Hi,

I have a "slice" from a willow tree. I am hoping to turn it for the
experience. It is fully dry as it has sat in a garage for over 6 years.

The surfaces has cuts from the chainsaw that are about 1/4-1/2 inch deep. I
am looking for any information on how to go about turning it. I see much
posted about turning wood "wet" or green, this slab is bone dry. Are there
any special tools to use for end grain?

Any help would be appreciated.

-Matt

Your dry wood is just going to be more dust than shavings especially because
you mentioned turning the endgrain. I'm assuming that "use for end grain"
means you're going to be hollowing to some degree and you have a chuck of
some sort to hold your work at only one end.

For working endgrain in a hollowing fashion, you generally want to start out
by using a small square ended (rounded is fine too) scraper and working from
the center outward. You can, of course, use a shallow fluted gouge
(commonly referred to as a spindle gouge) but it's a bit more advanced to
use as are the specialized hollowing tools.

- Andrew


Hi,

I have a "slice" from a willow tree. I am hoping to turn it for the
experience. It is fully dry as it has sat in a garage for over 6 years.

The surfaces has cuts from the chainsaw that are about 1/4-1/2 inch deep.
I
am looking for any information on how to go about turning it. I see much
posted about turning wood "wet" or green, this slab is bone dry. Are
there
any special tools to use for end grain?

Any help would be appreciated.

-Matt

Matt

You are better off cutting down a new willow tree - this stuff will crack
and run and you will waste a few hours, get friustrated, dull your tools,
have to resharpen them a few times, get sore hands, breathe some dust and
probably end up with a substandard result on the final piece.

If it were me, I would use the chunk of wood for some small boxes, making
sure I cut the work pieces along any major checks that exist in the wood.

Good luck with this if you plan to move forward.

Ray





"mp" wrote in message
news:%3Oub.249493$Fm2.260151@attbi_s04...
Hi,

I have a "slice" from a willow tree. I am hoping to turn it for the
experience. It is fully dry as it has sat in a garage for over 6 years.

The surfaces has cuts from the chainsaw that are about 1/4-1/2 inch deep.
I
am looking for any information on how to go about turning it. I see much
posted about turning wood "wet" or green, this slab is bone dry. Are
there
any special tools to use for end grain?

Any help would be appreciated.

-Matt

If you have it mounted properly, you still follow the two basic rules of
turning - down grain and down hill. For your hollowing, you might want to
establish something near the depth you will want by boring a centered hole.
Then you can cut from the hole toward the rim, tapering outward, thereby
cutting both down hill and down grain. I use gouges, others use scrapers.
I keep the edges back on my non-forged spindle gouges, which allows me to
reach in and shave. On a couple of cheap gouges, I have the grind farther
back than the diameter of the gouge, allowing me to set the side of the
gouge against the side of the work to be hollowed, then rotate it
counterclockwise to start shaving. If you do much endgrain hollowing, this
"pointy" grind is a great one to have. I've been turning Christmas
ornaments of late, and it takes the bulk of the interior out quickly, since
the shavings run down the gouge, making plenty of room for the hollowing
scraper, which does not eject its shavings.

Willow of several sorts is _really_ fuzzy, but it's pretty much bulletproof
as far as additional checking goes.


"mp" wrote in message
news:%3Oub.249493$Fm2.260151@attbi_s04...
Hi,

I have a "slice" from a willow tree. I am hoping to turn it for the
experience. It is fully dry as it has sat in a garage for over 6 years.

The surfaces has cuts from the chainsaw that are about 1/4-1/2 inch deep.
I
am looking for any information on how to go about turning it. I see much
posted about turning wood "wet" or green, this slab is bone dry. Are
there
any special tools to use for end grain?

Any help would be appreciated.

-Matt

Check links on my website https://home.comcast.net/~phileen the first link will show you how to
make one and the second is where the tool started.
Good luck..............Phil





On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 17:50:51 GMT, "mp" wrote:

Hi,

I have a "slice" from a willow tree. I am hoping to turn it for the
experience. It is fully dry as it has sat in a garage for over 6 years.

The surfaces has cuts from the chainsaw that are about 1/4-1/2 inch deep. I
am looking for any information on how to go about turning it. I see much
posted about turning wood "wet" or green, this slab is bone dry. Are there
any special tools to use for end grain?

Any help would be appreciated.

-Matt

Was late last night when I replied to your post, and did not really give you all the info. Go to
www.roundthewoods.com then pick MAKING A TOOL and about half way down page you will see a blue
link to OLAND TOOL. I have used this tool with good results in end grain
turning.................fipster




On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 17:50:51 GMT, "mp" wrote:

Hi,

I have a "slice" from a willow tree. I am hoping to turn it for the
experience. It is fully dry as it has sat in a garage for over 6 years.

The surfaces has cuts from the chainsaw that are about 1/4-1/2 inch deep. I
am looking for any information on how to go about turning it. I see much
posted about turning wood "wet" or green, this slab is bone dry. Are there
any special tools to use for end grain?

Any help would be appreciated.

-Matt

Good advice from all, however, if I might suggest a slightly different
approach. I would soak the willow piece in LDD and use my Termite ring tool
for the hollowing. See it at:
http://www.oneway.on.ca/Oneway/pdf/t...structions.pdf

Perhaps a bit more money than making your own, but I have used it for at
least a couple of years and love the controllability of it and the smooth
cuts it is capable of. No catches like using a gouge. The LDD will soften
the wood fibers and make them easier to cut.

Leif



"mp" wrote in message
news:%3Oub.249493$Fm2.260151@attbi_s04...
Hi,

I have a "slice" from a willow tree. I am hoping to turn it for the
experience. It is fully dry as it has sat in a garage for over 6 years.

The surfaces has cuts from the chainsaw that are about 1/4-1/2 inch deep.
I
am looking for any information on how to go about turning it. I see much
posted about turning wood "wet" or green, this slab is bone dry. Are
there
any special tools to use for end grain?

Any help would be appreciated.

-Matt