one thing I do after some experimentation is to sand and finish the
outside before hollowing. The heat of sanding can cause it to crack.
The two pieces in my photos are turned to 1/4 to 1/8th in thickness.

cad wrote:
On Mar 16, 2:25 pm, "PapaChuck" wrote:
Anybody have any opinions about turning cedar. I have an abundant
supply of "recycled" cedar from a chainsaw artist friend of mine.
Have used it for birdhouses up to this point.

-- Papa Chuck

Hey Papa C,
I fell into a load of cedar, and since I didint have any and had never
turned it harvested a load.

What an experience that was!

It is delicate. My first vessel came apart while spinning on the
lathe. Sounded like a bomb went off.

By my third I was over the learning curve hump. I had yet to learn how
to finish it, in dealing with the oils.

But man o man, what beautiful pieces it makes. I have sold a few
pieces from cedar, this exemplifies how attractive it is.

I have a tip sheet I will add to my website one day. The very first
tip...make sure you mount it in a way that is extra firm, turn a foot
and grip the outside of the foot if making a vessel. If making a bowl,
use a recessed hole or counterbored foot that has at least .75" of
outside wall.

2nd, tools must be kept very sharp. This means stop and sharpen often.
Use light tough and cut, dont scrape. Reserve scraping for very last
finishing and use just a feather weight of pressure.

When you think you have a finished piece, and are ready to
sand...stop. Dismount it, take it to your house and let it sit around
at room temp for a week. This will allow oils and tensions to relax
some. Then after this finish the surface.

3rd, sanding and finish. You will probably have some warpage and
distortion. If it isnt too bad, patient light scraping is in order. If
the distortion is more than a .25" out of round, go back to a very
sharp small diameter gouge and take super light cuts to get it in
round. Then scrape to final surface.

Sanding will try your patience. Be prepared to use a lot of paper. Buy
cheap sand paper for 60, 100, and 150 grades. It will clog fast and
the oil will make it impossible to remove. This wood heats up very
fast when sanding too. So take light pressure for only a few seconds
in one spot. Best thing is to make sure you keep the paper moving all
the time to prevent heating any one spot too much.

When you get to 200 grit, you wont need to use this grit or subsequent
finer grits much.

I highly recommend you add sealer the way I do all my works. Spray
Deft sanding sealer on the piece while it turns. Let it continue
turning to dry it, this only takes about 2 minutes. Turn off the lathe
and check to make sure its dry. If you did it even and there are no
runs, get a strip of white felt, or white linen.

Turn on the lathe and while the piece spins, hold the strip by both
ends and apply it lightly to the work as it spins. Keep the strip
moving so it will not heat the sealer too much and melt it. You will
see a gloss develop on the sealer if you are doing it right.

Do this 3 times. You will build a hard, glossy coat to the work that
looks like glass. BE careful though. If you get the coat too hot, it
will melt onto your strip, and leave ugly streaks on the coat of
sealer.

If that happens, you will have to backtrack and sand it off, and do
this process all over again.

Once you have 3 good coats of sealer on it, you can spray a coat of
polyurethane on it. Dont polish this. Let it dry naturally for a few
days dismounted from the lathe.

I recommend you find an old record player, the kind we used to play LP
or vinyl records. Make a wood hub that will fit the spindle of the
record player. Turn the other end of the hub to fit the foot or
counterbore of your bowls. Put the hub on your record player.

Now when you want to spray finish your bowls, put the bowl on the hub
of the record player, turn it on speed of 16 rpms. Spray your finish
on the bowl as it spins on the rec. player. You will get a very even
finish. Take your time though, it is easy to spray too much and wind
up with runs. Leave the piece spinning on the player and go do
something else for an hour. This helps prevent runs and speeds drying.

I fog my piece on the record player each time. Usually taking at least
3 applicatoins, to get the desired glassy appearance.

I have a few pieces of cedar left in stock at my site if any of you
want to purchase some. I hope to get more soon. My iste is:
http://handturnedbowls.biz

Happy cedar turning.

jimmy holland (cad)