On 12/24/2010 5:30 AM, Gerald Ross wrote:
Bill Noble wrote:
On 12/22/2010 5:14 AM, Gerald Ross wrote:
Bill Noble wrote:
On 12/21/2010 3:42 AM, Gerald Ross wrote:
The first bowl I roughed out and bagged 5 days ago split across. I
endgrain sealed the remaining 5. And it is STICKY. I had a pair of
those
thin knit gloves with the plastic coated palms that I use when
handling
this stuff, otherwise I would look like the tar baby.

if you turn it to about 1/8 inch (or thinner) immediately, it won't
split and it will make an attractive bowl - the sap will help keep it
translucent

Gotcha. That takes care of the cracking. But where does the sanding come
in? While it is wet and sticky? Or after firing it as Kevin suggested.
Maybe boiling it in dish washing detergent would take care of
everything.


well, what I have done is to turn it thin, apply a suitable finish (for
this purpose, oil finish) and let the finish dry, then sand and
refinish. For example, go to my web page, www.wbnoble.com, click on
hobbies/woodturning, find the gallery link and look for a eucalyptus
goblet (here is the photo directly:
http://www.wbnoble.com/wood_turning/...tus-goblet.jpg) -
eucalyptus is an oily wood and very prone to splitting, you can see that
the goblet is turned with the pith in place (very bad), and it didn't
split, though it did distort - this particular piece is finished in
lacquer, which soaked all the way through aiding in keeping it
translucent - the piece is about 10-12 inches high.

My hat's off to you Bill. Anyone who can turn something bigger than a
pencil out of Eucalyptus and have it stay in one piece has gotta be a pro.


I appreciate the complement, but I was trying to make a point here, and
that specifically was that anything will stay together and not crack if
you turn it thin. For your specific needs, I think that is what I would
do - you probably don't need to go to the 1/16" that I went to, but you
need to be well under 1/4, probably about 1/8 inch, turn it wet, and
turn it to finish dimensions in one session, DO NOT take a break and let
it dry out. Then either boil it for an hour, or put it aside and let it
warp any way it wants to. It will dry in a day or so, then you can sand
and finish it. Boiling will reduce the warpage, but I like bowls that
are twisted and warped, just make the foot flat so it doesn't rock