Help required on finishing green wood

[Taffy Turner]

A very kind gentleman gave me two very nice logs of freshly felled Yew yesterday, which are just the right size for making a couple of end-grain hollow forms.

As Santa is (hopefully) bringing me a Rolly Munro hollowing tool for Christmas, it looks as if I shall be having my first go at end grain hollowing in wet Yew.

I am OK (ish) with the hollowing part (I think!!), but I have no idea what finish to use on the completed article.

The timber is freshly felled, and is absolutely soaking wet (which should make hollowing it considerably easier).

I am assuming a Danish Oil finish is probably the way to go, but do I apply it straight away, or leave the timber to dry out for couple of days / weeks / months before applying the finish?

All advice gratefully received.

Regards

Gary

 

[duncanh]

Lucky you - on both the logs and the tool. I have it and like it a lot.

What I've done when finishing wet wood was a technique I saw Jimmy Clewes demonstrate.
Turn to 3 or 4mm thickness and then with the lathe stopped spray the surface with meths and light it. Rotate the piece by hand so all the surface goes through the flame.
Obviously with flames you should remove any dust from close to the lathe and keep an extinguisher handy.

This will warm the surface and dry it. Repeat this until the surface is dry.

The surface should now be dry enough to sand with the paper clogging and dry enough to take a finish. I've used Danish oil or Chestnut finishing oil.

When I first tried this I worried that the meths would stain the wood but it didn't appear to.

Duncan

 

[Alf]

...spray the surface with meths and light it. Rotate the piece by hand so all the surface goes through the flame.

:shock: I always suspected I was too great a coward to be a proper turner...

 

[joekid]

i made a bowl myself yesterday out of beech, it too was freshly felled and soaking,now this is the first piece of timber iv turned since i was 13 years old/i cant remember it being this easy,i did put the wood in the microwave for a couple of mins on medium / then a minute on med high/the piece surface dried ok, so i repeated the process every time i left the shed to brew up,i had no waxes ,so used brasso, turned on the lathe and buffed to a lovely shine,suffice to say it split a few days later , ah well , should have left it in the shed for a while to equilize

 

[Taffy Turner]

spray the surface with meths and light it. Rotate the piece by hand so all the surface goes through the flame.

I was hoping that there was a less extreme way of doing things than that!!!! :shock: Not really an option for me as my workshop has all the roof trusses exposed, so I would be too scared of setting fire to something.

Also, I don't possess a microwave, so that isn't an option either.....

Cheers

Gary

 

[duncanh]

My flames have never been more than about 30cm high if you're worried about the roof. It just depends how much meths you spray on.
I was worried the first time I tried it but I've had no problems.

Duncan

 

[mudman]

I've never worried. Just slapped a load of danish oil on and thats all. If you've turned it thin enough it shouldn't move a great deal anyway.

 

[Taffy Turner]

Duncan,

Ah - I see. I had visions of flames three or four feet high setting fire to the dust on the rafters! :shock:

I shall just have to take my courage in both hands and have a go!

Fingers crossed!

Gary

 

[duncanh]

Barry - the meths burning was used to dry the surface enough to sand it without the abrasive clogging.

I guess I could have used wet sanding using oil but my power sanding pads aren't suitable.

 

[NickWelford]

There are a few professional turners who would use a light bulb on a kind of anglepoise arrangement inside a hollow form, if you can get inside it. 60 watts generates sufficient heat to dry a thin walled vessel fairly quickly. Obviously hand turn the vessel every so often to distribute heat and warp.

It's also useful for seeing where the walls are thinnest.

 

[Cutting Crew]

From a previous thread on microwave drying.

For the very thin hollow forms I turn, if I am in a hurry, I use the microwave to dry them. Because the pieces I turn are on the large side I use an industrial microwave for the process, but I'm told the power cycles and settings are similar to a normal domestic one.

Whoever suggested putting timber in the microwave for four minutes should seriously check out microwave drying by looking on Google, there are lots of varying methods listed. This length of time will cause serious damage to the timber and possibly the microwave.

My pieces go in the microwave on full power for roughly 30 to 40 seconds and then cool outside the microwave for at least an hour. This cycle goes on throughout the day until no further weight is lost. I use a cheap set of digital scales I bought from Argos for weighing the pieces. Whatever power setting you use makes little difference, simply adjust the time settings. As microwaves only have one power output they cycle on and off in the various settings anyway.

The method I have most success with is drying the pieces in a paper bag over a period of ten to twelve days, this is obviously much slower but as commissions can take up to two months, it's not a problem. I replace the bags far more frequently in the early days as more moisture is lost. These are the large multi thickness bags that some shop now offer to bring groceries home in.

Hope this helps.

Mike Swain RPT

 

[Taffy Turner]

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

As I am not in a particular rush, I might just try turning the walls as thin as I can and then bring it into the house for a week or two and let it dry out naturally before sanding and finishing.

Will this work OK?

Regards

Gary

 

[Cutting Crew]

Gary,

No problem with that, if I'm not being rushed for a piece that is the way I prefer to dry my work.

If you can get hold of them, put the piece inside a large paper bag, the paper attracts the moisture in the air and takes it away from the wood. Change the bag every couple of days or so.

Regards....Mike

 

[SVB]

just be a bit cautious with the meths on the inside of a hollow form - the narrowing form acts like the expansion stage of a jet engine and a good couple of yards of flame are possible if you experiment with the volume of meths added to the inside

 

[Taffy Turner]

just be a bit cautious with the meths on the inside of a hollow form - the narrowing form acts like the expansion stage of a jet engine and a good couple of yards of flame are possible if you experiment with the volume of meths added to the inside

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: Something to watch out for then!!!

 

[duncanh]

Cool! Must give it a try in the new year

 

[SVB]

I have just re-read your first post. The flame approach may not be the best with yew as it is very sensative to heat and can micro-crack on the surface. I would be tempted to let it air dry.

The heat approch works a treat with timbers such as field maple, beech etc.

BRgds

Simon.

 

[duncanh]

It's worked well for me on 3 peices of yew but they weren't highly figured. If they had been then I may have had problems using this technique

Duncan

 

[joekid]

part two,drying my wood, as mentioned earlier the first bowl i turned for years , it cracked like an egg, the microwave thing was set a bit high ive recently read the micro wave should be on defrost for two mins tops ,given an hour between each go, this dries the wood a lot slower, not letting the wood expand/contract too abnormally then returning the wood to the area it was lathed/ mine for instance in a cold shed when left there it was ok , when left indoors: the house it split, ,so next morning sanded it on the lathe ,then rubbed chinese wood oil into it for a nice sheen