My server finally updated abpw. Looks like you have a fine "art" piece
there. If the stuff's going to be squirrelly, make a virtue of it by
cutting thin while green and letting it go.

As to the end coating, it looks like you took the bark off, which is a no-no
if you're trying to keep the log. Also looks like you had a wind shake to
help the piece split. The mildew you see on that piece, which dried pretty
rapidly, is the reason I gave up on coatings almost immediately. That, and
the fact that my control pieces came out as well, and without mildew.
Unfortunately, I was turning some curly maple at the time, and the mildew
ruined the several test pieces.

Never having used eucalyptus, only suggestion I can offer is not to have
such vertical sides on your roughed bowls if you're looking to avoid rim
checks. If the sides slope in, they tend to relieve a bit by turning down.
Normal drying tension is caused by the faster-growing earlywood contracting
more than the latewood - dark part of the annual rings. That, and as you
can see in the coated piece, the fact that chemical and physical changes
have taken place in the heartwood, keeping it dryer, usually result in
radial checks from outside in in the log. In the bowl they pull down the
edges, often opening up the small radius rings near center.


"Gerald Ross" wrote in message
...
Got a wind fall of Eucalyptus couple of weeks ago, and promptly cut it
into bowl blanks and end sealed it. I turned a couple of roughs and end
sealed them inside and out. Got back from vacation and the bowls were
trying to turn into pretzels, with rim cracks of 1 inch depth.
Re rounded one and threw it into LDD overnight. Yesterday I tried to
finish it, but it started moving while sanding. Turned into a potato
chip instead of a pretzel.
This is real energetic wood. Have a picture posted on ABPW along with a
picture of a piece of bowl blank that I sawed off and end sealed on both
ends 2 weeks ago.