that list that i have worked with once or twice.

 

[David Keller]

That's an impressive list. It's hard to go wrong with burls of any variety. As for the other woods, anything in the rosewood family is generally nice as are the woods with pronounced coloration(kingwood, tulipwood, cocobolo, etc) or grain(wenge, bocote, etc).

I turn all kinds of things, so the sizes I'm looking for vary considerably. Price is generally the deciding factor for me when ordering sight unseen.

 

[Fred]

I turn mainly burls, especially those of Australian origins. Domestic U.S.A. woods would include any spalted maples, etc. Sizes mainly used are 8"x8"x6" or there-abouts.

Your list is quite complete as for generating interest of others here. Best of luck in your endeavors we all and look forward to your updated listings. :biggrin: