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Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998

Turning Ash

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Turning Ash

#1

Turning Ash

Jim in Michigan

>Yesterday a friend brought over an Ash bowl blank that has been drying for about six or seven months. The wood had been sealed with Anchorseal and had no visible cracking. I have never turned Ash before.

We mounted the blank with the grain running perpendicular to the ways. In other words, this was a typical blank mounted in a typical fashion. As we attempted to cut the profile of the outside of the bowl, we got catch after catch. I was using a very sharp 1/2" bowl gouge which is the tool I use for the majority of my turning. As the bowl profile began to take shape, I figured that I could remove the catches by using shearing cuts to smooth the surface. No dice. More catches. I tried every cut that I know how to use with no success. I even got severe catches trying to use a scraper. The wood even had a damp feel to it which should have made the cutting easier.

Frustrated, I decided to see how the bowl blank would hollow. The cuts to open up the inside of the bowl (to hollow it) were very clean and I experienced no catches.

I don't know what to think.

Jim

Re: Turning Ash

#2

Re: Turning Ash

Mike Schwing from Md.

>This is going to sound nuts, but did you try a different gouge? I can recall, very clearly, a large white ash blank that I just could not cut with my favorite gouge. It was very sharp. I tried every damned type of cut I could think of on that blank. I was about to throw it in the burn pile and picked up, totally by accident, a different gouge with the same basic grind, but the bevel was more aggressive. It also was not what I would consider sharp. It cut that mutha like a razor blade.

I know Terry had a discussion a while back about how sharper is not necessarily always better. This was the only occasion I ever found that to be true, but it was.

Re: Turning Ash

#3

Re: Turning Ash

keith zimmerman, Normal, IL

>It is my experience that dry ash is one of the hardest woods I have ever turned. There is a reason it is used for baseball bats! Anyway, I found that I couldn't cut it well at all with my fingernail bowl gouge, no matter what cut I tried. I finally wound up using a scraper to finish it and it was a real effort.

keithz

Re: Turning Ash

#4

Re: Yup....

Russ Fairfield

>....they are correct. Sometimes sharper is not better. Sometimes a very coarse grind is better than one with a finer wheel. Just as a serrated knife slices bread better than a sharp straight edge, there are times when a ripping cut across the wood is better than a slick shearing cut. It sounds like you are experiencing one of those times.

Are you removing the burr on the inside of the flute?? The burr, or how you are removing it could be your problem. Do not remove the burr with a stone. Instead, jab the gouge into the end-grain of a piece of soft Pine. A short piece of Pine 2x4 is good for this. If it is long side-grind that can't be jabbed into the wood, lay it on the wood and hit it with a soft hammer or another piece of wood. That will break off the burr and leave an edge that should do a better job on that piece of Ash.

There is still merit in the old-timer woodturner recommendation that put a 46-grit wheel on one side of the grinder for roughing and a 60-grit on the other side of the grinder for sharpening. If you wanted a finer edge than that, you used a stone on it.

Re: Turning Ash

#5

Brad Vietje

Re: Turning Ash

Brad Vietje

>I've had a similar experience -- don't remember what species -- and couldn't get a good cut with my favorite bowl gouge. Put the rest down rather low, and worked the outside, from foot to rim, with a 3/8" shallow spindle (detail) gouge, held as close to vertical (handle down) as the lathe bed would allow, and it cut very smoothly. This might be due to the small nose radius and longer bevel (~40 degrees) of this gouge, lowering the cutting resistance. I now use this gouge to take finishing cuts on the outside of bowls all the time, and often get good results with a 1/2" spindle gouge with a deeper profile and a fingernail grind -- still a much more acute bevel angle than a typical "Ellsworth" grind.

Safe Spinning,

Brad Vietje

Thetford, VT

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