After an old footbridge was taken down in a State Park, I kept a couple of
the bridge timbers and cut them into turning squares. I'm trying to make a
bowl that will primarily be used as a trophy for people who do volunteer
work in the state parks. Even though the wood is probably 40-50 years old
it still seems to have a lot of resin trapped in it. I'm pretty sure it's
yellow pine.

The bowl will be primarily noticed because of its origin. It will never be
a "beautiful" piece, but I would like it to have an attractive finish. I'm
connsidering adding a single stripe of color around the body, using food
coloring to provide the color.

I'd like to get some ideas on what to use to provide a finish for the piece,
especially considering the high resin content of the wood.

On Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:08:39 -0600, JimR wrote
(in message ):

After an old footbridge was taken down in a State Park, I kept a couple of
the bridge timbers and cut them into turning squares. I'm trying to make a
bowl that will primarily be used as a trophy for people who do volunteer
work in the state parks. Even though the wood is probably 40-50 years old
it still seems to have a lot of resin trapped in it. I'm pretty sure it's
yellow pine.

The bowl will be primarily noticed because of its origin. It will never be
a "beautiful" piece, but I would like it to have an attractive finish. I'm
connsidering adding a single stripe of color around the body, using food
coloring to provide the color.

I'd like to get some ideas on what to use to provide a finish for the piece,
especially considering the high resin content of the wood.



shellac is often used as a sealer over resinous wood, to keep the resin from
bleeding through. I like shellac. It is fairly easy to work with dries fast
and is easy to clean up with alcohol. It comes in two basic flavors, clear
(or white) and amber (or yellow) I have used it on white pine with very nice
results. Give a 2 or 3 of coats of shellac, sanding with very fine sandpaper
between coats, sand the final coat with very fine sandpaper, and then a coat
of hard paste wax and buff.
tom koehler


--
I will find a way or make one.

Jim - I would like to say "good luck" on turning that piece of
timber. I mean that sincerely. Turning that old stuff for me unless
it is something soft like cherry, isn't happening anymore.

Those old timbers (used for structural integrity) are probably white
oak or something similar (not red) if they have been there in service
that long and are still good enough to consider turning. If that is
the case, that wood is probably harder than pavement. They may also
be treated with one thing or another, so wear your mask for sure!

Good luck on that. I may well be that it is one of those things that
is actually worth the effort. Hope you let us know.

Robert

If it has resin trapped in it, it probably isn't hardwood. The OP is
probably right--pine.




















wrote in message
...
Jim - I would like to say "good luck" on turning that piece of
timber. I mean that sincerely. Turning that old stuff for me unless
it is something soft like cherry, isn't happening anymore.

Those old timbers (used for structural integrity) are probably white
oak or something similar (not red) if they have been there in service
that long and are still good enough to consider turning. If that is
the case, that wood is probably harder than pavement. They may also
be treated with one thing or another, so wear your mask for sure!

Good luck on that. I may well be that it is one of those things that
is actually worth the effort. Hope you let us know.

Robert

Leo Lichtman wrote:
If it has resin trapped in it, it probably isn't hardwood. The OP is
probably right--pine.

Even with a shellac finish, I've had trouble w/pitch on pieces in the
past. Best thing to do is to get an old oven off of freecycle or a
garage sale, where ever, and cook the blanks for several hours. I think
someone how knew told me around 300 degrees outta do it way back when.
I think he said several hours or something like that. I may have the
notes at home - I'll look tonight. But check w/someone knowledgeable
first - I'm going on fuzzy memory. But anyway, that will crystallize
the pitch and make it much more tolerable to both turn and finish.

Don't use your wife's oven. You've been warned.

--
Kevin Miller
Juneau, Alaska
http://www.alaska.net/~atftb
In a recent poll, seven out of ten hard drives preferred Linux.

wrote in message
...
Jim - I would like to say "good luck" on turning that piece of
timber. I mean that sincerely. Turning that old stuff for me unless
it is something soft like cherry, isn't happening anymore.

Those old timbers (used for structural integrity) are probably white
oak or something similar (not red) if they have been there in service
that long and are still good enough to consider turning. If that is
the case, that wood is probably harder than pavement. They may also
be treated with one thing or another, so wear your mask for sure!

Good luck on that. I may well be that it is one of those things that
is actually worth the effort. Hope you let us know.

Robert

Well, it's yellow, heavy, looks like pine and smells like pine. I think
it's yellow pine --

Thanks to everyone for your ideas and comments. Actually, it's been fairly
easy to turn except that the resin builds up on the tools quickly and I
spend a lot of time keeping the tools clean and sharp. If the first one
doesn't do well, I've got four more blocks that I can use to practice
different techniques.

On Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:01:33 -0600, JimR wrote
(in message ):


wrote in message
...
Jim - I would like to say "good luck" on turning that piece of
timber. I mean that sincerely. Turning that old stuff for me unless
it is something soft like cherry, isn't happening anymore.

Those old timbers (used for structural integrity) are probably white
oak or something similar (not red) if they have been there in service
that long and are still good enough to consider turning. If that is
the case, that wood is probably harder than pavement. They may also
be treated with one thing or another, so wear your mask for sure!

Good luck on that. I may well be that it is one of those things that
is actually worth the effort. Hope you let us know.

Robert

Well, it's yellow, heavy, looks like pine and smells like pine. I think
it's yellow pine --

Thanks to everyone for your ideas and comments. Actually, it's been fairly
easy to turn except that the resin builds up on the tools quickly and I
spend a lot of time keeping the tools clean and sharp. If the first one
doesn't do well, I've got four more blocks that I can use to practice
different techniques.



well, yellow pine resin should be soluble with mineral spirits or turpentine,
so cleaning your tools should be easy enough. Best of luck to you.
tom koehler

--
I will find a way or make one.

On Mar 1, 1:25*am, tom koehler
wrote:
On Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:01:33 -0600, JimR wrote
(in message ):







wrote in message
...
Jim - I would like to say "good luck" on turning that piece of
timber. *I mean that sincerely. *Turning that old stuff for me unless
it is something soft like cherry, isn't happening anymore.

Those old timbers (used for structural integrity) are probably white
oak or something similar (not red) if they have been there in service
that long and are still good enough to consider turning. *If that is
the case, that wood is probably harder than pavement. *They may also
be treated with one thing or another, so wear your mask for sure!

Good luck on that. *I may well be that it is one of those things that
is actually worth the effort. *Hope you let us know.

Robert

Well, it's yellow, heavy, looks like pine and smells like pine. *I think
it's yellow pine --

Thanks to everyone for your ideas and comments. *Actually, it's been fairly
easy to turn except that the resin builds up on the tools quickly and I
spend a lot of time keeping the tools clean and sharp. *If the first one
doesn't do well, I've got four more blocks that I can use to practice
different techniques.

well, yellow pine resin should be soluble with mineral spirits or turpentine,
so cleaning your tools should be easy enough. Best of luck to you.
tom koehler

--
I will find a way or make one.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You could also coat most of your chisel with a bees wax or similar

On Feb 24, 4:11*pm, Kevin Miller wrote:
Leo Lichtman wrote:
If it has resin trapped in it, it probably isn't hardwood. *The OP is
probably right--pine.

Even with a shellac finish, I've had trouble w/pitch on pieces in the
past. *Best thing to do is to get an old oven off of freecycle or a
garage sale, where ever, and cook the blanks for several hours. *I think
someone how knew told me around 300 degrees outta do it way back when.
I think he said several hours or something like that. *I may have the
notes at home - I'll look tonight. *But check w/someone knowledgeable
first - I'm going on fuzzy memory. *But anyway, that will crystallize
the pitch and make it much more tolerable to both turn and finish.

Don't use your wife's oven. *You've been warned.

--
Kevin Miller
Juneau, Alaskahttp://www.alaska.net/~atftb
In a recent poll, seven out of ten hard drives preferred Linux.

I turned a bit of eastern white pine and didn't seem to have much
trouble with pitch though there is 37 species of pine