Like the title says... I don't know if I have an absolute favourite, but maple is really nice to turn. Mun ebony is also a fun one, its very hard and dense, but very non-porous and consistent, so sharp tools just cut through it so smoothly it feels very nice. I actually haven't worked with birch much (if at all?), but I feel like it is one I might like, based on how it feels/plays as a kendama. Least favourite: zebrano? The way it smells when you work with it is awful. I once inhaled a bunch due to a mask not fitting on quite right, and it was fucking terrible. WEAR YOUR MASKS. I swear if nothing else, that episode probably made my body react to it cause it thinks I'm gonna die. Wenge is kinda nasty too. It makes really small, sharp woodchips, and they're a little toxic to most people, so anytime I've gotten a splinter they get all red and pissed off until you pick it out. Luckily the tester kendama I made was one I jammed the crap out of, and I noticed that wenge was pretty terrible for durability, so I didn't really use it much after that. I have this big chunk of a northwestern ironwood that was given to me by a friend, and though incredibly old and stable, its like... incredibly sappy! Its so strange, I've never seen anything else like it, when I finished working all the woodchips were sticking to my arms, and if I grabbed the workpiece while it was still spinning I would get streaks of sap that would turn black from picking up dust all across my palms. Very strange stuff! It made me kind of uneasy, so the only thing I've made so far is a ken that is kinda B-grady by my standards for being a bit skinny. Soo.. I'm not sure how it plays yet. haha. I have a love/hate thing with B&W ebony too. I love how beautiful and varied it is, but it has the same sorta zebrano smell to it (though it affect me MUCH less severely than the zebrano smell haha. I can tolerate it for sure). Every time I work with it, I'm never really sure what its going to look like until I'm finished. It almost always turns out awesome!
I find that maple turns like butter, such a nice feel when working with it. Especially seeing the results it brings in the end. A good piece of mahogany is fun to work with as well especially since it is such a beautiful wood! Purple Heart is one of my favorite looking woods and creates beautiful pieces but being so dense and tough it makes the tools dull much quicker. It will always have a special place in my heart though!
Oh! I should have mentioned genuine (honduran) mahogany as one of my faves. Soo butter, though it is tougher to finish, since it is so soft. Keep your tools sharp and its a dream. Its been a while since I worked with it, since it is kinda too light for reg-sized damas (usually end up with 55-65 g kens), but back in the day most of the omega-series Terra kens were made from it (omega = handturned LBB sized kens)
Indeed, genuine mahogany is amazing to work with and turn but not so great for kendamas as far as weight goes. I made one with mahogany and added a 1/8" maple stripe in both the spike and cross cups putting it into the mid 60's for weight which is still pretty light but definitely some improvement!
Worst thing to turn is one of the densest woods in the world ipe, it dulls tools so quickly and catches and chunks so easily. I was trying to make a pill out of the stuff and it caught so hard it fell of the lathe and I broke the tool rest, seriously scary. Best thing to turn is probably green maple, so buttery and smooth like @Spencer Hill, you said, too bad it isn't a very interesting wood like zebrano or wenge or something, unless you have a curly chunk.
Ipe is also a little bit toxic, and the dust is extremely static-y, so it sticks to everything. I have a couple big boards of it I haven't used much (though Rod has chopped into them). So beware of that as well! How did the tool rest break? Thats actually pretty crazy
I just had a huge catch, and I was way out at the end of the rest and it snapped at where the stem meets the rest. I probably won't turn it again because how scary it was and I don't ever need anything that dense. And yeah, the wood doesn't really cut, it's like you are sanding with a gouge lol.
Thats crazy, I've never even considered that as something that could happen haha. I Once snapped a roughing gouge when I caught super hard, right through the metal blade, where the blade enters the tool handle. It was a cheaper tool, but still HSS. Scary stuff! It was right when I started turning, and I made the stupid mistake or turning into the sidegrain of a square jatoba bowl blank. The lathe was only like 1/4 HP but still snapped it clean! o.o
Good ol American Cherry is by far my favorite wood to turn. It's not the best for Kendamas but I've turned Cherry for years. The air dried stuff from the PAW shop is from local trees, chainsawed by the man himself using his x-ray vision for the best grain. (1) It doesn't move a lot when drying. (2) It's somewhat self lubricating (3) Spring wood and late wood are close to the same density so when turning it's always smooth cutting and sanding doesn't take away the spring wood much faster than the late wood. (opposite of say Red Oak or Ash) (4) It's local and air dried - sustainability and beauty!
Favorite is definitely harder woods like African Blackwood or Ebony. Turns so clean. And the wood I will never go near again is Palm wood. Straight up nightmare.
Hmm I have some black palm to turn, its been sitting on the shelf a while. Is it just really stringy and tough to finish?
Extremely. I have to stop near every 5 seconds because it just gets caught between the knife and the wood. I've only managed to have one or two things come off without huge chunks taken out of it. Palm wood is bad news