charlie b writes:

I've read several posts that warn against working with stuff
that has The Pith in it. Seems like cracks and splits will start
there. And it'll be a hole in the bottom of your piece - making
it impossible to hold water - though why that's important, since
most turned vessels / hollow forms will never actually hold
any liquid, is an issue is a mystery to me.

So what is it about pith that makes turning anything with
pith in it a No No!?


Wood expands and contracts differently in different dirrections of the
grain. Bruce Hoadley in his book Understanding Wood has a great
picture. He shows a round slice of a tree trunk, with a slit made
from the edge to the middle of the pith.

After drying, this round piece of wood looked like a pie with a slice
missing. If you kept the pith in a piece of wood, then the stresses
from the pith to the edge during the drying process would cause large
cracks.

--
Sending unsolicited commercial e-mail to this account incurs a fee of
$500 per message, and acknowledges the legality of this contract.