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Need a little help?????

S

Shelby Rainey

Joined
Feb 7, 2014
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Location
Coker, AL
I am new to this turning and was wondering when turning green wood into a bowl or whatever, what do you use or how do you keep it from cracking while its drying? I have been told to turn a bowl down to about 1 inch thick and then treat it and let it sit for a while. But what do you treat it? Just looking for some ideas to try. Thanks
 
Shelby Rainey said:
I am new to this turning and was wondering when turning green wood into a bowl or whatever, what do you use or how do you keep it from cracking while its drying? I have been told to turn a bowl down to about 1 inch thick and then treat it and let it sit for a while. But what do you treat it? Just looking for some ideas to try. Thanks
Click to expand...

There are various ways, but the purpose of all of them are to slow down the rate of drying. If the wood dries too fast it is liable to crack. It will generally warp less if the drying is slowed down. Anchorseal (a wax emulsion) and similar green wood sealers are used as well as just bagging the bowl if it is a type of wood that is less prone to crack. Some people boil the rough turned bowl to help relieve internal stresses that would otherwise lead to cracking. The wood is allowed to dry for several months, typically about six months. After that, the wood is put back on the lathe and turned to its final shape and thickness. Last, a finish is applied. Some different finishes of choice include various types of oil, lacquer, varnish, and shellac.
 
Shelby Rainey said:
I am new to this turning and was wondering when turning green wood into a bowl or whatever, what do you use or how do you keep it from cracking while its drying? I have been told to turn a bowl down to about 1 inch thick and then treat it and let it sit for a while. But what do you treat it? Just looking for some ideas to try. Thanks
Click to expand...

Shelby,
a good bit of the success in drying bowls comes from turning them with curves and an even wall thickness.

I do a demo on green wood and show some slides as an introduction ans as a handout.
sort of the 5 habits of successful greenwood turners. new turner have a learning curve to get these five items.
don't be discouraged. some new turners have about half their bowls crack. as your turning improves you loose very few bowls.

if you haven't seen this it may be useful
http://aaw.hockenbery.net/greenwood-HO.pdf

what works really well for me is paper bags.
wash the bowl in water when it comes off the lathe.
towel it dry
put it in a paper grogery bag
put another paper bag over the opening put it out of any direct airflow like a fan or AC vent
each day for about a week put it in two dry bags if you see any mold on the bowl wipe it with clorox.
after 5-7 days the bag will be dry and you can set the bowl and the bags on a shelf for 4 months
in 4 months you can take the bowl out of the bag an begin weighing it or checking with a moisture meter
in 6-8 months after turning is should be dry. (not losing any weight in 2 weeks), 10% moisture content.
 
Al Excellent handout. Wonder if there is a place where it can be stored so we can simply tell future turners to click on it. I get tired of answering the same questions all the time and your handout answers 90 percent of them.
 
Make a video!!!!!!!! I have to refine the one I have on it. Worst thing about figuring out how to dry bowls is that every piece of wood is different, and every local environment/climate is different too. If I had a wine cellar like Mike Mahoney, that would make an ideal climate for drying bowls. Dry too fast, and it will crack. Dry too slow and it will mold/rot. You have to find the right control set up for every wood.

robo hippy
 
john lucas said:
Al Excellent handout. Wonder if there is a place where it can be stored so we can simply tell future turners to click on it. I get tired of answering the same questions all the time and your handout answers 90 percent of them.
Click to expand...
John,
Maybe there is a place in the fundamentals. I think over time the woodturning fundamental will become the source for answering many of the questions newer turners have.

Also like Reed said those of blessed with humidity have fewer problems than areas where trees do not grow naturally.
Al
 
I found an error on the page with the illustration defining various terms. It calls the heartwood summerwood and the sapwood has earlywood in parentheses beneath it. As you know each annular ring has both although some species show little or no difference between early and late wood in either color or hardness.


Thought it would be good to point that out so that students don't get confused. It also would be worthwhile to explain the difference between sapwood and heartwood somewhere in the presentation.
 
hockenbery said:
John,
Maybe there is a place in the fundamentals. I think over time the woodturning fundamental will become the source for answering many of the questions newer turners have.

Also like Reed said those of blessed with humidity have fewer problems than areas where trees do not grow naturally.
Al
Click to expand...

"Blessed with humidity". Now there's an oxymoron...

Kidding. 🙂
 
I grew up in Houston. I supposed that we were blessed. If heat is also a blessing then we were doubly blessed. Funny thing is that it wasn't humid in Houston until I got out of the Army after having spent a couple years in Kansas. Somebody must have been fiddling with the thermostat while I was gone. Back in the good old days, we didn't know that it was hot and humid so we didn't have air conditioning. Then some stores and businesses started getting air conditioning systems and ruined things for everybody.
 
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