Kathy Konkol said:

Live in South Florida and just got hit by Wilma. Lots of assorted wood free
for the taking from downed trees. From A to Z, what is the best method to
store and prepare it without it splitting?

Load it up and truck it to my house in Georgia. ;-)

Seriously, do a Google Newsgroup Search - there have been many, many
threads on preparing your own felled trees for turning.
Basically, split it in half, removing the pith. Treat the ends with a
coating to prevent cracking. Cut to rough shape with a saw, rough
turn quickly and store till dry. Then finish turn to whatever shape
your heart desires.

Sorry about the disaster of Wilma, however. Hope you and yours faired
OK. I lived in Florida for 8 years and managed to miss the
excitement.


Greg G.

Kathy
Head for my web site and look at "Preparing Green Wood." Hope this helps.

--
God bless and safe turning
Darrell Feltmate
Truro, NS Canada
www.aroundthewoods.com

Hello Kathy,

It is a good practice to cut the wood for turning into turning blanks that are
slightly oversize to allow for the inevitable end grain checking that often
occurs even when it has been sealed with a green wood sealer. The trunk
sections of the tree should be cut into lengths that are about 2 inches longer
that they are in diameter. The cut off section should then be cut to remove the
pith from the wood. The pith is the area where most of the cracking originates.
With this removed, the likelihood of cracks is diminished. If the tree is small
(under 12 inches in diameter), generally a chainsaw cut down through the pith
will remove the pith and leave you two halves that can be used for bowls. The
normal orientation of these half log chunks is to put the top of the bowl at the
flat sawn area where you cut out the pith. This provides a nice smooth top bowl
for salads and other utility uses. Making the top of the bowl to be the bark
side of the blank will give you a natural edge bowl, which fall into the
decorative category that are not generally used for food.

When the tree is large, over 14 inches in diameter, it is a good idea to remove
the pith as a slice of wood that may be used for some other purpose. The log
section may then be cut into several bowl blanks of various thickness and
diameters. When cutting up large tree sections such as this, it helps to have a
chain saw with a bar that is longer than the chunk of wood. It is then possible
to make several cuts part way through while the log section is mounted on a
secure foundation. As soon as possible after cutting this wood, that means
within minutes if possible, you must seal the end grain of the blanks and get
them out of the sun.

I recommend stacking the wood with stickers between different pieces so that air
can flow around the wood while drying. If you have time, the best was to store
the timber is as a rough turned bowls having a wall thickness at least 10
percent of the diameter. There are various methods of storing these rough turned
bowls and a search of the newsgroup archives would be helpful there.

Fred Holder
http://www.fholder.com/


In article , Kathy Konkol says...

Live in South Florida and just got hit by Wilma. Lots of assorted wood free
for the taking from downed trees. From A to Z, what is the best method to
store and prepare it without it splitting?

Live in South Florida and just got hit by Wilma. Lots of assorted wood free
for the taking from downed trees. From A to Z, what is the best method to
store and prepare it without it splitting?