So much for green woodworking.....

[jason01]

I turned myself a couple of little bowls and carved a spoon out of some lovely well figured plum that I felled for a friend over christmas. The bowls lasted less than 24 hours aarrrgghhh! I think the spoon is still ok but I gave that to the original owner of the tree.

 

[torjusg]

From my understanding it is not smart to include the center of the tree when working with green wood as cracks tend to radiate from there. When people made timber houses here they used to drive wedges so the timber cracked to the center. Today they use chainsaw to do the same.

And oiling and keeping the object in a less hot and dry environment is said to help as well.

Torjus Gaaren

 

[jason01]

From my understanding it is not smart to include the center of the tree when working with green wood as cracks tend to radiate from there. When people made timber houses here they used to drive wedges so the timber cracked to the center. Today they use chainsaw to do the same.

And oiling and keeping the object in a less hot and dry environment is said to help as well.

Torjus Gaaren

I'm sure youre right about not incl the centre but the tree wasnt big enough to cut any other way unfortunately if I quartered it I wouldnt have enough to make egg cups I guess I could make toggles!

 

[Hoodoo]

That's a reall bummer. They look very nice.

 

[Marts]

epoxy and re-sand? Maybe hidden dowels too?

 

[jdlenton]

i'd make some nice bronze or silver pieces to hold the bit together and call them a feature. James

 

[jason01]

That's a reall bummer. They look very nice.

Thats only one of them Hoodoo, the other is in the bin!

Interesting suggestions guys, Ive seen the work of another turner who inlays cracks and the like in his bowls with brass very effectively. I'm not going to bother with this one though, for one thing its warped so much the two halves dont fit together at all and I didnt spend much time on it really, picked up a cheap lathe at the w/e and that was my first bowl, feels like cheating compared to carving by hand its so quick/easy. It is a shame not to be able to use the plum though as the colours are amazing and its very easy to work.

 

[Stew]

It is a shame not to be able to use the plum though as the colours are amazing and its very easy to work.

You've got that right - I've never seen a piece with such good colours as that before. (Got any spare )

Out of interest J, what did you do with the bowl once you had finished turning it? Did you leave it in a plastic bag with a pile of wood shavings? If you had you might have a whole bowl now.

Also, the walls look quite thick for a green bowl. The thinner you go, the more chance that it'll stay in one piece.

 

[jason01]

You've got that right - I've never seen a piece with such good colours as that before. (Got any spare )

Out of interest J, what did you do with the bowl once you had finished turning it? Did you leave it in a plastic bag with a pile of wood shavings? If you had you might have a whole bowl now.

Also, the walls look quite thick for a green bowl. The thinner you go, the more chance that it'll stay in one piece.

I might be able to spare a piece for you Stew do you want a short piece in the round or a longer thinner split billet for spoony type stuff?

As for finishing, no I didnt follow any of the usual rules I just wiped them with oil then spun it against a piece of beeswax, too impatient to leave them in a bag! Appreciate the tip on the wall thickness, it is quite thick, I couldnt recall whether the walls were sposed to be thick or thin, so I left them thick!

 

[Laurence Dell]

Keeping the piece in a bag would have helped as would part turning it fairly rough and allowing it to split/warp while there was still enough left to get it back on the lathe and re-turn it to remove the warp and fill the splits.

You can fill splits with sawdust and add Cyanocryolate glue (superglue) to harden and seal the sawdust, then re-turn.

Although those splits look way to far gone for that, I think the biggest mistake was to try turning it endgrain if you cut the blank out of the log sideways it would be easier to turn and although splits and warping would possibly occur the bowl would be far less likely to fall apart.

 

[Stew]

A spoony type bit would be great - I'm not set up with a lathe down here.

 

[jason01]

Keeping the piece in a bag would have helped as would part turning it fairly rough and allowing it to split/warp while there was still enough left to get it back on the lathe and re-turn it to remove the warp and fill the splits.

You can fill splits with sawdust and add Cyanocryolate glue (superglue) to harden and seal the sawdust, then re-turn.

Although those splits look way to far gone for that, I think the biggest mistake was to try turning it endgrain if you cut the blank out of the log sideways it would be easier to turn and although splits and warping would possibly occur the bowl would be far less likely to fall apart.

I know its far from ideal to work it on the endgrain but the logs are only about 5" diameter (the bowl in the pics is about 4") so theres not really enough wood to turn it sideways and as the grain is so pretty I couldnt resist trying to use it for something other than spoons, as its bit soft for knife handles.

Ahh well, looks like it might only be good for spoons and toggles you live and learn!

I have a lovely square of very figured oak burl that was wax dipped when it was cut, it would make a nice shallow bowl but I'm sure it will crack like mad as soon as the wax comes off, dont know whether I'll ever risk using it

 

[jason01]

A spoony type bit would be great - I'm not set up with a lathe down here.

No worries, I'll try and sort you out a nice piece, I think its best suited to spoons anyway.

 

[Stew]

I have a lovely square of very figured oak burl that was wax dipped when it was cut, it would make a nice shallow bowl but I'm sure it will crack like mad as soon as the wax comes off, dont know whether I'll ever risk using it

You could always use the waxy water replacement stuff. Can't remember what the name is now. You dissolve it in water then soak the peice for a while.
Laurence, do you know?

 

[jason01]

You could always use the waxy water replacement stuff. Can't remember what the name is now. You dissolve it in water then soak the peice for a while.
Laurence, do you know?

Sounds like a good option, turning is a whole new ball game for me, I think I need some books!

 

[Laurence Dell]

You could always use the waxy water replacement stuff. Can't remember what the name is now. You dissolve it in water then soak the peice for a while.
Laurence, do you know?

:thinkerg:
I think the stuff you are referring to is a chemical solution called PEG (Polyethylene glycol) it is good stuff but somewhat expensive and available from woodturning suppliers, although I have never used it.

If the piece of oak burr is well enough seasoned then it should be fine, accept any splits as part of the character of the wood.
The rule of thumb for seaoning is one year for every inch of thickness :sadwavey:

 

[Marts]

Have you tried the washing-up liquid treatment for the wood Jason?

There were some threads on BCUK a few months ago about it. I tried a piece of holly this way and got not a single crack. Apparently it was discovered by a bowl turner in Hawaii or some such.

If you can't find the threads say so and I'll dig around. Apparently it has fantastic results for difficult woods

 

[jason01]

:thinkerg:
I think the stuff you are referring to is a chemical solution called PEG (Polyethylene glycol) it is good stuff but somewhat expensive and available from woodturning suppliers, although I have never used it.

If the piece of oak burr is well enough seasoned then it should be fine, accept any splits as part of the character of the wood.
The rule of thumb for seaoning is one year for every inch of thickness :sadwavey:

My piece of oak has never been seasoned Laurence, thats the problem! It was cut green and then completely dipped as a block in wax, so I imagine its still as wet as the day it was cut. I bought it like that from a wood dealer a year or two ago. I did think about making a small hole in the wax to let it dry out slowly but maybe I'll investogate PEG once I've enough practice at turning to be able to make something worthwhile out of the piece.

Have you tried the washing-up liquid treatment for the wood Jason?

There were some threads on BCUK a few months ago about it. I tried a piece of holly this way and got not a single crack. Apparently it was discovered by a bowl turner in Hawaii or some such.

If you can't find the threads say so and I'll dig around. Apparently it has fantastic results for difficult woods

That does sound interesting Marts, I'll have a search. Talking of Holly I have a smallish piece of that , again 4 or 5" diameter, about 4ft long, with a lovely spiral split along the full length of the log Not even enough salvageable to make a decent sized spoon! It split like that before I even had chance to wax the ends. Looks like it would be lovely wood though, very dense and mostly white with some interesting looking darker areas.

 

[Stew]

Aaah, PEG - that's it! I knew it was a three letter acronym.

 

[Motorbike Man]

My piece of oak has never been seasoned Laurence, thats the problem! It was cut green and then completely dipped as a block in wax, so I imagine its still as wet as the day it was cut. I bought it like that from a wood dealer a year or two ago. I did think about making a small hole in the wax to let it dry out slowly but maybe I'll investogate PEG once I've enough practice at turning to be able to make something worthwhile out of the piece.



That does sound interesting Marts, I'll have a search. Talking of Holly I have a smallish piece of that , again 4 or 5" diameter, about 4ft long, with a lovely spiral split along the full length of the log Not even enough salvageable to make a decent sized spoon! It split like that before I even had chance to wax the ends. Looks like it would be lovely wood though, very dense and mostly white with some interesting looking darker areas.

That Holly might make some lovely knife handles though. It comes up very pale witha really close grain.