Yesterday I got some live Cherry and Apple woods. The pieces aren't
huge but should make some nice bowls. I've read numerous accounts of
how to handle it but haven't reached a conclusion as to how best to go.
I'm sure we have people in the group who have the answers with far more
experience.

I turned the outside of a piece of cherry yesterday and now it's in a
plastic bag. One thing about wet wood...no dust and boy do the curls
come off it nice once the bark is gone :O)

1) I have to store most of it until it's time to use it. So, starting
with piece #1 - Am I better off turning a piece wet, sealing and storing
it until it's dry?? Saying this - How long to store, what to seal it
with and how to store it. Should it go in a plastic bag, then in a box??

2) Am I better off waiting for it to dry until turning?? (Seal ends and
store somewhere??)

Al this might be mundane to a lot of you. I did two levels of
woodturning courses but we never did talka bout stoing wood or preparing
wood for storage. That would have been a good topic at a class!!

Keith P

In article ,
Keith wrote:

I turned the outside of a piece of cherry yesterday and now it's in a
plastic bag. One thing about wet wood...no dust and boy do the curls
come off it nice once the bark is gone :O)

1) I have to store most of it until it's time to use it. So, starting
with piece #1 - Am I better off turning a piece wet, sealing and storing
it until it's dry?? Saying this - How long to store, what to seal it
with and how to store it. Should it go in a plastic bag, then in a box??

There are many, many methods. All of them work for some people, and for
some definition of work....

Generally better to at least rough the bowls green. If you can deal with
the idea that the result may not be perfectly round (or may be quite
oval) you can also finish turn green, and then fix the foot once it's
dry. If rough turing, leave an inch or so of wall thickness so that you
can get a round result when remounting the dried, oval, roughed bowl.

Apple is very pretty and also very prone to cracking. Good luck with it
and expect some losses. Cherry is usually less trouble.

Plastic-bagging may be a bit too much - most places you'll mold the wood
with a plastic bag and long-term storage (might not be true in some very
dry areas.)

Paper bags (fold the top over) and paper bags full of shavings are two
approaches. Buried in shavings without a bag is another. Boiling the
roughed out bowls, microwaving the roughed out bowls (have a shop
microwave or a REALLY tolerant spouse) soaking the roughed out bowls in
liquid dish detergent solution... all things that work for some people.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by
Please don't feed the trolls. Killfile and ignore them so they will go away.

Ecnerwal wrote:

In article ,
Keith wrote:

I turned the outside of a piece of cherry yesterday and now it's in a
plastic bag. One thing about wet wood...no dust and boy do the curls
come off it nice once the bark is gone :O)

1) I have to store most of it until it's time to use it. So, starting
with piece #1 - Am I better off turning a piece wet, sealing and storing
it until it's dry?? Saying this - How long to store, what to seal it
with and how to store it. Should it go in a plastic bag, then in a box??

There are many, many methods. All of them work for some people, and for
some definition of work....

Generally better to at least rough the bowls green. If you can deal with
the idea that the result may not be perfectly round (or may be quite
oval) you can also finish turn green, and then fix the foot once it's
dry. If rough turing, leave an inch or so of wall thickness so that you
can get a round result when remounting the dried, oval, roughed bowl.

Apple is very pretty and also very prone to cracking. Good luck with it
and expect some losses. Cherry is usually less trouble.

Plastic-bagging may be a bit too much - most places you'll mold the wood
with a plastic bag and long-term storage (might not be true in some very
dry areas.)

Paper bags (fold the top over) and paper bags full of shavings are two
approaches. Buried in shavings without a bag is another. Boiling the
roughed out bowls, microwaving the roughed out bowls (have a shop
microwave or a REALLY tolerant spouse) soaking the roughed out bowls in
liquid dish detergent solution... all things that work for some people.


The important part of the above is the last sentence. The most reliable,
for me, is to put the blank in a paper bag and weight it every month or so
on a postal scale. When it quits losing weight, its ready to complete.

I have recently run two pieces through the microwave (three or four passes
for 7:45mon on defrost) one worked really great, the other so so.

Liquid dish detergent I had absolutelt no success with. Haven't boiled
anything, so cannot speak to that. However, I THINK boiling is more
successful on some woods than others.

Deb

In article , Keith
wrote:

Yesterday I got some live Cherry and Apple woods. The pieces aren't
huge but should make some nice bowls. I've read numerous accounts of
how to handle it but haven't reached a conclusion as to how best to go.
I'm sure we have people in the group who have the answers with far more
experience.

I turned the outside of a piece of cherry yesterday and now it's in a
plastic bag. One thing about wet wood...no dust and boy do the curls
come off it nice once the bark is gone :O)

1) I have to store most of it until it's time to use it. So, starting
with piece #1 - Am I better off turning a piece wet, sealing and storing
it until it's dry?? Saying this - How long to store, what to seal it
with and how to store it. Should it go in a plastic bag, then in a box??

2) Am I better off waiting for it to dry until turning?? (Seal ends and
store somewhere??)

Al this might be mundane to a lot of you. I did two levels of
woodturning courses but we never did talka bout stoing wood or preparing
wood for storage. That would have been a good topic at a class!!

Apple is going to move and twist like crazy. I turn it very thin when
wet and let it find its own shape.

I've never turned green cherry, you just don't find it this far north.

Remember... If it holds water, it's a bowl. If not, it's art.

--
Woodworking and more at http://www.woodenwabbits.com

Great comment :O) !!!

I knew this was the place for a solution.

Keith

On 12/07/2011 05:13 AM, Keith wrote:
Yesterday I got some live Cherry and Apple woods. The pieces aren't huge
but should make some nice bowls. I've read numerous accounts of how to
handle it but haven't reached a conclusion as to how best to go. I'm
sure we have people in the group who have the answers with far more
experience.

I turned the outside of a piece of cherry yesterday and now it's in a
plastic bag. One thing about wet wood...no dust and boy do the curls
come off it nice once the bark is gone :O)

They'll never dry in a plastic bag. A paper grocery bag is the better
option.

1) I have to store most of it until it's time to use it. So, starting
with piece #1 - Am I better off turning a piece wet, sealing and storing
it until it's dry?? Saying this - How long to store, what to seal it
with and how to store it. Should it go in a plastic bag, then in a box??

Turn them over size, then coat the endgrain with Anchorseal. Often I'll
put a small stick perpendicular to the grain from edge to edge. Helps
it to not move so much as it dries. Then stick it in the aforementioned
paper bag.


2) Am I better off waiting for it to dry until turning?? (Seal ends and
store somewhere??)

Yup. I turn them, then set them aside for 6 months to a year. Usually
good and dry by then. Rough turn some every month, and you'll always
have something dry to turn (after the initial waiting period of course.)
Be sure to put the date on them w/a marker so you know how long
they've been curing.

Al this might be mundane to a lot of you. I did two levels of
woodturning courses but we never did talk about storing wood or preparing
wood for storage. That would have been a good topic at a class!!

It kind of varies with climate. Wood in Arizona is going to dry a lot
faster than the wood in the rainforest I live in. It's a good question
to ask of the instructor, but isn't one that has a definite answer.
That includes the answers you get here too, of course...

....Kevin
--
Kevin Miller - http://www.alaska.net/~atftb
Juneau, Alaska
In a recent survey, 7 out of 10 hard drives preferred Linux
Registered Linux User No: 307357, http://linuxcounter.net

In article , Keith
wrote:

Great comment :O) !!!

Not mine, but I can't remember where I read it first to attribute it
properly.

I knew this was the place for a solution.

Keith

--
Woodworking and more at http://www.woodenwabbits.com