removing ROCKS

[Zach LaPerriere]

Hi All,

I'm looking for advice and or suggested techniques... I found a great figured cedar root on the beach and it's had rocks and sand pounded into it.

I figured to remove the bigger stuff with an old crummy chisel and screwdriver, then rough turn with cheapest bowl gouge I own at lower speeds. All while wearing safety glass and a face shield. Then sharpen often until I get through the rocks and sand.

Another thought was to mount the burl on the lathe and (with the lathe power off) grind sand out with a 4 1/2" grinder and 24 grit.

Does anyone else have any special tricks?

Thanks in advance!

Zach

 

[john lucas]

Rather than damage the gouge I would use the 24 grit. I have used it as a carving tool and it's very effective.

 

[hockenbery]

If you have access to a pressure washer it will get most of the visible rocks. You may want to re evaluate. Every rock you hit with the gouge will ruin the edge and require many extra passes of the wheel to remove the damage. I'm with john 24 grit.

 

[Owen Lowe]

Depending on how long it was in the ocean and on the beach, you’ll never get the sand out completely - been there and done that. You could try to work it with carbide tooling because regular high speed steel won’t last a minute of turning without resharpening. Carbide is about your only option for fine, detailed shaping but even that may be short lived.

 

[Richard Coers]

You'll never get everything out. Roots grow around the rocks and dirt, expect to hit some pockets inside the wood. I gave up on root stock years ago. Not worth it to me. Besides rocks, I've seen bricks, steel, and concrete inside root balls. They can be a mess!

 

[Zach LaPerriere]

Thanks!

Rather than damage the gouge I would use the 24 grit. I have used it as a carving tool and it's very effective.

Thanks for the replies! Much appreciated. I like the 24 grit idea. I bought a couple hundred 4 1/2" discs a while back for grinding on my steel boat, so it's already in the shop.

My shop is torn apart with a re-insulation project, but I'll reply when I get a chance to turn the root down.

I know where you're coming from, Richard, on roots having lots of stuff in roots. I got some alder from a creek and it didn't even pass the chainsaw test. SE Alaska's wood isn't always the best for turning, but I'm lucky that most places don't have rocks in the topsoil, so roots are often fair game. That's the main place we get a lot of figure here.

Best to all.

Zach

 

[Gretch Flo]

Years ago I took out some Yew hedges from in front of house. My son-in-lawalso gave me a base of one he removed too. Such beautiful wood, but what a pain. I thoroughly sprayed and brushed. When turning I kept seeing sparks and found a pea size rock imbedded. Needed to sharpen about every pass. with the grit and stones. What a pain-Think a small dish took me 6 hours. Beautiful in end, but worth it???????? Hmmmmmm. Gretch

 

[Raul McCai]

Hi All,
. I found a great figured cedar root on the beach and it's had rocks and sand pounded into it.

Puts me to mind of a load of firewood logs I left out in the open for few years before finally cutting up.
When I went to saw it up , I was destroying chains on my chainsaw. Sharpening the same three or four times a day.

It was all grit blown from the wind. It was tearing my chains apart.

I got a carbide chain and that solved the problem but That grit was a nightmare.

Maybe an abrasive disk in an angle grinder to clean up the surface might be the way to start.