Selecting the best wood for lampbases

Yesterday I went over to W L West’s wood yard at Selham, just west of Petworth.  They, together with English Woodlands at Cocking nr. Midhurst, are the only two wood yards in the area that mill and kiln hardwoods. 

A giant bandsaw for milling wood at W L Wests at Selham



This is a Ziggerat Kiln which, when loaded, is heated and the sap in the cellular structure

 of the wood is driven out so that the wood becomes stable and will not shrink or warp.

 

I wanted some wood that would be good to turn and paint. I decided on Poplar.

 



Stacks of Poplar but nothing big enough for my lampbases

Unfortunately they didn’t have any bigger sized Poplar but I brought a 50mm square section length to get going and have some spindle turning practise.  Sharp and correctly honed chisels and a fast speed – about 2000rpm - should produce a good cut and finish. A similar wood to Poplar, called Tulipwood, is stocked over at Cocking so I may find thicker lengths there.  Such are the vagaries of sourcing hardwoods. Now I find myself looking in a different part of the woodyard. This is opposite to the type of timber that I used to buy for chopping boards when I was looking for big, dense, highly figured woods.