Cracked roughed green bowl now what?

I am not a big turner, so take this like I am not sure, but this is what I would do.  Place it back in the bag, let it finish drying.  If the crack get bigger, I would use a colored epoxy to fill the crack, then turn it.  Cracks happen in wood, you can highlight them, try and hide them, or have designer firewood.

if the cracks aren't too large what I did frequently mixed sanding dust from the wood with thin super glue and worked into the crack.  be sure to cover crack inside to keep it from flowing out.

thank you for your responses.  I think for the next week or two I'll watch it mostly in a plastic bag and see if the cracks open more.  Sounds like turning it below the cracks now is less likely to work.
Lary

Cracks sometimes will close up instead of getting wider, depending on several variables -- species, location of the blank in the log, etc..  I usually forego CA glue remedies until the piece is completed, then use water-thin CA glue to wick into the crack(s) by capillarity. Be careful though, as the glue may want to remain visible in the finish piece.

The main reason turnings crack is that they are trying to shrink but are unable to because there is too much wood mass in the way. You inquired about turning green-to-finish. In this case, had you done that, the cracks might not have opened at all. Of course, if there were existing cracks when you started turning, they were probably going to express themselves anyway. 

Green turning has its pros and cons. On the con side, the wood's final shrinkage profile (usually determined by the relationship of radial vs tangential shrinkage coefficients) will result in a piece that is not round. Depending on the species and cut, this may be either wildly or imperceptibly out of round, especially in bowl orientation; so, if you prefer a perfectly round bowl, go the rough-turning route as you have here. On the pro side, some people, myself included, appreciate this out of roundness as reflective of the wood's particular character and not a defect. Green wood is also easier on you and your tools.

My advice with this piece would be to rough-turn it with thinner walls to slow down the cracks opening. Then, when it is dry, finish turn it and hope there's enough material there to get a round bowl out of it. If the cracks are visible, let them be unless they are through-and-through and you plan on the bowl holding liquids. Alternatively, turn it all the way to finish now, and allow the final shrinkage to determine the outside shape.

Ellis Walentine, Host

Hi Ellis, thanks for the detailed response.  I’m pretty sure the splits were not in the roughed bowl.  I was surprised that it split in only 8 days while in a paper bag full of fresh turnings.
 
I am tempted to turn it to final now, however, even though I’ve turned a lot of bowls, I’ve never turned from green to final form.  I like the change of shape they make.  This bowl has an inward rim so I’m not sure I can turn it fast enough and thin enough before it warps.
 
I think I’ll try your suggestion and see how it goes.  If nothing else it is an experiment.
 
Thanks,
Lary

The age-old turning problem rears it's head.
Sometimes the cracks are present from the start but are virtually invisible. Thinner, uniform wall thickness is less likely to crack but you have to have enough thickness to have enough wall if you want a round bowl after a second turning if that is your process. You are pretty close the often recommended 10% of diameter for wall thickness.
The environment the tree grows in can have an effect; windy locations may cause internal stresses in the wood that you modify when you cut. I had a hard maple that looked good but while drying it started to show cracks on the outer surface. I turned them off but they appeared again so I turned some more and sweated over the wall thickness but I made it. Found the tree had grown on the shore of a lake and was exposed to the wind a fair bit.
Caution: 
Your bowl strength is compromised by the cracks and you can have a dangerous situation while spinning the bowl - it can fly apart due to centrifugal forces so keep the speed down, stay out of the line of fire and wear a face shield as a minimum. Turners have received serious head injuries and have even been killed by this type of accident.

Personal opinion: I typically hate colored epoxy or similar patches - to me they shout, "look at the problem with this piece" As a rule I don't patch long cracks but will fill missing bark inclusions or small craters often with black toner, sawdust or coffee grounds and CA glue. This usually blends rather than shouts. For thin cracks, CA glue but usually applied while I still have a bit of surface to remove so it gets rid of any discoloration.

Life's too short to turn cracked or damaged wood.