Trees!!

[Richard J]

Hi

I am new to wood turning, and I own about 50 acres of my own woodland on my farm. I have a very large beech tree that has been down for about 3 years. I have left some of the more round and nicer branches nearer the main trunk attached to the trunk, and not disturbed the bark. I chopped a coin off, which seemed dry and NO SPLITTING , nice Spalting and what I thought would be perfect. Made my large fruit bowl, bathed it in olive oil......SPLITTING. But not on the spalting.
My question is, how do I preserve wood for turning.
I have a variety of different species, and would like to learn to keep in correctly.

Richard

 

[CHJ]

Here's some comments on storing/using green wood

To reduce the risk of splitting if the wood is not already dry enough then consider rough turning first before finishing the drying.
Wall thickness needs to be about 10% of diameter to allow for the distortion that will take place.
Here's an example of a rough turned bowl (ignore the coring details) use brown paper or several layers of newspaper to wrap outer surface.

 

[steve w]

most wood will split from the pith so you could blank it by cutting in half lengthways removing the pith then seal the ends with pva glue - then store in a cool but dry area maybe under breathable sheeting to prevent rapid drying.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

Normally bowls are turned with the grain across the bowl - starting with a slab and bandsawing into a round blank. If you have cut a "coin" I assume you have the short grain running vertically in the bowl.

Although no expert, wood will tend to shrink mainly across the grain unless the "coin" is very stable with equal moisture content throughout - even then it may split as the stresses built up as the wood seasons are often released when it is cut into smaller pieces.

Better luck in the future

Terry

 

[Mal]

I also need some help. I have some trunks of Yew and have an offer of some freshly cut Cherry tomorrow. Not sure which is the best way to cut and seal them for future use. Thanks.