What did I do wrong?

Re: What did I do wrong?

Sean Troy

>I,m not sure what went wrong, but take advantage of this situation and fill the cracks with crushed stone and epoxy or what ever and then finish turning. That could end up being a beautiful piece.I,ve filled cracks larger than that with wonderful end results. Good luck, Sean

Re: What did I do wrong?

Ron Sardo from PA

>Only a week? Do you live in a dry area? I'm not the expert here, but I understand birch dreis pretty quickly and your photo shows this. Next time I'd use anchorseal to seal the wood to let it dry slower.

Thanks for the idea

George Van

>Thanks for the idea Sean, guess I�ll be learning to use epoxy, that�d turn a disaster into a learning experience! I saw someone mention crushing shavings in a blender, how do you crush stone?

George

Re: What did I do wrong?

George Van

>Thanks Ron, I will give that a try on some of the others that are in bags. My shop is at 45% RH. I had thought that since the log piece was already drying for a year a lot of the movement had already occurred. Ha!

George

A Different Way...

Wally Dickerman at Green Valley, Az.

>I'm not a fan of the brown paper bag and shavings method of protecting a tough turned bowl. The bag helps a little, dry shavings not at all. (Wet shavings are dry in a very short time). For many years I've used a very liberal coat or two of Johnson's Paste Wax. It allows the wood to dry but protects it from cracking.

The photo shows nearly 60 rough turned vessels in my shop. All coated with wax and not one is cracked....I live in hot, dry Arizona.

Wally

Re: What did I do wrong?

Bill Hale / The Wood Spinner

>George

I live in dry country and this is the norm for me if I don't use plastic tubs. I rough out and put the work in large plastic storage tubs with tight lids. I open every day, check the work and ca any cracks. I take about three wks to dry.

Re. the one you have now. Like others said " fill the cracks ". I would add more cracks, 3 or 5 for show and fill all the same.

Be sure to return the botton before you do anything else.

Good turning and be safe

Bill

Re: What did I do wrong?

Mike Schwing from Maryland

>George, well it certainly appears to have lost too much moisture too quickly.

Here's what I've been doing since Bill G. described his method of keeping cherry from cracking..geez..I think it was Bill G...whoever it was, thanks, it works great.

Wrap the workpiece in a sheet or two of newspaper, and seal it in a plastic bag. Each day, unwrap it and put a dry piece of newspaper on, then reseal it in the plastic, not paper, bag. This will control the amount of moisture removed and will slowly dry the piece. Eventually the paper won't be wet/cold to the touch. When that happens, stop with the plastic bag treatment but keep it wrapped in newspaper.

This is working for me with cherry and apple pretty well.

Re: What did I do wrong?

Wally Dickerman at Green Valley, Az.

>Geez Mike, with 60 or more rough turned pieces, I'd spend half the day wrapping and re-wrapping with an awful lot of newspaper and plastic. I'm sure that it works, but it isn't needed. Wax or anchorseal requires just one shot.

Wally

Re: What did I do wrong?

Todd O. Cronkhite Native of Maine

>Wally,

When yopu coat your roughed out bowl with wax or anchorseal do coat the entire thing or do you leave a portion of the surfaces bare to allow moisture out? Seems to me that if you coated the entire thing you'd trap all the moisture in.

Todd O.

Re: What did I do wrong?

Wally Dickerman at Green Valley, Az.

>The wax just slows the drying process, it doesn't seal it completely. In a few months the wood is dry. Anchorseal works the same way, but it seals a little better so that the wood drys even more slowly. When I rough turn a piece I put a date on it. In 6 months I know that it's dry.

Wally

Re: What did I do wrong?

Ric Erkes

>George, I apply the 10% thickness rule to pieces that I plan on re-turning to true them up. In other words, bowls where the pith was above the top rim of the bowl.

I approach natural edge pieces (like yours) by ignoring the 10% rule. Since a natural edge bowl does not have a flat top to start with, I don't care if it moves. I am not going to level the top anyway.

If that was my piece, I would have turned it to final thickness. If I thought the pith was close enough to the bottom to cause splitting of the base, it becomes a judgement call as to carve out the pith to make 3 feet, or to leave the base thick/tall enough to be able to go back a true up the base once it is dry.

Depending upon my knowledge (or lack there of) of a particular kind of wood and it's drying qualities, I might put it initially (one to two weeks)in a paper bag to slow the drying, but I will not coat the outside with wax, since I would have to sand it off.

If you are going to try and re-turn that piece I would suggest you wrap it with strapping tape to help hold it together. It may not prevent a catch (or just centrifugal force)from breaking the piece, but it may prevent it from exploding.

Better luck next time,

Ric

Re: Thanks for the idea

Sean Troy

>I use a 2" pipe I bought at HD and a metal bar. I screw cap one end of the threaded pipe, Maybe a 8" threaded pipe and use a peice of steel from a concrete form peg. they are about 1/2" in dia. Put a few pieces of stone in the pipe and start hitting the stone with the rod. Works good for me. Good luck, Sean

Re: What did I do wrong?

Mike Schwing from Maryland

>Nah, Wally, I myself have 30 or so roughs drying out with anchorseal on them in various configurations. Its just that the cherry I'm working with seems to crack very very easily. The apple, which is supposedly the most nortorious for cracking, is holding up 100% with no loss at all by coating it in anchorseal, inside and out. The cherry pieces I was turning to final thickness wet - 1/4" or less, were cracking bad, even with wax. The plastic bag trick works for them just fine.

I didn't mean to intimate that this is something I'd recommend with every piece.

Re: What did I do wrong?

Philip Duffy

>The ancholseal method works best, that is for certain. Recently, I have been experimenting with the liquid dish soap soaking process as used by Ron Kent. I find mixed results. The wood must be homogenous, no knots, pith, etc, or the cracks appear. I have soaked logs, half logs, ruff turned pieces, and nearly final pieces. Soaking at each stage seems to work best for me, but I must also add that the bottom of the piece is a critical thickness. Drilling holes with a forstner bit into the end seems to help establish the uniformity of thickness that is required by all, repeat, all methods. - - just an one man's view. Phil

Re: What did I do wrong?

George Van

>Thanks to everyone for taking the time to post your ideas. You will all keep me busy with samples.

I do have anchor seal in the shop as I use it on my high value logs for the mill. I think I will have to try a forstner bit for boring the base thickness also. Filling cracks will be an interesting change as will grinding the filler.

So much to learn and try, wish I were 20 and richly retired!

Thanks again, George

Re: What did I do wrong?

Fred Le Bail

>Have read with interest all your replys concerning Anchor Seal and Brown bags, but what do you do with Burls where no end grain exist

Re: What did I do wrong?

Wally Dickerman at Green Valley, Az.

>Just coat all cut areas that aren't natural burl surface.

Wally

Re: What did I do wrong?

Ace Foster in Ben Lomond 95005

>If this were mine, I think I'd put a pipe clamp across it and see if I couldn't get it to slowly warp back together and close up the cracks. I'd use some epoxy to glue it back together.

As for what you did wrong, probably nothing. Not every piece of wood, however pretty, can be kept from cracking.

Ace