Crotch pieces

5/7/05, 4:48 AM #1

echo8287
Guest

Crotch pieces

echo8287

>I finally got my lathe,its still on the pallet and tommorrow I am going to work on getting it set up. I had a guy that was clearing his lot tell me I could get any wood I wanted off it cause he was going to burn it up.There is some oak,shagbark hickory,sweet gum trees that were cut about 3 weeks ago. I cut some straight pieces and a couple of crotchs. I have Bill Grumbines DVD and see how to cut the straight pieces, but how do you cut the crotch pieces up for blanks? bowls or anything?

Re: Crotch pieces

5/7/05, 12:01 PM #2

Gary Evans, Tallassee, TN
Guest

Re: Crotch pieces

Gary Evans, Tallassee, TN

>There are a couple of different ways to cut crotches, depending on how big they are.

Most common is to cut through the center of the two piths. This will give you two y-shaped pieces with crotch grain on the exposed side. Since it is hard to know how far the crotch grain extends into the piece, I usually recommend using a waste block on the exposed side and let that be the bottom of your bowl or platter to maximize the figure in the finished piece.

The other way that I use, if the crotch is big enough, is to rotate the crotch 90 degrees from the first method and cut through each pith separately, taking an upside down pyramid-shaped section, which should have crotch figure on two sides. Often the offcuts will yield curly wood on the outside, below the piths.

I did this on a big maple crotch that had 4 limbs coming off. I ended up with a pyramid shape that had crotch figure on all 4 sides.

Gary

Re: Crotch pieces

5/7/05, 6:56 PM #3

echo8287
Guest

Re: Crotch pieces

echo8287

>Gary thanks for the reply. I looked at the pieces I have and the bottom is about 14 inchs in diameter. The Y's are about 9 inchs. The log I cut that off of, had a huge piece with about 3 limb intersections. I couldn't lift that piece without some help though.It was maybe 30 inchs in diameter at the bottom. Thank you for that reply,David

Re: Crotch pieces

5/7/05, 7:30 PM #4

Paul in Phoenix, AZ
Guest

Or you could put the...

Paul in Phoenix, AZ

>...crotch on the lathe and turn something like the photo below. As long is the crotch isn't too big. These are real challenging to turn. This is mesquite about 13"D x 12"H.

Re: Crotch pieces

5/8/05, 2:42 PM #5

GaryNelson
Guest

Re: Crotch pieces

GaryNelson

>If you have a lot of them,take and get some contractors garbage bags.They won`t bio-degrade as fast.Put some of them in there for future use.at this time of year with the sap running--they tend to split more.

A tip I found on turning--do what you want--it is you and not someone else--if you are happy--thats all that counts.The one you give the item to,will not look at the quality,but the thought.

Hickory spalts well,pecan is part of that family.there is lots of free wood--so make good use of it.Gary

Crotch pieces

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