Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998
My wood cracked, what should I have done ?
David E Whiting
>I had a piece of cherry about 12 in diameter and 3 ft long. It was cut down about 6 months ago.I trimmed the ends about 4 in and there weren't any cracks. I then cut it in 12 in sections
and halved it.I rough turned one bowl that day and left the rest on the shop floor(not heated). Next weekend the cracks/checked from the ends which made them almost useless. How should I have handled/ treated the wood?
Re: My wood cracked, what should I have done ?
JL
>Anchorseal or several coats of junk latex paint on the ends. I lost a good piece of walnut that way.
Re: My wood cracked, what should I have done ?
John Lucas
>David
I use plastic garbage bags to save wood that I'm going to turn later. You'll get some mold but you can blow most of it off with a water hose. I've saved blanks for 2 or 3 months this way.
Re: My wood cracked, what should I have done ?
Barry Irby
>Anchorseal is good if you have it, but when I don't I put the pieces in a plastic trash bag to hold the moisture in until I can get to them. I have put bags over the ends of long pieces that would not fit into the bags. This works for a while, a few weeks, but if you leave them in there for a month or longer they will spalt and then rot. Just found a piece I forgot and it is rotted tot he point it weighs about a third of what it did when it went in the bag.
Otherwise, leave the pieces as long as you can and cut the ends off just before you turn them. That leaves fewer ends exposed to check.
Re: My wood cracked, what should I have done ?
Brad Vietje
>David,
If you were not finished roughing it, then you must protect it by either sealing it or bagging it. If rough turning is not complete, you want to keep it wet.
If you were done with the rough turning, and you want to season (air dry) the wood for finish turning later, there are a number of approaches that will work, depending on the local conditions where you live. The archives should have some good information. In general, you want to dry it very slowly, and common methods for doing this include: sealing the end grain (or the entire bowl in some cases) with Anchorseal, wrapping in paper, putting in one or two paper bags, or bundle a few rough-outs in paper and seal up in a cardboard box, all the while keeping them away from drafts, sunlight, and dry heated air. I have good success drying bowls in bags or boxes, in my unheated garage in winter, and in the cool, damp basement during the hot summer months. Another good method is to put it in a plastic bag, which is turned inside-out each day.
A lot of this is explained in an excellent book: Turning Green Wood, by Michael O'Donnell.
You can also investigate boiling, freezing, alcohol treatment, or liquid dish detergent (LDD), all of which are attempts to shortcut the drying process somewhat, and cut the drying time while minimizing cracking.
Safe spinning,
Brad Vietje
Thetford, VT
Re: My wood cracked, what should I have done ?
Peter Teubel
>Wet cherry will crack within a couple hours if not sealed. Remember, wood in log form is never truly dry no matter how long it sits around...6 months or 6 years. Always seal the ends with Anchorseal or some other sealant to retard cracking. Even sealed, it will eventually crack. You just buying time...
Re: My wood cracked, what should I have done ?
Brad Vietje
>Just noticed an end grain woodsealer in the Klingspore catalog that's $ 12.95 a gallon, and only $ 10.95 if you buy 2 or more. If you intend to turn a lot of green wood, you can easily use 2 gallons, or go in with a few turning buddies -- it will easily pay for itself.
Safe spinning,
Brad Vietje
Thetford, VT
