HI

When bowl turning which woods are the most stable , will not warp or
crack as much ?
Which are the least stable?

What does everyone think of as pine for a turning wood. I have never
turned any pine?

Randy
http://nokeswoodworks.com

In article
,
randyswoodshoop wrote:

HI

When bowl turning which woods are the most stable , will not warp or
crack as much ?
Which are the least stable?

What does everyone think of as pine for a turning wood. I have never
turned any pine?

Randy
http://nokeswoodworks.com

Pine, is nothing I would use for a bowl, the pitch-pockets would be a
killer. Best wood, probably maple.

--
--------------------------------------------------------
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

On Sun, 25 Jan 2009 06:04:19 -0800 (PST), randyswoodshoop
wrote:

HI

When bowl turning which woods are the most stable , will not warp or
crack as much ?
Which are the least stable?

What does everyone think of as pine for a turning wood. I have never
turned any pine?

Randy
http://nokeswoodworks.com

Several kinds of pine, randy, but on the west coast, they're all pretty soft..
I've turned hundreds of things out of pine, but not really by choice, mostly
because there was so much available..
It's fun to turn wet but tends to crack and dry to a very light weight..

Most bowls tend to be out of hardwoods with a tight grain and nice features..
Some of my favorites are bocote, cocobolo, bloodwood and ironwood, with my
absolute favorite being olive..

Least favorites are the ones with open grain, like red oak and lacewood..
Most fruit woods will most likely crack...

IMHO, warping is a GOOD thing.. As long as it's something that I turned thin and
finished before it warped..


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

eschew pine. eschew fruitwoods. maple is good, ash, sycamore, etc
"mac davis" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 25 Jan 2009 06:04:19 -0800 (PST), randyswoodshoop

wrote:

HI

When bowl turning which woods are the most stable , will not warp or
crack as much ?
Which are the least stable?

What does everyone think of as pine for a turning wood. I have never
turned any pine?

Randy
http://nokeswoodworks.com

Several kinds of pine, randy, but on the west coast, they're all pretty
soft..
I've turned hundreds of things out of pine, but not really by choice,
mostly
because there was so much available..
It's fun to turn wet but tends to crack and dry to a very light weight..

Most bowls tend to be out of hardwoods with a tight grain and nice
features..
Some of my favorites are bocote, cocobolo, bloodwood and ironwood, with my
absolute favorite being olive..

Least favorites are the ones with open grain, like red oak and lacewood..
Most fruit woods will most likely crack...

IMHO, warping is a GOOD thing.. As long as it's something that I turned
thin and
finished before it warped..


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Black walnut is pretty stable. Most maples are good also.
Ted

Fruit woods are more inclined to crack and check. Maple, walnut,
myrtle, ash, all seem to be pretty stable. My favorite is Pacific
Madrone, which is the most difficult to dry that I have come across.
Rule of thumb, if you dry it too fast, it will crack, if you dry it
too slow, it will mold, which isn't always a bad thing. How you dry it
changes a lot depending on your local weather and humidity. You can
turn thick, dry it and return it after it is dry, or you can turn it
thin (1/4 to 1/2 inch), let it dry and warp, then sand it, which is
how I like to do it. I found it a lot easier to let it dry first, but,
you need to power sand, and need a lathe which will slow down to the
10 to 20 rpm. Most of the 3 phase, with converters (inverter?) can be
programed to do that, but you need a technician to help you do it. If
you can't slow it down that much, the lathe can still hold the bowl
while you sand. The biggest thing to help me dry my bowls is to wrap
the outside of the bowl with a couple of layers of newspaper, then
secure it to the rim with a couple of wraps of the 6 inch plastic film
that you use to wrap boxes on a pallet. Put some pressure on it when
wrapping. Then cut out the paper on the inside of the bowl. The theory
is that inside will dry quicker than the outside, so it shrinks, and
pulls the outside in, putting the bowl in sort of a compression mode.
I start them out mostly down on the floor for a few days, then up on a
wire shelf. Most of them are dry in 2 weeks max. I also soak in LDD
(1/2 cheap brown liquid dishwashing detergent and 1/2 water for 24
hours, take out and rinse off, then wrap). This does nothing to help
it dry, but makes a big difference in how it sands out.
robo hippy

On Jan 25, 2:25*pm, Ted wrote:
Black walnut is pretty stable. *Most maples are good also.
Ted

"The biggest thing to help me dry my bowls is to wrap
the outside of the bowl with a couple of layers of newspaper, then
secure it to the rim with a couple of wraps of the 6 inch plastic film
that you use to wrap boxes on a pallet. Put some pressure on it when
wrapping. Then cut out the paper on the inside of the bowl. The theory
is that inside will dry quicker than the outside, so it shrinks, and
pulls the outside in, putting the bowl in sort of a compression
mode."

This looks like an interesting (and from what I have seen new)
technique so a couple of questions on how to do it since we don't have
pictures to work with.

1. Do you still use the 10% of diameter guideline for the bowl
thickness?

2. Do you wrap the paper vertically or horizontally with plastic
assuming the bowl is sitting horizontally like it would sit on a
table? If you wrap the bowl vertically it seems you would need to cut
the plastic out to get at the paper to cut it out of the inside.

3. Is it important to cover all of the outside of the bowl including
the bottom of the bowl with the plastic?

Thanks ahead of time for the info.

Because of the form of your questions, I will assume you are somewhat
new to woodturning, as am I.
I have only turned 5 bowls in my whole life.
Only one was wet wood; willow. After asking some questions here and
getting some good answers, it came out really nice! And, a year later,
no cracks at all.
But, here's my 2 cents:
All the other bowls I have turned have been from one small piece of
cherry branch about 7 or 8 inches in diameter and 8 feet long. When I
cut that branch off the tree 7 or 8 years ago, I cut it into 2, 4 foot
lengths and painted the ends. Forgot about it until mid year, last
year. That's when I cut the thing up and made a few bowls. Of the four
bowls I turned from this DRY cherry, I have gotten NO splitting or
checking or warping at all.
The point is: dry wood seems more stable than wet wood, if that's
any help to you at all.
We have heated with wood for many years and have thousands and
thousands of board feet of wood that we have sawed and stored here for
as long as 25 years. They tell me that it takes about one year per inch
of wood thickness to get it to dry.
Using only air drying, here in west central Wisconsin, almost all of
my wood stabilizes at real close to 16% moisture. So, even after many
years of air drying, when I brought those pieces into the shop, I kept
them in a plastic bag, loosely closed, so they wouldn't make the
transition from 16% toward 6 or 7% too quickly.

Last point: Dry wood is a lot harder to turn and a lot harder on the
lathe tools, but, at least it doesn't squirt "juice" in my face like the
wet willow did.

Pete Stanaitis
----------------------------------

randyswoodshoop wrote:

HI

When bowl turning which woods are the most stable , will not warp or
crack as much ?
Which are the least stable?

What does everyone think of as pine for a turning wood. I have never
turned any pine?

Randy
http://nokeswoodworks.com

TTW,
Actually, the practice of wrapping the bowls this way started 5 or
more years ago by the guy who started the DNA (denatured alcohol)
soaking method. So, I guess it isn't too new. The DNA is supposed to
help in drying and stabilizing wood. From my experiments, it does
ablosutely nothing that can be measured. I turn to final thickness
(1/4 to 1/2 inch depending on wood), and let the bowls dry and warp
then sand. I have never tried the turn thick, then dry, then return
method. The soakings, both DNA and LDD might have an effect on the
wood when doing this way, but again, I haven't tried it. I have
wrapped only the rim, with about an inch of plastic on the inside, and
the rest on the outside of the bowl, and it seems to work as well.
With the paper, I wrap the entire outside of the bowl, bend it over
the rim a bit to hold it in place till I can get the plastic film on
to hold it in place. So, I guess I wrap the paper vertically, and the
plastic horizontally (around the rim only). I have wrapped the entire
outside of the bowl with the plastic, and it works as well. What
surprised me was that there was no condensation between the plastic
and the wood. Also, because I am putting tension on the plastic as I
wrap, when I did the entire outside, the plastic would actually pull
itself off the bowl. Paper first, then plastic second seems to be the
easiest way. You can save the paper after use and it is already
preformed for using again if you have a bowl similar in size.

robo hippy

On Jan 26, 9:34*am, spaco wrote:
Because of the form of your questions, I will assume you are somewhat
new to woodturning, as am I.
* *I have only turned 5 bowls in my whole life.
Only one was wet wood; willow. * After asking some questions here and
getting some good answers, it came out really nice! *And, a year later,
no cracks at all.
* *But, here's my 2 cents:
All the other bowls I have turned have been from one small piece of
cherry branch about 7 or 8 inches in diameter and 8 feet long. *When I
cut that branch off the tree 7 or 8 years ago, I cut it into 2, 4 foot
lengths and painted the ends. * Forgot about it until mid year, last
year. *That's when I cut the thing up and made a few bowls. *Of the four
bowls I turned from this DRY cherry, *I have gotten NO splitting or
checking or warping at all.
* *The point is: *dry wood seems more stable than wet wood, if that's
any help to you at all.
* *We have heated with wood for many years and have thousands and
thousands of board feet of wood that we have sawed and stored here for
as long as 25 years. *They tell me that it takes about one year per inch
of wood thickness to get it to dry.
* *Using only air drying, here in west central Wisconsin, almost all of
my wood stabilizes at real close to 16% moisture. *So, even after many
years of air drying, when I brought those pieces into the shop, I kept
them in a plastic bag, loosely closed, so they wouldn't make the
transition from 16% toward 6 or 7% too quickly.

Last point: * Dry wood is a lot harder to turn and a lot harder on the
lathe tools, but, at least it doesn't squirt "juice" in my face like the
wet willow did.

Pete Stanaitis
----------------------------------



randyswoodshoop wrote:
HI

When bowl turning which woods are the most stable , will not warp or
crack as much ?
Which are the least stable?

What does everyone think of as pine for a turning wood. I have never
turned any pine?

Randy
http://nokeswoodworks.com

On Jan 25, 8:04*am, randyswoodshoop wrote:
HI

When bowl turning which woods are the most stable , will not warp or
crack as much ?
Randyhttp://nokeswoodworks.com

The most stable wood, at least among domestic species is mesquite. I
have a mushroom box out of it that was turned from a green limb 10
years ago and the lid fit is still dead right. I've found madrone,
fig and persimmon to be the least stable, which makes them fun for
thin wet turnings

Kip Powers
Rogers, AR

Ted is right black walnut is most stable ....




--
dgoddard83

Black walnut can be very stable. But, fast growing black walnut with thick
sapwood tends to shrink, warp and check quite a lot. In my experience, of
the different woods that I use, it is probably the most variable as far as
shrinkage goes.

Mike



"dgoddard83" wrote in message
. ..

Ted is right black walnut is most stable ....




--
dgoddard83

SHMBO put in a rush order for a bowl for a gift. I had just returned form a
chain saw party with our local woodturners group and had a pickup load of
Bodark and Mesquite. I turned a natural edge bowl from green Bodark (one
day old) to 1/8" thickness and soaked it in alcohol. I only had isopropyl
(anhydrous) available so used that. After a night in IPA I air dried it for
a few hours and sanded it. It did not warp or crack. I like Bodark for
its' ability to buff up to a high sheen with only wax.

Mesquite is not stuff I let my wife give away.


"robo hippy" wrote in message
...
TTW,
Actually, the practice of wrapping the bowls this way started 5 or
more years ago by the guy who started the DNA (denatured alcohol)
soaking method. So, I guess it isn't too new. The DNA is supposed to
help in drying and stabilizing wood. From my experiments, it does
ablosutely nothing that can be measured. I turn to final thickness
(1/4 to 1/2 inch depending on wood), and let the bowls dry and warp
then sand. I have never tried the turn thick, then dry, then return
method. The soakings, both DNA and LDD might have an effect on the
wood when doing this way, but again, I haven't tried it. I have
wrapped only the rim, with about an inch of plastic on the inside, and
the rest on the outside of the bowl, and it seems to work as well.
With the paper, I wrap the entire outside of the bowl, bend it over
the rim a bit to hold it in place till I can get the plastic film on
to hold it in place. So, I guess I wrap the paper vertically, and the
plastic horizontally (around the rim only). I have wrapped the entire
outside of the bowl with the plastic, and it works as well. What
surprised me was that there was no condensation between the plastic
and the wood. Also, because I am putting tension on the plastic as I
wrap, when I did the entire outside, the plastic would actually pull
itself off the bowl. Paper first, then plastic second seems to be the
easiest way. You can save the paper after use and it is already
preformed for using again if you have a bowl similar in size.

robo hippy

On Jan 26, 9:34 am, spaco wrote:
Because of the form of your questions, I will assume you are somewhat
new to woodturning, as am I.
I have only turned 5 bowls in my whole life.
Only one was wet wood; willow. After asking some questions here and
getting some good answers, it came out really nice! And, a year later,
no cracks at all.
But, here's my 2 cents:
All the other bowls I have turned have been from one small piece of
cherry branch about 7 or 8 inches in diameter and 8 feet long. When I
cut that branch off the tree 7 or 8 years ago, I cut it into 2, 4 foot
lengths and painted the ends. Forgot about it until mid year, last
year. That's when I cut the thing up and made a few bowls. Of the four
bowls I turned from this DRY cherry, I have gotten NO splitting or
checking or warping at all.
The point is: dry wood seems more stable than wet wood, if that's
any help to you at all.
We have heated with wood for many years and have thousands and
thousands of board feet of wood that we have sawed and stored here for
as long as 25 years. They tell me that it takes about one year per inch
of wood thickness to get it to dry.
Using only air drying, here in west central Wisconsin, almost all of
my wood stabilizes at real close to 16% moisture. So, even after many
years of air drying, when I brought those pieces into the shop, I kept
them in a plastic bag, loosely closed, so they wouldn't make the
transition from 16% toward 6 or 7% too quickly.

Last point: Dry wood is a lot harder to turn and a lot harder on the
lathe tools, but, at least it doesn't squirt "juice" in my face like the
wet willow did.

Pete Stanaitis
----------------------------------



randyswoodshoop wrote:
HI

When bowl turning which woods are the most stable , will not warp or
crack as much ?
Which are the least stable?

What does everyone think of as pine for a turning wood. I have never
turned any pine?

Randy
http://nokeswoodworks.com