I have been cutting and drying Spotted Alder in the hopes of being able to turn it on the lathe or do other work with it besides the basic hair sticks I've been making. Spotted Alder is considered by most to be junk. The only use I've seen locally is people burning it as emergency firewood. It isn't even very good at that. It burns plenty hot but is reduced to ashes in very short order. It also is reputed to soot up the chimney in a hurry.
So why do I want to turn the stuff on the lathe? Well in making hair sticks I've noticed that it takes a stain well and the colour can be pretty nice. I also have unlimited access to the stuff. It grows here faster than I can use it.
Today I got my chance. I had a good dry stick of it and if I made slimmer bud vases it was hefty enough for the job. I turned the three little vases pictured above today. I think they turned out beautifully. We oiled them only. That is the natural colour. I am pleased with the results and will be making a lot more of them. I just have to wait for more of the wood I harvested to dry out.
Turning it was a challenge. It has a tendency to splinter and chip, even worse than Spruce. I had to keep a keen edge of the chisels and I had to make very delicate finishing cuts. Even with that, I had to do quite a bit of sanding to get a nice smooth finish. Sanding removed material faster than any other wood I've worked to date and I had to work carefully or I'd obliterate the details. No complaints though. This experiment was one hundred percent successful.
