Free Walnut

[Jason Ledbetter]

I've been turning for about 18 months now, and I haven't had the influx of free wood that everyone talks about. I've talked to every tree trimmer/lumber mill owner I know and even scavenged a few pieces here and there to get by, but nothing of any significance has appeared...then it happened.

Saturday, a 5' x 11" x 3" slab of walnut was delivered from my lumber mill owner friend. It has been slabbed out and is still green and I don't know how to handle it. Should I cover it in anchor seal and wait it out, turn it into roughed out blanks and wait it out, or what? Right now, it's racked in my shop to try and keep it straight, but the grain is pretty twisted and I don't know how long it will last until it warps.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[TEK]

Walnut

Seal the ends keep it where it will be in the shade and out of draughts. There isn't really a lot you can do to keep it from warping. By sealing the end grain you help keep it from splitting. I wouldn't cut turning blanks until you are ready to rough turn them. Cutting the piece up will expose more end grain, which dries faster than side grain. The uneven drying is one of the causes of cracks. By drying it as evenly as possible you can keep checking (cracking) to a minimum. It will take a piece that thick years to completely air dry, but you don't have to wait. You can rough turn it before it is dry and follow the normal procedures for rough turned blanks.
Tom

 

[dkulze]

Personally, I'd rough out a few straightforward bowl blanks then seal up the rest and put it aside. Is there any pith present?

With the roughouts, you can get them relatively dry in a few months, take a bit more off, then finish turn after a couple of months more. One goes to the mill owner friend. You'll find that wood starts to flow in much more quickly at that point.


You'll also find that free wood gets pretty addictive. Congrats on what sounds like an excellent first score.


Dietrich

 

[Jeff Jilg]

I agree with Dietrich. And if it was me, I would cut it into 5 pieces - each 12" long x 11" wide. Then each piece would get mounted between centers on the lathe and rough turned to about 1" - 1.3" thick. Then each piece would get a liberal coat of Anchorseal and it would sit for about a year to slowly dry out.

Rough turning green wood is also good practice. It is easy to turn because it is self lubricated and it is softer.

Dietrich is also correct on his last point. Once you start getting free green wood, you'll never be able to drive through a neighborhood again without looking around. I think once you establish a good relationship with one or two tree trimmers you'll find that you have plenty of wood. In general you can give a bowl for each load and that will get them hooked!