Plum Log cut question - pic

Re: Plum Log cut question - pic

Mike Schwing from Maryland

>I see a lot of lovely natural edged bowls in there! Will the bark stay on that one? I'd take the log on the left and use the odd shaped pieces to the left of that pith as smaller natural edged bowls and to the right of the pith reclaim as many large blanks as possible.

The other one looks well suited to tall/wide bowls. I think you have enough variety there for a bunch of different blanks.

Might take one of those "swirls" and save it for end/long grain vessels. How often do you get tall plum turnings?

I'm no expert but I've been cutting up blanks like crazy lately.

Re: Plum Log cut question - pic

Bob Hackett

>Absolutely beautiful wood!It`s about like apple as far as being cantankerous in drying goes.The dark red streaking(in the wood I have)has remained pretty much the same after 5+ years.

Looks like the tree you have is just as convoluted as the pieces I have.The trunk I have was loaded with small burls(small gloat).I made afew natural edge bowls that flared at the rim(Like Bert Marsh favors)and the sapwood really added to the pieces.

The best advice I can give is to pay attention to keeping the wall thickness even,and dry pieces slowly to keep down losses due to splitting and checking.I learned the hard way to pay attention to the wall thickness at the foot and transition to the foot.Cut the pith out completely,the QS boards on either side of the "dog board" will look like red zebrawood if your logs are anything like mine.Good luck,you`re gonna wish you had more once you start turning this.

Mainely,Bob

Re: Plum Log cut question - pic

Bob Lemon - Sacramento,CA

>Thanks for all the good information. That tree was big enough for 4 of us to get a good sized load of logs. We have a piece of the stump that is big enough to make a small table top. We're looking forward to turning this stuff and maybe getting a few boards. Bob & Sonja

Re: Plum Log cut question - pic

Bill Grumbine, Kutztown PA

>Hi Bob

That's some real nice looking wood you have there. I would say that as much as possible, whether you go for natural edged or finished rim bowls, cut the wood in such a way as to maintain symmetry around the center of the log. For example, you do not want to have tight grain on one side of the bowl with wide grain on the other. The uneven stresses will only work against you. By maintaining symmetry around the center, you equalize the stresses as much as possible, and increase our chances of retaining all the work you have invested so far.

Good luck with it.

Bill