DIYbanter - View Single Post

In article . com,
wrote:

I had the misfortune of losing a beautiful Oak tree in my hillside. I
also had the good fortune of losing a beautiful Oak tree in my
hillside. Woodturners see things this way.
I believe that the tree is Hairy Oak. It has a red bark, rays
throughout and small oval red dots.
My quest is to preserve as much, if not all of it, for turning. I
cannot rough turn all this wood in the short time it takes to crack.
Does anyone have suggestions for preserving the logs for later use?

Spindles or bowls? Standard bowl-blank advise (assuming you don't have a
handy body of water and some weights, in which case you just sink the
log until you are ready to deal with it....)

Cut lengths about 2" longer than diameter. Cut (or split, if
clear-grain-sections) those in half long-ways, debark (to reduce bug
action), and seal the ends (Anchorseal, wax, latex paint). The extra
length allows for a little checking without it becoming a big deal. If
you can make the time, rough a bunch into thick-walled green bowls.

Spindles - length to suit, plus an allowance for checking. Split at
least in half, or down to big enough to get what you want out of it.
Debark. Seal the ends. Splitting rather than sawing will be faster, and
tend to keep the blanks from having run-out in the grain. Splits need to
be about 1/2 and 1/2 to run straight. Only works on straight-grain
sections - turn the funny stuff into bowl blanks. If you know any chair
makers, they might be interested in helping in exchange for some wood.
Look up "riving" for more info on splitting for making useful wood bits,
as opposed to just firewood.

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