Is it better to dry wood before turning?
 

"Jimbo" wrote in message
...
Hello,
I am pretty new to turning and have never cut up my own logs. My
neighbor has some eucalyptis (sp)? logs he recently cut down and he
gave me one. Its about 15" in diameter but he has lots more.

Should I cut this into blanks and seal it, let it dry or is it better
to turn it and then let the bowl dry?

This is rather a complex question if you want all sides discussed.
The simple approach is to look at wet wood as a cheap and plentiful
resource, because you can get wood from all kinds of people who
are "sometimes" woodcutters, and give it away instead of selling it,
as the pros do.

Then you can cut the blanks crosswise or lengthwise, and you get
endwood or sidewood.
If you cut discs crosswise, and turn bowls or platters, they will not
deform very much in drying, especially if you turn them on the thin side.
If you make bowlblanks by cutting the log in half, lengthwise, and make
square blanks that you have to round by bandsaw, then you have the
makes of bowls resembling wide boats when they dry.

In my country (Norway) we have traditional types of bowls that
are formed with this in mind, and the "boatbowls" can be quite
pleasing to the eye when you are used to them.

From dry wood you can make forms that do not change afterwards,
but a good bowlblank can take 2 - 3 years to dry, if you like me,
pile up the sawed planks to air-dry.
Then you do not know in advance where the cracks develop,
and if you have to buy it all, predried, it costs.

The most important for a beginner, in my view, is still the advantage
of wet wood in that it is so easy to work with. When the wet wood
peels under the iron in long nicesmelling rinds several yards long,
and the bowls or whatever take form under your hands from free logs,
so you can make all the mistakes you want without it costing the shirt,
well, that is good experience.

And if you do your finishing wisely, the finished product is dry from
the bench, and changes very little afterwards, you dry it in your hands.

Best of luck.

Bjarte

On Sat, 21 May 2005 08:21:19 -0700, Jimbo wrote:

Hello,
I am pretty new to turning and have never cut up my own logs. My
neighbor has some eucalyptis (sp)? logs he recently cut down and he
gave me one. Its about 15" in diameter but he has lots more.

Should I cut this into blanks and seal it, let it dry or is it better
to turn it and then let the bowl dry?

Thanks for any opinions.

Jim

Jim.. been there, done that, a year ago..
I didn't even now that folks turned anything but store-bought blanks before
joining this group..

I would (wood?) strongly recommend turning any wood you can get, and turning it
as wet as possible...
It's a very messy process, but great fun, and you can try different techniques
easier on wet wood, as it's soft and more "forgiving" when (not if) you get a
catch..
I have NO idea how eucalyptus turns, though..

I would recommend starting your "webucation" at Darrell Feltmate's web site...
http://aroundthewoods.com/
It's got just tons of info and instruction on what to do, now that you have the
logs..

Be safe and have fun..


mac

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