If you had turned that wood two years ago when you got it, you would
have had dry bowls a long time ago, rather than slit and rotten wood
as you have now.
The best you can do now is take what you have left that is still worth
turning and rough turn it now, then place those pieces in a brown
paper bag and place that at a cool place so it can dry at a slow rate
and not split hopefully,(make sure there are no splits in the wood to
start of with)
6" bowls should have 1/2 " walls about or maybe 5/8", and the walls
evenly thick all the way down,
Good luck ;-))
Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

http://homepage.mac.com/l.vanderloo/PhotoAlbum4.html


Casper wrote:
I recently started cutting up some wood I have had sitting for 2 to
2-1/2 years drying. I had sealed all the open ends with anchorseal.
What I am finding, aside from some very dark, modly looking spots, is
that some of it may still be wet. None of the logs are larger than
5-6" in diameter. Anything I had over that size I sliced in half.

So my question is why is some of this still wet? Some of it is a
little punky too. I cut as much as I could and have re-sealed the
ends, which are checking a bit. Are these really still wet? Is there a
more effective way of drying? Am I missing some secret??

I am rather constrained by my location as to what I can store. I was
hoping to cut up this wonderful 150 year old pear wood and turn/carve
it this winter but after two days at the band saw, I am exhausted and
quit because some is just too dense/heavy (wet?) to cut. (I borrowed
my father-in-law's band saw and already jumped the blade 3 times and
had to replace it once since it wore out.)

I've left about a dozen logs untouched until I can find an alternate
solution to drying and storage. Also, is there a product that will
seal the minor checking? I hate to loose what I've already cut.

Any suggestions? Any appreciated.

`Casper