Greetings,
I have some red oak logs (cut to about 14″) that I took out of my firewood pile. They are unsplit and have bark on them. Diamiter from 6″ to 12″. I want to try turning some bowls. I have a Jet 12″ lathe. Basic tools and knowledge. I do have a face plate that I can mount after the outside is semi-finished.
Any tips would be nice.
Thanks in advance.
Joe
Is it really saw dust or wood dust?
Replies
Wet wood, by its very nature is unstable. It wants to warp and crack. Turn the bowl to its rough size. Do not try to get to a final wall thickness yet. Immediately after turning (roughing) the blank, take it off the lathe and put the blank AND a good pile of the 'wet' shavings into a double paper bag (one bag inside a second bag). Let it dry for a day or two. The shavings allow the blank to dry more slowly and so it does not warp or crack as readily. Inspect the blank for cracks. If it has not cracked, back to the lathe for some more shaping and again repeat the shavings/bag storage. Change the wet shavings for some nice dry sawdust and let it sit once more for a day or two before final shaping. Remember, you're working with damp wood, so don't try to apply finish for a while. Also, apply a good paste wax coating to the bed of the lathe to protect ity from both the water in the wood and the acids in the oak. I left a disc of fresh cut oak on my table saw. It etched a beautiful ring pattern into the metal surface thjat I was never able to remove.
Hope this info helps... SawdustSteve Long Island, NY
My method is about the same, but I coat the rough bowls with cheap paste wax and dry them for about 3-6 months in cardboard boxes packed with their shavings. Then they go into the shop loft stacked loose for another 3 months to finish up, I have lost less than 1% to checking, (there must be 500 up there right now). Figure a least an inch of thickness for bowls under 12 dia. and 1.5 to 2 anything larger to give enough material to turn away the oval that results from the drying process. Turning wet wood is a blast and a great way to practice tool skills, (RUB THE BEVEL!!!). On a good day, I have roughed out 30 + bowls, in fact, there is an eight foot long 14" cherry log waiting to be cut up in the woodlot right now, I should get on that......
Joe -
The wet wood packed in wet shavings approach is OK so long as you don't leave the rough blanks sitting in their own stew for too long a time. I've had them get pretty moldy after a not too long time.
My approach to turning green wood is to rough turn the bowl or vessel to about an inch of wall thickness, or thicker if you envision the end product with heavier walls, then coat the entire piece with green wood endgrain sealer diluted about half & half with water. This is an emulsified wax type of stuff that slows evaporation of the moisture from the piece. Then I stack them outdoors under cover and out of the sun and forget about them for a few months. Takes a while to build up a stock pile of turning blanks but works pretty well for me.
Personally I don't like turning oak. Others may like it but I don't. For the size of logs you have you'll need to really anchor your lathe down - a 12" diameter green oak log is pretty heavy. If you plan on turning into the end grain I'm a bit concerned about having this size log attached to a face plate. Screws into end grain aren't terribly secure. Better bet, in my opinion, would be to invest in a four jaw scroll chuck; Nova or OneWay. And during the roughing down operation bring the tailstock and live center up for support for as much of the work as possible.
I agree with the Nova chuck idea, turning a decorative recess on the bottom has become a part of bowl design these days. I have used Polyethelene Glycol (PEG) with good results. Turn to rough shape then follow directions for treating the wood. Water in the cell walls is replaced with the waxy plastic and shrinkage and checking are reduced. I have been able to accelerate drying with the microwave after treating with PEG.
Another vote for a good chuck. I bought a Nova when it was about the only game in town and it has served VERY well, but there are some great new ones on the market. I never went in for any "high tech" seasoning methods, just turned a lot of green stock and in a few months you have more than you could ever finish, I just keep replenishing the pile when a good log comes along.
Fred -Never tried the PEG stuff but I did read an article where a guy used liquid dishwashing detergent diluted (as I recall) 50-50 as a substitute for it. Tried it once but perhaps I didn't leave the blank soak long enough. Mad only a marginal difference (wood in this case was green cherry).
Hi Joe,
I recommend the slow drying with wet shavings also, but here is one other option. You can try turning the whole thing very thin in one session. Try a small piece, and turn it down to less than 1/8 inch thick. If you have enough fire wood, you should be able to experiment. Start with something small. The idea is that a thin bowl of even thickness will dry out fairly quickly, and evenly. You can sand it. There will be some warping, but some people like that and consider it an artistic feature. I have had decent success with end grain turning vessels this way.
Ned
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