Replies

1. 
   hedgehogtw | Sep 24, 2003 12:52am | #1

   One of the best ways to dry the green bowls slowly is to put them in a burlap sack packed in their own shavings, you can regulate the drying by putting the sack (or paper bags) in a garbage bag to retain moisture. I used to then hang the bags in a dry shed, checking them everycouple of weeks (or more often than not when I thought of them).

   If you plan on remounting the bowls on the lathe for final finishing make sure to give yourself a little extra thickness as the bowls will warp as they dry. Most of the time I would turn as thin as I could and then just let the bowl do its own thing.

   Small bowls can be put in a paper bag with a few shavings and nuked for about a minute (or less to start) then let everything cool down and repeat.

   I love turning green but it do get messy! So long from Grand Forks, Trevor

2. 
   GeeSeaWhy | Sep 24, 2003 01:13am | #2

   Hi Greg,

   Turning green wood is *fun*, isn't it? Hope you cleaned up afterwards, or your lathe will be rusty by now. Oak does that.

   Most techniques work best if you rough-turn the bowl, dry it then finish turning it. Nothing will stop a bowl from warping, various methods can reduce the likelihood of it cracking. Double turning lets it warp and leaves you enough wood to turn it back to round after it has (mostly) stopped moving.

   The approach I use is a variant of the LDD (Liquid Dishwashing Detergent, a.k.a. soap) method. Get a big jug of LDD and mix it with water (anywhere from 1:3 to 1:6). Rough turn the bowl and soak it overnight, let it dry and finish turning. Or just slather the LDD mix all over the bowl every day if its too big to soak. This works for chunks of log too - paint LDD over the cut ends every day until you get to it.

   Some links: http://www.woodturningonline.com, http://www.woodcentral.com (the Articles), http://www.woodturningplus.com (Articles, scroll to Drying Wood)

   HTH

   Graeme

1. 
   GregKopp | Sep 24, 2003 02:48am | #3

   Thanks for the quick response gents,

   I will try the sack method on some larger pieces and nukeing  some small ones. I have enough material to experiment a little. The LDD solution may come in handy for preserving some of the wood. I bookmarked the sites for further review. 

    Right now I need to create some wet shavings to go in with the bowl I turned last evening. What a chore <grin>. I did blast the lathe with compressed air last night but still had a little bit of surficial rust tonight on the bed at the headstock, noted for future clean up. I really enjoyed seeing the wet ribbons of wood peel off the tool and then the cool sensation of them on my arms. Thanks again, I am off to make shavings.

   Cheers,

   Greg

3. 
   Telemike | Sep 24, 2003 08:15am | #4

   The method I use (from Ernie Conover's book) is to put the wet blanks into three brown paper bags, each one folded closed inside the other.  Then, I wait 3 months or so depending on the season.  The blanks are now dry.  The bags slow the drying and allow the stresses to relax.  About 1/4 to 1/3 of the blanks crack, sometimes becoming firewood.  With luck, they haven't distorted too much to turn a round bowl.

1. 
   GregKopp | Sep 25, 2003 02:21am | #5

   Thanks for the information,

   I do not currently own Mr. Conover's book, but it sounds like a good reference. Turning is something I just havent spent alot of time on. But working with this green wood really gets me wanting to turn. I will be purchasing the book asap.  I understand that there will be some losses due to stress fractures but if I can net 50% finished pieces I will be happy, Christmas gifts for family and friends and plenty of enjoyable lathe time. Thanks again.

   Cheers,

   Greg

4. 
   Napie | Sep 26, 2003 04:50pm | #6

   There are currently 300-400 rough turned bowl and box blanks in the shop loft, I LOVE turning green stock.  I take it to about 1 1/2" wall thickness then store in a cardboard box full of green shavings for about six months.  Then into the loft for final drying, I find that I lose only about 5% to checking.

   Another way is to turn down to a less than 1/8" wall thickness, let it distort as it drys.  Turning that thin is a real challange and the final pass is really tense, but the material is free so you can practice a lot.  Richard Raffan's books and vidieos are a great source for info on this subject.

5. 
   Woodcrazy | Sep 26, 2003 11:57pm | #7

   I use newspaper to wrap the freshly turned bowls,  usually 6 to 8 full sheets wrapped around the bowl and then taped and labeled and stored away.  was told to turn the thickness to 10% of original diameter so a 10" bowl would have a 1" wall thickness.  Also if the wall thickness is not enough to account for the warpage you may not have enough material to get a round bowl once its dried - know it from experience.

   If you have a lot of timber, cut the logs to length and then seal the ends with paraffin wax. the canning stuff or even left over candle stubs. I use an old warped frying pan on the BBQ, watching the pan as the wax melts and then remove the pan with about 1/2" of liquid wax in and then dip the ends thoroughly.  this will stop the ends from checking and keeps the moisture in until you are ready to rough turn the bowls.  even split logs can be treated this way as the ends loose the water.  Let the pan cool and hang it up, i even leave a brush in it for painting the ends or touching up spots.