Continuing the Wood Stability Discussion

Re: Continuing the Wood Stability Discussion

Wally Dickerman at Green Valley, Az.

>Barbara, my experience with rough turned bowls and vessels is quite different than yours, except that I too seldom experience cracking. I've sold many hundreds of mostly hollow vessels, and can't remember ever having had one returned because it was cracked. I live in hot, dry Arizona, so humidity is always very low. I don't have AC in my shop so at times it's very hot. I've seldom used paper bags, though I know they can help. After rough turning I merely slather on Johnson's Paste Wax, outside only, sometimes twice, put the piece on a shelf in my shop, and let it dry. If it's a wood that's prone to cracking, such as fruit wood, cherry, etc. I'll cover it with Anchorseal instead of my regular wax. If it was really wet, I'll put it in a paper bag for a month or so. I never finish turn a piece that isn't completely dry. I don't rough turn wet wood in the Summer months when it's hot. Right now I have over 60 rough turned vessels in my shop. As far as I know, not one is cracked. I've used this system for years, both here in Arizona and in western Washington state. I can't really tell you why my system works when I hear of so many problems others have.

Wally

Wally

Re: Continuing the Wood Stability Discussion

Barbara Gill, Remlik Virginia

>Oh well, so much for my theory. :-) One thing we have in common is that I do most of my rough turning in the winter also.

Re: Continuing the Wood Stability Discussion

Jorge Casta�eda ~ East Penobscot Bay

>Hi Barbara,

I am new to turning and like you I only turn in the dead of winter and my shop it is not heated and I live in an island in Maine, the north Atlantic is the polar opposite of Arizona. Blanks that were prepared 2 years ago, turned before this past christmas did look good out in the cold shop, as soon as they were brought in the house, they developed a number of cracks, not too big but cracks, following Wally's advice, they were submerged in a 50-50 mix of water and white glue and left in there for a couple days, then let to dry in a cool spot. I re-turned one a few weeks ago and the cracks are gone and after oil and shellac is back in the house and has not moved so far.

I am going to try bringing the blanks in the house for a while before turning and see what happens.

Re: Continuing the Wood Stability Discussion

Mike Rubes

>Hi Wally,

It's only in the last 6 months or so that I've started to turn green stuff. I am a fan of the "less is more" philosophy and so, like your method, have tried to just turn them rough, coat them, then sit them on the shelf and let them dry. So far, (through about 15 bowls :) ), none have cracked yet. This includes some maple, dogwood, bradford pear, walnut, redtipped photonia, ash and magnolia.

I know you do a lot of burl work and was wondering if you use the anchorseal or paste wax on those blanks? I've actually used the paste wax on some and the achorseal on some without much thought as to what type of wood it was, rather which was handy at the time. I do like the ease of application of the achorseal so will probably end up using that more than the wax.

Like others, I've no AC in the garage - er, shop, and the portable heaters are only on when I am working. The blanks dry in a utility closet in one corner of the garage.

Thanks,

Mike

More snow?!?!? in Apex, NC!!!

Re: Continuing the Wood Stability Discussion

Wally Dickerman at Green Valley, Az.

>Mike, you have quite a variety there. None of them woods that are available in the western US.

You're right, more than half of my turnings are burl wood. Burl isn't a problem wood when rough turned so I coat it with wax. The difference in using Anchorseal and wax, is that Anchorseal seals better, so the wood takes a little longer to dry.

Wally