On 9/22/2011 4:39 AM, jtpryan wrote:
Thank you all. To elaborate, Bill, I meant is it dry enough to turn. I thought wood had to be of a certain "dryness" in order to turn it successfully. I guess where all this is going is patience, or the lack thereof. I do a lot of different things in the shop, and sometimes I wake up on a Saturday and think "I'd like to try turning a small bowl, or plate, or whatever", but I don't have anything readily available. But I do have a Woodcraft store close by and they have these waxed sealed turning blocks similar (I think) to what I've seen in the online ads, but usually a bit more expensive.

So, my question was if I had a couple of these on hand are they generally in a state that I could work with them on the lathe and maybe have a finished product in a weekend? Or am I over thinking the whole thing?

-Jim

ok got it - now that I understand the question, I personally prefer
turning the greenest possible wood - it's much more pleasant experience,
less dust, faster cutting - I turn to final size with thin walls, sand
to whatever standard I think is appropriate, and by then the wood is
usually pretty dry, so I lay on some thick coats of lacquer and let it
turn for a while on the lathe at a few RPM, then finish sand, polish,
reverse in a vac chuck and finalize the foot, spray that, polish and I'm
done. Even very active wood that can crack a lot is fine if your final
wall thickness is thin enough - I usually aim for well under 1/4, often
1/16, but it depends on the wood, the design aesthetic of the piece, and
so on