Turning black questions.

Re: Turning black questions.

Mike Schwing from Md.

>Check out the work of our segmented turners, here. Their work is "head turning" and is almost all done from flat lumber. Go to the AAW site ( www.woodturner.org ) and look for the gallery of "Tahoe Turner", otherwise known as Malcolm Tibbets. It is not just head turning and jaw dropping, but damned near sensory overloading.

Segmented work aside, since you asked, 90% of my work is done from lumber I harvest with my chainsaw, and 10% is from maple burl I buy in rough form and cut to suit my own needs.

You can do well on ebay if you sift through the results of a "turning lumber" search. Often enough you can "win" an auction with minimal expense, much of that is dry, ready to turn lumber put there just for a buying audience that doesn't have ready access to fresh lumber. Get to know the sellers and they'll sell to you "offline" without ebay fees and bidding wars.

I have a couple of pieces of oak drying, but I don't like to turn it because it turns everything around it black. Same with walnut, which is a shame because around here oak and walnut grow on trees.

Re: Turning black questions.

Andy in Raleigh

>A few rambling answers...

Check out the ornament gallery. Very nice work done with small pieces.

There are a lot of other options for spindle turning - goblets, "boxes", tops, yo-yos, and what not that can be high end.

Vases and hollow forms can be tall and thin.

A lot of the work posted here is by accomplished bowl turners. If you want bowls, there are options. First you might look into segmented and/or laminated bowls. Those are made from flat lumber and in the case of segmented, it can eve be scraps. The second is to learn more about finding salvaged wood in your area. I am not sure what part of the country you are in, but I bet there are other woods about. You need to make some contacts to find them and be prepared to cut them (chainsaw and big bandsaw).

Re: Turning black questions.

Andy in Raleigh

>a little more...

I am doing some laminated bowls using my scroll saw to cut the blanks. That's because I am cheap and lazy. The idea is that you can take two boards (one walnut and one maple, for example) and cut thin concentric circles in each with the table tilted so that the circles stack to form a bowl. Then you swap out every other layer between the boards. You can get 2 or more 8" bowls out of 2 pieces of 8" x 8" stock. The "or more" is because you end up with some leftover rings where the thickness and angle cause you to skip a ring when assembling. The "cheap" is because you lower the cost by stretching the wood so far and the "lazy" is because the turning just cleans up glue lines, overhangs and other operator errors from cutting and assembling.

When I get a chance to finish these, I may post something. I rarely do as I am definitiely just a hack hobbyist. They are getting postponed right now because I made the mistake of leaving a catalog with some cute intarsia patterns in it on the kitchen counter where my wife and kids could see it. I did actually get to use my lathe the other night - I turned a walnut dowel for the eye of a dolphin...

Re: Turning black questions.

John Lucas

>Jacoben

I'm not sure where you live but if you can afford a chainsaw you can find all kinds of wood. Go to the local tree trimming service and ask if they have any or will call you if they get any unique species of wood that they are tossing.

Around here the city picks up wood and makes it into mulch. They let me pick out a log and cut it up if I can find something I like.

The local dump used to let us cut up wood but they decided to stop for some reason.

That being said the vast majority of what I turn is dry blanks in the sizes you mention or smaller. I make hand mirrors usually from 6/4 stock. I make inside-out turning from 8/4. I make candlesticks and of course lots of Christmas ornaments.

Re: Turning black questions.

Duane C.Leach

>Hi friend look on the AAW web pege and find a chapter near you. Most chapters also list a web page or a contact person. Get in touch with one. They will be glad to help you in any way they can.

Duane

Re: Turning black questions.

jacobin

>Thanks for the thoughts. I live in Houston, which means that oak is about the only game going. Sweetgum occasionally, but mostly oak.

I'd like to see some of those bowls when you're done. I ran into that technique in a book about bandsaw, but haven't got around to trying it myself.

Re: Turning black questions.

Russ Fairfield

>I would be tota;;y happy if all I had were Sweet Gum and Oak, with the occasional shade tree thrown in. In spite of what you hear, Oak spalts beautifully and is an easy wood to turn while it is wet. Sweet gum will also have some nice lcolor in larger trees, it can spalt nicely, and it turns and finishes well, either wet or dry.

Re: Turning black questions.

Andy in Raleigh

>I'd like to see the bowls done as well ;->

It can't be done with a bandsaw. You have to do internal cuts. You set your drill press table to the same angle as your scrollsaw table and drill holes to feed the blade through for the interior cuts. People who have more skill than I do these bowls with no turning. They cut the rings so exactly and carefully that only sanding is required after glue up. They make wooden bowls with impossibly thin sides in star shapes or to look like bundt cake pans. Someday...

For now, I cut my rings over 1/2" to allow for slight errors I make cutting freehand as well as to allow a little shaping whenever I turn them.

Re: Turning black questions. *LINK*

Mark Kauder

>Jacobin,

I agree with Russ, Oak can look very nice - especially spalted, and Sweetgum is sometime cally Alabama Mahogany down here. Both can be difficult to dry w/o cracking - Sweetgum is especially wet wood and distorts more than most any wood I can think of. If you do turn them, cover them with a couple of coats of sealer (Anchorseal)and let them dry slowly. Rush them, and they WILL crack.

That said, if you go to my website, you will see that I got tired of turning those two woods, and started segmented turning as a result.

If you become interested in segmented turning, got to Kevin Neeley's site www.turnedwood.com for (in my opinion) the best tutorials on segmented turning.

Mark


Mark's website

Re: Turning black questions.

Fog Tanner

>I live in the Houston area and turn a little oak, a lot of mesquite and cedar. One of the club members (Gulf Coast Woodturners Association) brought some Elm so I have a stach of that. And there is always Pecan. I get that every so often. I do like the look of Oak though and it makes nice boxes and bowls.

There are some local tree services that will give you all the Pecan you can carry off, just so they don't have to dispose of it. And of course there is also pine. We have several people making pieces after Phil Brennan's visit. I have made a bowl from local Blue Pine, that turned out pretty decent. I am soaking it with oil to see if I can get it translucent along with one of Phil's Oak demo pieces.

For the dyed pices I do, I get 8/4 ash from Houston Hardwoods on 34th. There are a couple of other mills that have good prices too, but they are convient. There is wood all around the area, you just have to look.

Forgot the link **  *LINK*

Fog Tanner

>


http://www.gulfcoastwoodturners.org/

Whenever I want something different...

steve antonucci

>I find someone on WoodCentral that wants to trade. The wood is basically "free", since it grows on trees around here :-)

Shipping is expensive, but not once you factor out the free wood. (I pay your cost, you pay mine...)

Take some pictures of what you'd offer, and see if anyone bites.

Steve

Re: Turning black questions.

Gary Ljostad

>Oak is not so bad if it is turned green. Here is a piece from white oak that I did a few weeks ago.

Re: Oak Ain't Too Bad

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In Jersey

>Long as you've got a water bottle handy.

Turned the following from a Joisey Black Oak crotch. Went well when green and wet. Dry was a different story 'till I got put onto the trick of spraying the piece with a little water before making a cut. Worked slicker than, ah, slippery stuff. Doesn't distort the dried piece 'cause each time you cut the damp part off. Also makes the tool rest grip the ways much better, but then some people are bothered by a little rust . . .

Plus, Oak'll make a better turner out of you as you'll see the results of mistakes and poor technique right away |;-}}}

Besides, you're in Texas. Y'all are up to your spindles in that mesquite stuff everybody else uses for cookin' steaks, not to mention the Osage and Hackberry fences they all used to plant. Make a friend (give him/her a bowl) down at the municipal public works yard and you'll be shopping for a pickup truck, a big chainsaw, and a much bigger lathe before you can figure what hit you!

[Piece is 11"+, Finish is gloss poly]

Re: Turning black questions.

Andrew Hilton

>There are a few places online where you can get larger blocks for hollowforms and bowl blank size pieces as well as billets of all sizes and shapes. Just do some searches.

I also KNOW that there are those participating in this forum that sell woodturning blanks either on a limited, personal scale or commercially but forum rules prohibit the advertising of such things. You just have to email those that you might think will be able to get you what you want and I'm sure they'll help you however they can.

- Andrew

Hilton Handcraft of the Ozarks

Re: Turning black questions.

Dick Hines

>Russ, I am glad to hear someone else likes Sweet gum. I will take all of I can get.

I like green oak too

Dave Peebles

>I have to admit I like turning green Oak too, Here is one I did several years ago. It is Red Oak about 15" diameter. It was turned about a 1/4"thick. I did the Raffin treatment on the rim after it dried.

I have recently been doing some more Natural edged bowl with Red Oak. I find it works best if you can turn it green too.

Best wishes,

Dave

Re: Forgot the link **

jacobin

>Thanks for the link!

Can you give the name (assuming there is enough to go round) of the tree services you work with?

Hmm...there is a big composting outfit on 45, and I see they always have lots of BIG trees they are working into the mix. WOnder if I could beg off those guys for a cheap fee...

Re: Oak Ain't Too Bad

jacobin

>Nice work!

Re: Forgot the link

Fog Tanner

>I live down south of Houston in Brazoria county and normally find guys working along the county roads or at someone's house. I live in a rural area. The composting place on I-45 is one of the places where those guys have to PAY to dump their trees. If you can find them before they go there they will be happy to give you the trees. You just have to take the whole tree - makes better relations. It depends which part of Houston you live in. With the "Grandparkway" that they are wanting to build, there will be a lot of wood available (mainly Pecan down here). Another place is the road expansion and shopping strips that are going up.

You just missed a wood giveaway. One of our club members up in the Woodlands got a deal on a lot of Pecan. His neighbor was clearing some land and had some wood that a number of members got, you just needed a trailer and chainsaw. Another had some over in Beaumont. Another member sells Mesquite he brings back from San Antonio, at a very reasonable price. Alomost every meeting someone is bringing some freewood that they are overstocked on.

Another place I am looking into is some of the little sawmills over past Sealy or out past Dayton. Some have short pieces left, depending on the saw, from the cutting process. These are around 24"-30" long. I have turned some cedar from these pieces and the price was right - haul them off. Gets the wood out of their pile and most are happy to get rid of them. Only problem if you go over in the Dayton area, is you have to talk East Texan(which I can cause I'm frum there - my father worked in a sawmill when I was born). Ifin you have one them yankee ways of speak'n or if ure frum Hustin - don't bother, look out towards Sealy.