Being new to turning, I am finding it often difficult to get rid of tear out. Have watched Bill Grumbines video and have tried his technique of shear scraping etc. but the current piece of very dry maple is now only about 1-1/2 inches where it used to be about 3 inches. No matter what I do, I just can't seem to get rid of the tear out on this piece of wood. Am I doing something wrong or are there pieces of wood that will have this problem? Also, I have been told that kiln dried turning blanks are unstable therefore turning blanks should not be kiln dried. Is this true and could this be the problem with this particular piece??
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Tear out, no matter what I do
- Thread starter gary7
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use very sharp tools and equally light cutting and it also helps on really spalted pieces to soak them over night or longer in a mix of warm water and elmers glue I use 5 parts warm water and 1 part glue (I use generic from the the dollar store). I also use warm water because the glue mixes better and it seems to seap better at first and the glue mixes better. Let it soak them dry it for a few days. The glue will harden the fibers some what. If the piece is fairly large and still tearing out there are other options. I know a guy who rough shapes with a scraper and finsh shapes with a 7" sander. He said he got the idea from a fine woodworking article about 20 years ago.
tear out
You don't mention where the tear out is on the piece. Assuming it is at two patches opposite each other then you have end-grain tear out, which is very common, and we've all suffered with it.
The solution is, as has been said, to use a freshly sharpened tool and take the lightest of cuts. If the tear-out is in the inside of a bowl then try cutting from centre at the bottom of the bowl up around the inside towards the rim until you reach the area where the base curves into the wall. At this point stop cutting and complete the cut by cutting from the rim down to the point at which you stopped. Your problem now will be that the walls are getting thinner than you might like...but you'll have better luck next time, hopefully.
A ploy you can try is to brush on some sanding sealer to the affected areas and allow it to dry before taking your finishing cuts. Another option is to soak the areas well with oil. The point of any technique for this problem is to stop the fibres raising when you cut. This is what tear-out is; torn, raised, fibres. Wetting the areas with warm water also works sometimes.
Often you simpy have to accept that you will not win and call it a day.
As for kiln-dried blanks being unstable...
They are only as unstable as any piece of "dry" timber. If you take a blank kiln dried to, say, 14% moisture content and take into a home with a higher relative humidity then, of course, the blank will take on moisture; that's the way of all wood. Otherwise there is nothing at all wrong with turning kiln-dried blanks. It's what most people do!
good luck
Andy
You don't mention where the tear out is on the piece. Assuming it is at two patches opposite each other then you have end-grain tear out, which is very common, and we've all suffered with it.
The solution is, as has been said, to use a freshly sharpened tool and take the lightest of cuts. If the tear-out is in the inside of a bowl then try cutting from centre at the bottom of the bowl up around the inside towards the rim until you reach the area where the base curves into the wall. At this point stop cutting and complete the cut by cutting from the rim down to the point at which you stopped. Your problem now will be that the walls are getting thinner than you might like...but you'll have better luck next time, hopefully.
A ploy you can try is to brush on some sanding sealer to the affected areas and allow it to dry before taking your finishing cuts. Another option is to soak the areas well with oil. The point of any technique for this problem is to stop the fibres raising when you cut. This is what tear-out is; torn, raised, fibres. Wetting the areas with warm water also works sometimes.
Often you simpy have to accept that you will not win and call it a day.
As for kiln-dried blanks being unstable...
They are only as unstable as any piece of "dry" timber. If you take a blank kiln dried to, say, 14% moisture content and take into a home with a higher relative humidity then, of course, the blank will take on moisture; that's the way of all wood. Otherwise there is nothing at all wrong with turning kiln-dried blanks. It's what most people do!
good luck
Andy
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Edge pointing upward will tear out, no doubt. Dig-ins are a real possibility, too. You lose some of the control on a tool at some of the angles recommended for "shear scraping" with a bowl gouge as well as twist yourself into some interesting postures.
Take a look at your tool rack and get another tool for the finishing passes. I love the forged gouge for this job. Allows me to get the rest snug in for support, use an overhand grip for stability, and with its broader curve, gains more bevel support for less shaving thickness than anything out there in a round shape. Additional benefit in uniform metal thickness, so as you lower the handle to make the sweep inside into the bottom you don't bruise the wood with the thicker heel of the cylindrical gouge.
There are also crush-outs with certain woods, hard maple being one of them. You'll see this going toward the heart, between annual rings. It's not a scrape or dig, with fur around it, just a small, jagged pocket. It only happens at places where the skew angle on the tool matches the distance between the rings, so when you see you have "one of those" pieces, you can modify your angle as you cross the specific areas. I tend to believe it's the same effect that pops pits in the wood when planing or jointing, though I don't know how it comes about. Might have something to do with the ray orientation.
Take a look at your tool rack and get another tool for the finishing passes. I love the forged gouge for this job. Allows me to get the rest snug in for support, use an overhand grip for stability, and with its broader curve, gains more bevel support for less shaving thickness than anything out there in a round shape. Additional benefit in uniform metal thickness, so as you lower the handle to make the sweep inside into the bottom you don't bruise the wood with the thicker heel of the cylindrical gouge.
There are also crush-outs with certain woods, hard maple being one of them. You'll see this going toward the heart, between annual rings. It's not a scrape or dig, with fur around it, just a small, jagged pocket. It only happens at places where the skew angle on the tool matches the distance between the rings, so when you see you have "one of those" pieces, you can modify your angle as you cross the specific areas. I tend to believe it's the same effect that pops pits in the wood when planing or jointing, though I don't know how it comes about. Might have something to do with the ray orientation.
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Hi Gary,
Being a new turner, have you had the chance to get some hands-on time with a more experienced turner? It's often difficult to diagnose exactly what's going wrong from a distance. My suggestions would be hooking up with the nearest turning club and asking for some mentor time. Even if you're a ways away from the nearest meeting, chances are you're in easy range of at least one member willing to do some support work.
Good luck and have fun,
Dietrich
Being a new turner, have you had the chance to get some hands-on time with a more experienced turner? It's often difficult to diagnose exactly what's going wrong from a distance. My suggestions would be hooking up with the nearest turning club and asking for some mentor time. Even if you're a ways away from the nearest meeting, chances are you're in easy range of at least one member willing to do some support work.
Good luck and have fun,
Dietrich