>I just got four hunks of NIP and need some help on where to start. Do I turn it green now or wait for it to dry some? How do you contend with the pitch? Do you rough turn and soak in alcohol? How prone is NIP to cracking? The largest piece is about 16" diameter and the other three are about 8" by 10". I have read about the orientation of the limbs for placement in the turning. As you can tell, I have never dealt with this stuff and can use some help. Help, Help, Help.
>I have turned several. You can turn it green or dry, but like most woods, green is easier. You can turn to final thickness--if the thickness is even throughout you should not have any splitting. For a piece that is not very thick, I mount to a faceplate and turn the outside first, then reverse and hollow the outside using the tailstock as long as possible while hollowing. Then I use a vacuum chuck to finish the inside. The trick is positioning the branches for opimum effect on the piece. The top section in your photo looks like a flatter bowl shape would be ideal. The flatter shapes will permit cutting through the branches at a severe angle resulting in a star pattern if done right. The inside is where the best effect can be seen, so if there is enough wood available, I would turn the inside first (no concern for the screws from the faceplate because there is lots of depth) to the concave shape desired and because you are looking at essentially the final result, stop cutting when the branch pattern you think is best. Then reverse with the concave surface to the headstock and jam chuck, vacuum chuck, or whatever means are in your arsenal to turn the piece with the tailstock in place. Turn the outside leavng the tailstock in place as long as possible. I try to turn to about a 3/16" thickness and the sanding will get the walls down to a translucent thin-ness. Soak in Russ' witches brew (Russ' Corner) for as long as possible, or employ multiple soakings with wet & dry sanding after each soaking period. The finishing can and usually will take longer than the turning. Hope this helps. Glad to email you photos if you like. (Don't know how to post them)
You are in for a treat! I've only turned two bowls from Norfolk Pine, but it was great wood to work with. David gave some great advice on finishing and how to orient the wood. The two I did I turned wet. Coming at the piece from the side (it's end grain oriented) I was getting these really long, gossamer shaving just flying away from the piece. It was great fun! I finish turned to size and then soaked for a few days in Watco natural danish oil. For the pith, I did apply a fairly generous amount of thin CA glue just to be help it not crack. Even as the pieces have dried completely, I've not seen any cracking or warping on mine.
Good luck and have fun. I'll include a pic of one of the ones I did.
>Les, contact Bill Sullivan at:www.swflwoodturners.org/BillSullivan.html and ask for his handout sheet on turning NIP. He probably has a website where you can copy it off.
Also, before you put this wood on the lathe, take a hand saw and slice the bark, top to bottom in at least four places around the periphery. Use a big screwdriver and pry the bark off. It will come of pretty easily. And, you will notice why you don't want the wood on the lathe with the bark still on it.......
