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Drying of vases, holoforms and boxes.

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I am pretty new at this and probably have a dumb question. I have several bowls under my belt. These bowls have been from both dried and green/wet wood. I have dried the green/wet bowls and twice turned them into their final shape once dried. I understand how the movement of the wood ovals the bowl and the end grain will sit higher from the side grain of the rim.
When turning other shapes such as boxes, vases, etc. How much of an issue is wood drying? Is it just a situation to turn to final shape and finish or should these types of forms be dried similar to bowls. I know this question sounds dumb but it seems to me that some of the shapes of these other forms of woodturning might not need to be turned twice. Do most of these forms of turning start from dried wood and typically are not turned from green wood? Any thoughts on this or input on what y'all do would be greatly appreciated.
 
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Not sure if you can find videos of Richard Raffen up on You Tube about his box turning, but he was an inspiration to me for my box turning. ALWAYS with boxes, no matter how dry you think the wood is, rough turn it first. Turn the cylinder, part off for top and bottom, rough hollow out both top and bottom, then tape them together with open/hollowed out parts facing out. Let them 'adjust' for a month or so, depending on how wet or dry the wood was, then finish turn. With really green wood, you may want to let it dry for up to a year. Wood always moves. Reaching 'equilibrium' is impossible for blanks over about 2 inch diameter. I use this method for boxes up to 5 or so inch diameter. They will still move after you turn them, but if you are using straight grained, and end grained turnings, if they move you can still remove the lid, but you may not be able to spin it all the way around.

With vases and hollow forms, like bowls, they can be done both ways since final shape does not include a lid that fits. With some of them, you may not be able to 'twice turn' them. Personally I like the warped shapes, for my bowls as well. For green warped bowls, turn to about 1/4 inch thick, make sure to round over the rim, let them dry on the shop floor out of wind and light, and they are dry in a week to 10 days. I do wrap the rims with plastic stretch film as that helps protect the most vulnerable part of the bowl, which is the rim. More difficult to sand out, but that is why I built an articulated arm for sanding, it enables me to hold the angle drill on the arm with one hand and spin the bowl by hand with the other. That is one of the videos I have up on You Tube. A bunch more on bowl turning. Hope to have some box turning ones out later this year...

robo hippy
 
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Christopher, I'm learning/experimenting with green wood also, so we are both learning.
Up to now, all my boxes have been turned from dry seasoned wood, or segmented blanks made from thoroughly seasoned boards. No wood movement problems at all, and I thread most of these so any problems would be very evident. I'm now making a threaded box from very green/wet cherry. I started by drilling out the 3 1/2" diameter rough blank with a 2 3/4" Forstner bit. The thin wall will dry quickly, a risk, but sorry I'm not patient. Then I lightly clamp around the rough turned blank, using two hose clamps. Now I'm abt 10 days into this, letting it dry in my shop. So far so good. I will get back to this forum when complete, with a photo.
 

hockenbery

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turning other shapes such as boxes, vases, etc. How much of an issue is wood drying? I

endgrain vases and hollow forms will go a little bit oval as the dry. Generally they are turned once and the ovalness is not a problem

there are a few box designs with loose fitting kids where ovalness Is not an issue.

however most boxes are turned from dry wood to make the lids fit.

143B44BB-B4B3-45CA-94BE-7E2D50E7194A.jpeg
 
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ALWAYS with boxes, no matter how dry you think the wood is, rough turn it first. Turn the cylinder, part off for top and bottom, rough hollow out both top and bottom, then tape them together with open/hollowed out parts facing out. Let them 'adjust' for a month or so, depending on how wet or dry the wood was, then finish turn. With really green wood, you may want to let it dry for up to a year. Wood always moves. Reaching 'equilibrium' is impossible for blanks over about 2 inch diameter. I use this method for boxes up to 5 or so inch diameter. They will still move after you turn them, but if you are using straight grained, and end grained turnings, if they move you can still remove the lid, but you may not be able to spin it all the way around.
Read and understand this quote, it is valid for all types of wood turning - remember the moisture must migrate out through the exposed surfaces so the the bigger the piece the longer it takes to dry at the core verses the outer surfaces and may never reach equilibrium. Last year I turned 2 barber poles from 8" X 8" white pine that had been run through a kiln 5 times before the operator said I come could get them and still after I turned the details they dried more and cracked.
 
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