Help with wood blanks

[sooty]

Last year my friend and I pollarded a laburnum tree in my garden that was getting to big we shared the wood between us we both got piece of trunk about 6' long and 9" diameter plus various other pieces ranging from 6" to 2" diameter
some of the larger pieces I resawn to 3/4" thick boards and laid them on racks for drying out with spacers between the boards

What I want to know is I still have some pieces about 8"diam which I would like to use for turning I have heard you have to cut the wood in half to remove the heartwood as it is very prone to splitting is this true or can I turn the 8" lump as it is?

 

[PowerTool]

Youv'e got the option of turning it whilst wet/green,or leaving it to dry.
If you turn it green,you need to turn it very thin or it will distort as it dries.
Alternatively ,you can rough it down,and leave it slightly oversize - then air/kiln dry it,and you may need to true it up again when dried (hence leaving it oversize)
Bowl blanks are normally made by halving the timber lengthways (splitting it down the middle) then cutting squares/rounds out of one half and sealing the end grain,then air/kiln drying it.
Moisture loss is higher from exposed grain,hence the need to seal it (to even out the moisture loss) and nearly all timbers will crack/split/shake if dried "in the round".
So the heartwood does not need to be removed,as most timbers have an interesting contrast between the heartwood and sapwood (with woodturning,"defect" = "feature" :lol: )

Andrew

 

[CHJ]

sooty, some idea of the state of you logs at this time would help in advice.

Have they developed any cracks in the ends?
Are any cracks just radiating from the centre?
Or do the reach or start from the periphery?

Basically if you cut the blanks in half and turn small bowls from the half-round sections you may get cracks starting from the heartwood in the rim, causing you to have to turn this off, thus reducing the height of the bowl. Sometimes heart wood can be salvaged by fixing the cracks with low viscosity CA glue, with or without fine sanding dust filler.

If you turn the logs in the round and bore out the centre end-grain, ---vase shape---, then you may have cracks in the centre base, especially if the base is thicker than the side walls, once again these can be filled/glued.

A lot depends on how dry the wood is at the moment and wether you need to 'Green turn' as Andrew said, this will speed drying but you need to control the drying rate to prevent through cracks from forming.

I have had some success with this method of drying but not every type of wood or shape plays ball, experimentation is needed.

Some pieces here and in the next few pages that were dried with meths

 

[sooty]

I am afraid some of it is cracked across the end of the log but to be fair I did not know about sealing the ends, and the logs lay about for 2 to 3 weeks and the cracks were there before I sealed them they dont seem to have got any worse since they were sealed

I will take some photo's and try to post them then you can give me your considered opinion

 

[sooty]

This is what they look like
I dont think the cracks are very deep and may be able to cut them out
but if its going to split again after I turn it? I dont know wether to turn it as is or split it down the middle and salvage what I can?

 

[CHJ]

This is what they look like
I dont think the cracks are very deep and may be able to cut them out
but if its going to split again after I turn it? I dont know wether to turn it as is or split it down the middle and salvage what I can?

I personally would cut the end off each piece a little over the diameter in length, (both ends that are cracked).
Split these along the dominant crack, then either:
1. turn these split semi circular pieces green and await further drying before finishing off.
2. seal the ends with wax or gloss paint and allow to continue drying.

The central (lengthwise) portion of the logs left after above, if no sign of cracks, seal the ends and store vertically for further drying.

In either case do not try to speed up drying if drying naturally*, placing in a stiff paper bag to dry is helpful as it maintains a more even moisture environment around the piece.
Placing in a plastic bag also works but they will need daily attention to remove moisture and fungal growth may occur.

*I.E. do not place in centrally heated room or airing cupboard.

The above are just my feelings on the subject, others may have a different take or experience, drying/salvaging green wood in these sizes is a bit of a black art as there are so many variables in each situation regarding moisture content of storage area etc. whatever, good luck, I hope you manage to get something useful out of them.

 

[Anonymous]

I always dry my timber wrapped in news paper - its a similar method to the paper bag one - but cheaper !!

I rough turn bowls to leave about 15% of the diameter as the thickness of the walls and then wrap in newspaper.

 

[Russell]

What do you want to turn out of the logs. Hollow forms with even wall thickness will turn well out of the wet log. If your not ready to turn them seal the ends with wax as mentioned earlier and store in a cool, well ventilated and out of the rain. When you want to use them trim the ends to at least 2 " below the splits and use immediately. Turn to even wall thickness or they will split again.

If you want to split them they will twist and warp but dry quicker. The main problem with logs that are not processed is they are loosing moisture from the ends whilst staying very wet in the middle all you can do is reduce and control this a small amount. At the end of the day no one will beable to stop the timber from splitting and moving. I store logs under my house for 4 - 5 years and get about a 50% loss form splitting sometimes its worth machining the splits out to make 2 x 2" lengths etc success depends very much on timber type and how you store it. I'm lazy so I don't rotate logs or or do anything more than seal the ends.

 

[sooty]

I dont know what I am doing with the wood yet probably turn some bowls or small goblets out of it but need lots of practice first as I have only been woodturning for a few days.

Some of the logs I have resawn to make boards about 23mm thick and about 2' long which are ideal for small trinket boxes I sealed the ends of the boards when I cut them and stack them with spacers in between they have not cracked in 6 months?
I resaw them to 10mm before I use them
Used one of the boards 6 or 7 weeks ago to make a small box to hold Post-it type notes at the side of the telephone and that seems fine

I seal the ends with Finnegans waxoyl dont know if you have heard of it its an automotive product made for sealing the car bodywork against moisture I use this simply because I had a gallon tin left over from my car DIY days seems to work ok

But as I said earlier these logs were cracked before they were sealed

 

[twister]

Sooty,
I've also used waxol in the past; problem is it really needs to be heated to penetrate well and SWMBO was not very impressed with the smell that permeated from the kitchen :evil: :evil: . Also I found that it stays rather tacky & attracts loads of dust. These days SWMBO gets me those big candles IKEA sell for a few pence & I melt them down, although she would say that she wanted the candles for the dining table .
If you're looking for ideas, it may be worth considering a couple of natural edge bowls as there is lovely contrast between the heart and sapwood.
Chas wrote;

seal the ends and store vertically for further drying

Whats the advantage to vertical rather than horizontal Chas ? Should I go & shift all the stuff I've got drying??

Twister

 

[CHJ]

Chas wrote;

seal the ends and store vertically for further drying

Whats the advantage to vertical rather than horizontal Chas ? Should I go & shift all the stuff I've got drying??

Twister

I can't recall where I first found reference to vertical stacking, but it made sense at the time, I think it was regarding the normal capillary function of the timber and encouraging it to drain more readily.

EDIT: Thinking about it I doubt that 'draining' as such will take place as this is a contradiction of the term capillary action. It was probably more to do with greater/more even air circulation higher off the floor.

Perhaps someone else around the forum has more specific info.

It's certainly easier to sort and move around stacked on end.

The Peter Child Site has a reasonable discourse on green timber use which might be of interest.