Ray Thompson, sneak preview of cherry root.

Cherry root.

Michael Stadulis, in Gloucester County, NJ

>Hi Ray,

Did this piece get dunked in the alcohol bath too?

Mike

I like it.

Ray Thompson - Middletown,IN

>I knew you would do something really nice with it. It will be interesting to see how the other pieces come out. Kurt in Indy has one, Jerry near Lapel has one, and I have the last one. The only problem now it that you have set the bar awfully high for us amateurs.

Ray

Re: Ray Thompson, sneak preview of cherry root.

Glenn Hodges

>Dave did you ever try drying a natural edge bowl with your denaturated alcohol method of quick drying? Looks like you have a winner here.

Yes it was alcohol soaked.

Dave Smith, Longview, WA

>Hi Mike,

Ray gave me the piece of cherry root on the 26th of Oct. I didn't get back to Longview until the 2nd of Nov. When I unloaded the truck I noticed the blank had a lot of cracks so I decided I needed to get it roughed turned. It was roughed turned on the 4th and it sat in alcohol nearly 24 hours. It is not unusual for me to leave pieces soaking for a day or two. It was wrapped and set aside until the 19th when I couldn't resist finish turning it. Between the 17th and the 19th the bowl lost 0.05 ounces so I figured it was OK to turn. There were existing cracks that didn't appear to propagate during the drying process. As I have experienced with root wood it moved quite a bit while drying. I think I over answered your question.

Dave Smith

Running off at the keyboard in Longview, WA.

Yes, natural edge works with alcohol.

Dave Smith, Longview, WA

>Hi Glenn,

I saw your natural edge bowl on SMC. Did the cracks develop during the dying process? I do not do a lot of natural edge bowls but I did a few to test the drying process. I found that the bark shrinks more than the wood when drying. I also found that saturating the bark with finish before doing the final turning and sanding helps maintain the bark. I let the finish on the bark cure before doing the finish turning.

Good luck

Dave Smith

Running off at the keyboard in Longview, WA.

Thnks for sharing a piece with me.

Dave Smith, Longview, WA

>

Cracking question

Ray Thompson - Middletown,IN

>I looked at the sister piece of yours and noticed little to no cracking. Since you had trouble with the big leaf maple cracking on the way out here and the cherry cracking on the way back, any speculation as to cause. Rapic humidity/temperature change in route????

Ray

Maybe

Dave Smith, Longview, WA

>Hi Ray,

I have to be careful I don't make any absolute statement without irrefutable scientific proof. It is possible that the wind caused a drying problem. Something I will need to consider the next time I transport a lot of wood a couple thousand miles. I hope the bigleaf maple you got is not all kindling.

Dave Smith

Itinerant wood transporter based in Longview, WA.

Re: Yes, natural edge works with alcohol.

Glenn Hodges

>I usually put a first coat of oil finish on the natural edge piece after sanding, and that is when the crack happened. This oil helps to slow down the drying, and I think this prevents cracks. Sometimes a crack appears and sometimes not. I was just thinking about trying to dry a piece with the alcohol before putting on the first coat of finish. I appreaciate any help you may offer.

Well Dr. Science......

Andy Halterman: Adios ojas

>just so happens I have two cherry stumps with full roots just a sittin' across the street yonder. Add a walnut to boot. Oh, and the pin cherry stump in my backyard. I guess tropical storms do have their good side.

By the way, looks good. :-)

Andy Halterman

Just finished cutting up some blanks (Chuck, some of this is for you) in Hendersonville, NC

Are you turning green to finish?

Dave Smith, Longview, WA

>From your post I assume you are turning green to finish in one step. I was talking about roughing out a bowl and letting it dry before returning it to the lathe. I found that putting finish on the bark at that time helped maintain the bark during the final turning and sanding operation.Since I have not turned a lot of natural edge bowls with bark I probably am not a good source of definitive information for doing it. The same principle for wrapping the outside of a drying bowl applies to natural edge bowls also. In my experience wrapped bowls had fewer defects during the drying process.

Good luck. Any input on using the alcohol soaking process for natural edge bowls with the bark on will be much appreciated.

Dave Smith

Fixing to turn a chess set in Longview, WA.

My name is not Chuck.

Dave Smith, Longview, WA

>Hi Andy,

There is an awful lot of work involved in extracting roots. I have found some great figure but there is a high failure rate of the wood. I guess there is a lot of stress in the wood. There have not been very many large pieces of root wood for me to test the alcohol drying method on. The cherry root Ray gave me is the largest fairly green piece I have gotten since I started using alcohol fro drying. Is white lighting any cheaper than denatured ethanol up a holler near you?

Dave Smith

No local moonshiners(that I know of) near Longview, WA.

My neighbor has a still, but...

BubbaBob

>...he gets $75/gal fer his corn squeezin's...course they are top shelf...damn I miss 'em.

BubbaBob

Gettin' all my corn from the cob in N GA

Re: My name is not Chuck.

Chuck Ludwigsen

>Mine is...

Thanks Andy. I'm sharpening the gouges and lookin' forward to it.

Chuck...