I have accumulated anchor sealed blanks that have cracked during drying.
Also after finishing dried (6-12 months) blanks cracks started to developed.
I still have a several cracked blanks. I did not discard any of these yet.
I came to the conclusion that the only thing to do with these is to burn
them. Before throwing them in the wood stove I tough I ask for comments.
What I have learned from this is either its the nature of the beast or I
need a controlled environment for drying the blanks properly.

--
Denis
Sprucewood, Rothesay, N.B

It's BOTH the nature of the beast and you need a controlled environment to
dry the blanks properly. There are all kinds of ways to set up a controlled
environment and control the movement of moisture in and out of the wood.
The best and most highly controllable is a kiln (not solar). That's not
practical for most people so they try to take shortcuts such as preventing
moisture from escaping too quickly in certain parts of the wood piece. Such
procedures include coating the endgrain (anchorseal, peg, wax, endgrain
sealer, etc.) and others just act upon the wood piece as a whole
(dishwashing soap, freezing, microwaving, diapers, scorching, water, etc.).
There's only so much that can be done, even by carefully controlling the
drying of the wood in a kiln. Some pieces just won't dry well no matter
what steps you take because of factors beyond your control such as internal
stresses in the wood itself or decay or structural defects in it.

If these blanks of yours are something you really do want to keep and try to
turn (maybe great figure or some other significance to you), you might still
be able to turn them. If the cracks don't make the blanks dangerous to
turn, just turn it as you normally would and let the cracks be a part of the
piece. You can enhance the cracks by filling them with stone or metal
powder or just whatever. Lots of things to do to them to make them stand
out. If the cracks make it structurally unsound to turn, fill them with an
epoxy or some other glue to hold them together (again, stone or metal or
whatever can be used at this stage too) while you turn it. Just be careful
and check it often to make sure it's still safe to turn. Some great pieces
have been created with cracks all over them although some would say to not
waste your time with a bad piece of wood (and I think we all know who said
that g). There's some truth to that too. There's only so much you can
do.

Don't automatically throw them in the fire. Don't automatically try to
create something from them. It all depends on what YOU "see" in them and
what you can do with them that counts.

- Andrew


"Denis Marier" wrote in message
...
I have accumulated anchor sealed blanks that have cracked during drying.
Also after finishing dried (6-12 months) blanks cracks started to
developed.
I still have a several cracked blanks. I did not discard any of these
yet.
I came to the conclusion that the only thing to do with these is to burn
them. Before throwing them in the wood stove I tough I ask for comments.
What I have learned from this is either its the nature of the beast or I
need a controlled environment for drying the blanks properly.

--
Denis
Sprucewood, Rothesay, N.B

On Fri, 2 Apr 2004 07:47:26 -0600, "AHilton"
hurled these words of wisdom into the ether:


Don't automatically throw them in the fire. Don't automatically try to
create something from them. It all depends on what YOU "see" in them and
what you can do with them that counts.

Just to add a bit more to what Andy said, you can also often salvage
choice parts and pieces from cracked blanks, to use for smaller
projects, for knobs, inlays, finials and the like, as well as saving
pieces for carving, if you're so inclined. I used to buy "craft
boxes" of hardwood ends from my local hardwood dealer for $5 for a big
box. I got hundreds of projects out of them and still have a lot
left, years later, which I use for the things I mentioned above. So,
one man's "trash" can indeed be another man's "treasure."


-
Chuck *#:^)
chaz3913(AT)yahoo(dot)com
ANTI-SPAM Sig - Remove NOSPAM from email to reply


September 11, 2001 - Never Forget

If you, as I, have an endless supply of wood on its way from forest to the
furnace, let the failures fulfill their original purpose and warm you. I
can see no reason in the world for risking damage to your equipment and
injury to yourself for the sake of an ordinary, easily replaceable piece of
firewood. If it's a burl or a great gnarly, proceed with caution.

Sometimes we just don't get 'round to roughing out a log until it's too far
gone. Those are the breaks. Next year will bring more, so just rough as
much as you can, and don't bother trying to save what you can't. Percentage
is with roughing and storing the bowl, not the wood.

I've spent the last couple of weeks turning wood I split for the furnace two
years ago, because I wanted to do some small stuff. That, and some short
pieces of 4/4 stock kicking around the workshop can do some neat items. If
I could post to abpw, I would, but if you'd like some suggestions - and this
post actually gets out, let me know, and I'll add a page to my personal.

"Denis Marier" wrote in message
...
I have accumulated anchor sealed blanks that have cracked during drying.
Also after finishing dried (6-12 months) blanks cracks started to
developed.
I still have a several cracked blanks. I did not discard any of these
yet.
I came to the conclusion that the only thing to do with these is to burn
them. Before throwing them in the wood stove I tough I ask for comments.
What I have learned from this is either its the nature of the beast or I
need a controlled environment for drying the blanks properly.

On Fri, 02 Apr 2004 13:20:00 GMT, "Denis Marier" wrote:

I have accumulated anchor sealed blanks that have cracked during drying.
Also after finishing dried (6-12 months) blanks cracks started to developed.
I still have a several cracked blanks. I did not discard any of these yet.
I came to the conclusion that the only thing to do with these is to burn
them. Before throwing them in the wood stove I tough I ask for comments.

I recently purged my shop of the dozens of cracked blanks because the pile was so big that it was blocking my entry door (forcing
me to use the garage door thus loosing a significant amount of heat each time I left the shop). I spent the entire day bandsawing
them into spindle blanks. I now have 100's of spindle blanks for various uses.

Peter Teubel
Milford, MA
http://www.revolutionary-turners.com

My wife likes to take the cracked or rejects and fill them with potting soil
and plants and then places around the flower garden, they work great

"Denis Marier" wrote in message
...
I have accumulated anchor sealed blanks that have cracked during drying.
Also after finishing dried (6-12 months) blanks cracks started to
developed.
I still have a several cracked blanks. I did not discard any of these
yet.
I came to the conclusion that the only thing to do with these is to burn
them. Before throwing them in the wood stove I tough I ask for comments.
What I have learned from this is either its the nature of the beast or I
need a controlled environment for drying the blanks properly.

--
Denis
Sprucewood, Rothesay, N.B

While I have not tried this myself, we had a Story Stick carver
demonstrate at our local woodworking club who said he used Popcorn oil
to close up cracks in his sticks caused by drying. Before you just
throw them in the fire, or cut them into smaller pieces, it might be
worth a try. I believe that all he did was coat the crack with the oil
ans it closed.

The Other Bruce
----------------------------------------------------------------------------



Peter Teubel wrote in message . ..
On Fri, 02 Apr 2004 13:20:00 GMT, "Denis Marier" wrote:

I have accumulated anchor sealed blanks that have cracked during drying.
Also after finishing dried (6-12 months) blanks cracks started to developed.
I still have a several cracked blanks. I did not discard any of these yet.
I came to the conclusion that the only thing to do with these is to burn
them. Before throwing them in the wood stove I tough I ask for comments.

I recently purged my shop of the dozens of cracked blanks because the pile was so big that it was blocking my entry door (forcing
me to use the garage door thus loosing a significant amount of heat each time I left the shop). I spent the entire day bandsawing
them into spindle blanks. I now have 100's of spindle blanks for various uses.

Peter Teubel
Milford, MA
http://www.revolutionary-turners.com