odd shape

[pitchfork]

Have been turning all winter > Place items on shelves near ceiling around whole shop in brown paper bags average time is 5 months dry shavings and bowls bowls are coming out very badly [ cracked] Bowed is this area maybe to warm heat with wood stove IS their away to keep fromBOWING very very bad this is only way I can keep up with my orders is to dry in this manner

 

[john lucas]

There going to warp. Some worse than others. The general rule is to turn the thickness to roughly 10% of the total width of the bowl. Sometimes this still isn't enough on some woods. The bowl will get so oval you have to turn it down to 1/8" thick to get it round. I have some Wisteria bowls that warped so badly I can't turn them. I'm going to just carve them to shape.
I would say the problem is putting them on the top shelf. It is noticeably hotter up there than the floor. I have been putting mine on the floor for the first 2 months and then moving them to the top shelf. It's also on the opposite side of the room from my heater so it's probably cooler there than anywhere else in the shop.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Are you packing them in dry shavings? Or, are you saying that after 5 months the wet shavings have dried? That part was not clear to me.

Bill

 

[dkulze]

What ya gotta figure is the outside needs to be slowed in drying enough that then inside of the wood can stay roughly in sinc. Dry shavings or warm ceiling is about guaranteed to dry the outside relatively quickly resulting in more cracking as the wetter inside stays swollen and acts as a wedge. Wet shavings, cooler air, anchorseal will help.

The only way I know to dry stuff more quickly and without cracking is to build a kiln of some sort. The key to those is keeping the inside humidity relatively high as you heat and dry the wood. This helps keep the wood more consistant in it's saturation. The other quick methods like boiling and alcohol are all about pulling out water from the entire thickness consistantly and more quickly also.

Dietrich

 

[penmaker]

I would try sealing the pieces, and storing on a lower shelf, even right on the floor. They may take longer to dry but you would increase your chances of saving your bowl. It can be very hot and dry up at the ceiling.

 

[Andy Coates]

rough turning

I think the advice you've already had is spot on. But I would put more enphasis on sealing the end grain, and, possibly, the side grain. It's one of the great ironies that we rough turn to speed up seasoning and then seal to slow it down...but it works.

Also, another factor could be the manner in which the bowls are cut from the tree. If you have the base of the bowl towards the outside of the tree then any warping will, more often than not, result in the bowl sides warping outwards, which in turn can lead to so much stress that the bowl's base cracks. If, on the other hand, you make the bowl's base pith side the walls will warp inwards, which can then be turned away at final turning providing you have left enough thickness.

Andy