I do not turn bowls (yet) but I recently got a hobby sawmill. Some log
sections are too short or knotty to saw into regular lumber. I hate to
see any beautiful wood go to waste so I am trying to figure out how to saw
these short sections into blanks for ya'll. I have learned I need to cut
out the pith and seal the resulting blanks with anchorseal so they don't
crack. My question now is, do these blanks dry slowly underneath the
anchorseal coating, or is the intent that they remain pretty much green?
If they dry, I assume we are talking years for air drying (in a shop) for
chunks that are several inches thick?

Thank you for your patience.

Neal

Neal
Log sections take a long time to dry even if they do not crack apart,
Anchorseal or not. bowl blanks are roughed and sealed to dry much faster.
Take a look at my site under turning green wood for a few hints.
______
God bless and safe turning
Darrell Feltmate
Truro, NS, Canada
www.aroundthewoods.com
"neal konneker" wrote in message
news
I do not turn bowls (yet) but I recently got a hobby sawmill. Some log
sections are too short or knotty to saw into regular lumber. I hate to
see any beautiful wood go to waste so I am trying to figure out how to saw
these short sections into blanks for ya'll. I have learned I need to cut
out the pith and seal the resulting blanks with anchorseal so they don't
crack. My question now is, do these blanks dry slowly underneath the
anchorseal coating, or is the intent that they remain pretty much green?
If they dry, I assume we are talking years for air drying (in a shop) for
chunks that are several inches thick?

Thank you for your patience.

Neal

In article ,
neal konneker wrote:

I do not turn bowls (yet) but I recently got a hobby sawmill. Some log
sections are too short or knotty to saw into regular lumber. I hate to
see any beautiful wood go to waste so I am trying to figure out how to saw
these short sections into blanks for ya'll. I have learned I need to cut
out the pith and seal the resulting blanks with anchorseal so they don't
crack. My question now is, do these blanks dry slowly underneath the
anchorseal coating, or is the intent that they remain pretty much green?
If they dry, I assume we are talking years for air drying (in a shop) for
chunks that are several inches thick?

Thank you for your patience.

Neal

They dry slowly. Many turners do turn green, however I prefer to turn
dry.

--
--------------------------------------------------------
Personal e-mail is the n7bsn but at amsat.org
This posting address is a spam-trap and seldom read
RV and Camping FAQ can be found at
http://www.ralphandellen.us/rv

I do not turn bowls (yet) but I recently got a hobby sawmill. Some log
sections are too short or knotty to saw into regular lumber. I hate to
see any beautiful wood go to waste so I am trying to figure out how to saw
these short sections into blanks for ya'll. I have learned I need to cut
out the pith and seal the resulting blanks with anchorseal so they don't
crack. My question now is, do these blanks dry slowly underneath the
anchorseal coating, or is the intent that they remain pretty much green?
If they dry, I assume we are talking years for air drying (in a shop) for
chunks that are several inches thick?

Neal, My tree trimmer has a small chainsaw based portable sawmill and he cuts
bowl blanks for me from my trees and trees he drops for other clients.
Anchorsealed, they continue to dry slowly as moisture migrates to the sides. The
rule of thumb is one year per one inch of thickness. I find wood dries a little
faster than that here in the midwest with the wood in my garage or shed. I am
about to build a small solar dryer to speed things up a bit. Dan

On Tue, 12 Sep 2006 08:02:39 -0400, neal konneker wrote:

I do not turn bowls (yet) but I recently got a hobby sawmill. Some log
sections are too short or knotty to saw into regular lumber. I hate to
see any beautiful wood go to waste so I am trying to figure out how to saw
these short sections into blanks for ya'll. I have learned I need to cut
out the pith and seal the resulting blanks with anchorseal so they don't
crack. My question now is, do these blanks dry slowly underneath the
anchorseal coating, or is the intent that they remain pretty much green?
If they dry, I assume we are talking years for air drying (in a shop) for
chunks that are several inches thick?

Thank you for your patience.

Neal

Neal... most of the blanks that you buy on Ebay and related sites are green and
sealed...

That gives the turner a choice of drying them or turning green and the seller
doesn't have to wait for a year or so before selling them..
Mac

https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis
https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis/wood_stuff.htm

Hi Neal

Yes Neal you're right, the wood keeps on drying slowly under the wax
emulsion seal, it slows down the drying and it delays and lessens the
splitting, not prevent it.

If trees grew with only heartwood or sapwood and nice evenly annular
growth, then you might be able to air dry those sealed slabs of wood
with very little degrade, luckily we do get all kinds of grain and
beautiful contrasting sap/heartwood, and all of the challenges that go
with it.

So cut and seal the wood quickly and then sell fast is the easiest way
of moving your blanks.

However there is an other more labor and cost intensive way of treating
your wood, and for this I will give you a link to a website you can
peruse at your leisure. (and eat your hearth out for the wood they have
and sell) :-))

The boiling and air drying and then sometimes kiln drying to shorten
the drying time and lessen the amount of degrade has been around for a
while, however most of us rather turn a green piece of wood enjoy the
ease of turning it then either let it warp or let it dry and return it
in a few months/years.

here's the link Neal
http://www.exoticwoodworld.com/

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

neal konneker wrote:
I do not turn bowls (yet) but I recently got a hobby sawmill. Some log
sections are too short or knotty to saw into regular lumber. I hate to
see any beautiful wood go to waste so I am trying to figure out how to saw
these short sections into blanks for ya'll. I have learned I need to cut
out the pith and seal the resulting blanks with anchorseal so they don't
crack. My question now is, do these blanks dry slowly underneath the
anchorseal coating, or is the intent that they remain pretty much green?
If they dry, I assume we are talking years for air drying (in a shop) for
chunks that are several inches thick?

Thank you for your patience.

Neal

"neal konneker" wrote in message
news
I do not turn bowls (yet) but I recently got a hobby sawmill. Some log
sections are too short or knotty to saw into regular lumber. I hate to
see any beautiful wood go to waste so I am trying to figure out how to saw
these short sections into blanks for ya'll.

Well you'll find a lot of good poop at http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/ about
sawmilling and drying. Here, you've got good advice, some less so. Slab
out a few years worth of growth either side of the heart to remove difficult
grain and checks that may originate there. Leave the bark on the rest of
the blank so the sapwood doesn't shrink and check so easily.

Wax or timber sealer will slow the loss through endgrain, which is, as you
know over ten times as rapid at losing water as the face, minimizing end
checks. Sell the timber green, because the turners know that turning green
is easier on the elbow, and greatly improves their chances of avoiding
catastrophic drying defects. Also, since the end grain dries so rapidly,
and a roughed bowl seldom has any place farther than an inch away from open
end, a rough will dry in a couple/three months rather than years.

Wise turners will regard even a "dry" thick piece as wet, because there'll
be a difference between surface and interior caused by lag in equalization
with the atmosphere. They should turn, dry, turn anyway, if they're looking
for circularity.

Neal,
Click on this pictorial to saw it up into turning blocks.

http://handturnedbowls.biz/data/how_to_saw_log.pdf

cad

neal konneker wrote:
I do not turn bowls (yet) but I recently got a hobby sawmill. Some log
sections are too short or knotty to saw into regular lumber. I hate to
see any beautiful wood go to waste so I am trying to figure out how to saw
these short sections into blanks for ya'll. I have learned I need to cut
out the pith and seal the resulting blanks with anchorseal so they don't
crack. My question now is, do these blanks dry slowly underneath the
anchorseal coating, or is the intent that they remain pretty much green?
If they dry, I assume we are talking years for air drying (in a shop) for
chunks that are several inches thick?

Thank you for your patience.

Neal

cad wrote:
Neal,
Click on this pictorial to saw it up into turning blocks.

http://handturnedbowls.biz/data/how_to_saw_log.pdf

In general a good explanation, but getting an 11" bowl from a 19" log is
absurd. One should be able to easily get a 17" or so wide bowl from it.

Some wood has a lot of variation between sapwood and heart wood, but
with some species it's virtually indistinguishable. *IF* you only want
heartwood due to the contrast it may make sense to trim that much
sapwood off, but I'd suggest leaving it and letting the turner decide...

....Kevin
--
Kevin Miller
http://www.alaska.net/~atftb
Juneau, Alaska
Registered Linux User No: 307357