Why green wood?
 

I'm new to turning and people are always commenting about turning green
wood. Why not regular kiln dried / air dried wood? Does the moisture help
to keep the turned piece from splitting apart?

Someone told me to get a 4x4 cedar port from the Borg and practice on chunks
of that. Is that a good or bad idea?

Thanks
Rob

--

"Rob Worgull" wrote in message
...
I'm new to turning and people are always commenting about turning green
wood. Why not regular kiln dried / air dried wood? Does the moisture
help
to keep the turned piece from splitting apart?

Someone told me to get a 4x4 cedar port from the Borg and practice on
chunks
of that. Is that a good or bad idea?
=============================
I wouldn't recommend the cedar. It is a soft wood that will usually tear out
if not approached with good technique. On the other hand, if you learn to
turn kiln dried cedar, all the other wood types should come pretty easy.

Ken Moon
Webberville, TX

On Tue, 7 Sep 2004 22:07:37 -0500, "Rob Worgull" wrote:

I'm new to turning and people are always commenting about turning green
wood. Why not regular kiln dried / air dried wood? Does the moisture help
to keep the turned piece from splitting apart?

Green wood is usually free and it cuts much smoother than dried wood. I avoid using kiln-dried wood whenever I can. If I must use
dry wood, I try to get air-dried wood. Turns better than KD stuff, which is chippy and extremely dusty.

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

Hi Rob,
One of the other reasons for turning green wood is variety. I've turned
over 60 local woods that I collected. At least half would not be
commercially available. Every wood is different and range of appearances is
amazing to me. The free part doesn't hurt either.
Tony Manella
ndd1"at"prolog.net (remove "at")
http://home.ptd.net/~ndd1/
Lehigh Valley Woodturners
http://www.lehighvalleywoodturners.com/

"Rob Worgull" wrote in message
...
I'm new to turning and people are always commenting about turning green
wood. Why not regular kiln dried / air dried wood? Does the moisture
help
to keep the turned piece from splitting apart?

Someone told me to get a 4x4 cedar port from the Borg and practice on
chunks
of that. Is that a good or bad idea?

Thanks
Rob

--

In aqddition to being free, easy to turn, and the possibility of getting a
wider variety, there is another aspect - FUN. One can shoot the shavings
clear across the shop!



"Rob Worgull" wrote in message
...
I'm new to turning and people are always commenting about turning green
wood. Why not regular kiln dried / air dried wood? Does the moisture
help
to keep the turned piece from splitting apart?

Someone told me to get a 4x4 cedar port from the Borg and practice on
chunks
of that. Is that a good or bad idea?

Thanks
Rob

--

"Rob Worgull" wrote in message ...
I'm new to turning and people are always commenting about turning green
wood. Why not regular kiln dried / air dried wood? Does the moisture help
to keep the turned piece from splitting apart?

Someone told me to get a 4x4 cedar port from the Borg and practice on chunks
of that. Is that a good or bad idea?

Thanks
Rob

--
Rob. There are about a dozen good reasons to turn green wood. Such as
it's usually
free or cheap. Much easier to turn. Less dust. It's almost impossible
to find large dry pieces of wood. Etc. If you want to learn more about
turning green wood check out John Jordan's new DVD called "The
Aesthetics & Properties of Wood". I don't beleive it is available in
any catalogs yet but can be purchased directly from John.

If it's western red cedar, wear a mask and have some Benadryl available.
Lots of folks are sensitive to its insecticide/fungicide mix.

Eastern white and aromatic cedar turn pretty well, and are not normally as
strong an irritant.

You turn green wood for a lot of the reasons above, but mostly because it's
tough to dry the wood in large lumps without splitting.

"Ken Moon" wrote in message
link.net...

"Rob Worgull" wrote in message
...
I'm new to turning and people are always commenting about turning green
wood. Why not regular kiln dried / air dried wood? Does the moisture
help
to keep the turned piece from splitting apart?

Someone told me to get a 4x4 cedar port from the Borg and practice on
chunks
of that. Is that a good or bad idea?
=============================
I wouldn't recommend the cedar. It is a soft wood that will usually tear
out
if not approached with good technique. On the other hand, if you learn to
turn kiln dried cedar, all the other wood types should come pretty easy.

Ken Moon
Webberville, TX

I have been attempting to contact John via his e-mail address as published in
the AAW Directory, but get no reply. Maybe it is not reaching him. Can someone
give me a better address?
Joe Keeler-Cincinnati

I have about 13 Acers of land that is about 3/4 wooded. I have a lot
of fire wood that is any where from 1-7 years old. There is always a
lot of fallen wood in various stages of dryness or decay. I just
picked-up my first lathe, a Powermatic 90 that I got at a school sale
for $276, and just started using it for the first time this week.
What do I need to know about using green, air dried, spalded wood?
Do I need to trim the ends of a piece of firewood until there is not
any checking or cracking?
How "round" does a piece of fire wood need to be before I put it in
the lathe for spindle turning?
Any good links to green woodturning?

Thanks
Scott in Decorah IA

In article ,
(vmtw) wrote:

Do I need to trim the ends of a piece of firewood until there is not
any checking or cracking?

Not really. I usually just chuck the firewood, rough it to a cylinder,
and evalute the usable diameter and length between cracks at that point.
If it's overly rotten (or has "advanced spalting" ;^)) you may need to
trim back to get solid wood that will hold a center, or you may just
need to give up on it and choose another chunk that's not so far gone.

How "round" does a piece of fire wood need to be before I put it in
the lathe for spindle turning?

How slowly does your lathe go? With a slow enough lathe you can turn
just about any hunk of firewood round. If the low speed is too high you
need to get the balance of the piece well enough to allow you to turn it
without having the lathe flopping around, or the wood tearing itself out
of the lathe due to imbalance + speed. Most firewood I start with for
spindles is basically triangular (split from the log). When it has to go
in the ShopSmith, which does not go very slowly (500-700 RPM minimum), I
need to do more work with the drawknife before turning the motor on.

--
Cats, Coffee, Chocolate...vices to live by

Scott
Try my web site under "preparing green wood" and ask away.
http://aroundthewoods.com/firewood.shtml

--
God bless and safe turning
Darrell Feltmate
Truro, NS Canada
www.aroundthewoods.com

Ecnerwal wrote in message ...
In article ,
(vmtw) wrote:

Do I need to trim the ends of a piece of firewood until there is not
any checking or cracking?

Not really. I usually just chuck the firewood, rough it to a cylinder,
and evalute the usable diameter and length between cracks at that point.
If it's overly rotten (or has "advanced spalting" ;^)) you may need to
trim back to get solid wood that will hold a center, or you may just
need to give up on it and choose another chunk that's not so far gone.

How "round" does a piece of fire wood need to be before I put it in
the lathe for spindle turning?

How slowly does your lathe go? With a slow enough lathe you can turn
just about any hunk of firewood round. If the low speed is too high you
need to get the balance of the piece well enough to allow you to turn it
without having the lathe flopping around, or the wood tearing itself out
of the lathe due to imbalance + speed. Most firewood I start with for
spindles is basically triangular (split from the log). When it has to go
in the ShopSmith, which does not go very slowly (500-700 RPM minimum), I
need to do more work with the drawknife before turning the motor on.
The Powermatic 90 has a range from 320-2100 RPM according to the
manual I down loaded from www.owwm.com . It may be a little higher on
the low end because I cant get the belt to ride all of the way up to
the top of the pulley.
Scott

On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 14:18:10 -0400, "Darrell Feltmate"
wrote:

Scott
Try my web site under "preparing green wood" and ask away.
http://aroundthewoods.com/firewood.shtml

Darrell...
VERY nice site with lots of great info.. it's a bookmark now that I'll
refer to a lot..

thanks for taking the time to help us green wood newbies!!




Mac