About 2-3 weeks ago I bought 2 turning blanks at Rockler. Don't remember now
what the wood is, can"t find the stickers now. Anyway, removed the wax on
them and put a couple coats of spray laquer on them to get an idea of what
they would look like. One of the blocks is starting to split in a few
places, the other is ok so far. These are not going to be used for turning.
So what is the proper way to stabalize these blocks?

--
Paul O.

On Tue, 21 Jun 2011 06:31:17 -0700, "Paul" wrote:

About 2-3 weeks ago I bought 2 turning blanks at Rockler. Don't remember now
what the wood is, can"t find the stickers now. Anyway, removed the wax on
them and put a couple coats of spray laquer on them to get an idea of what
they would look like. One of the blocks is starting to split in a few
places, the other is ok so far. These are not going to be used for turning.
So what is the proper way to stabalize these blocks?

If you can, core them. By hollowing them out, the outer layers won't
split when shrinking/drying over wetter inner layers.

Wax or PEG (polyethylene glycol) will retard the drying process.

--
"Human nature itself is evermore an advocate for liberty.
There is also in human nature a resentment of injury, and
indignation against wrong. A love of truth and a veneration
of virtue. These amiable passions, are the latent spark. If
the people are capable of understanding, seeing and feeling
the differences between true and false, right and wrong,
virtue and vice, to what better principle can the friends of
mankind apply than to the sense of this difference?"
--John Adams

On Jun 21, 6:31*am, "Paul" wrote:
About 2-3 weeks ago I bought 2 turning blanks at Rockler. Don't remember now
what the wood is, can"t find the stickers now. Anyway, removed the wax on
them and put a couple coats of spray laquer on them to get an idea of what
they would look like. One of the blocks is starting to split in a few
places, the other is ok so far. These are not going to be used for turning.
So what is the proper way to stabalize these blocks?

--
Paul O.

If they dry too fast they get stressed and crack. The drying happens
out the ends mostly. You can use latex paint to slow the drying
process. My experience is with lumber in general and not specific to
turning blanks but wood is wood... I think.

On Tue, 21 Jun 2011 10:45:23 -0700 (PDT), "SonomaProducts.com"
wrote:

On Jun 21, 6:31Â*am, "Paul" wrote:
About 2-3 weeks ago I bought 2 turning blanks at Rockler. Don't remember now
what the wood is, can"t find the stickers now. Anyway, removed the wax on
them and put a couple coats of spray laquer on them to get an idea of what
they would look like. One of the blocks is starting to split in a few
places, the other is ok so far. These are not going to be used for turning.
So what is the proper way to stabalize these blocks?

--
Paul O.

If they dry too fast they get stressed and crack. The drying happens
out the ends mostly. You can use latex paint to slow the drying
process. My experience is with lumber in general and not specific to
turning blanks but wood is wood... I think.

My experience with latex paint and some Madrone logs was absolutely
miserable. Within 3 day, every single one was cracked in at least two
places. By week's end, some cracks were 3/8" wide and ran the length
of the log. I can not recommend latex paint for moisture control.

--
"Human nature itself is evermore an advocate for liberty.
There is also in human nature a resentment of injury, and
indignation against wrong. A love of truth and a veneration
of virtue. These amiable passions, are the latent spark. If
the people are capable of understanding, seeing and feeling
the differences between true and false, right and wrong,
virtue and vice, to what better principle can the friends of
mankind apply than to the sense of this difference?"
--John Adams

My experience with latex paint and some Madrone logs was absolutely
miserable. *Within 3 day, every single one was cracked in at least two
places. By week's end, some cracks were 3/8" wide and ran the length
of the log. *I can not recommend latex paint for moisture control.


Hmm, has always worked for me. I dried some almond logs for my brother
over the last year and it has worked flawless and I've used it on
various differnt species over the years and it always seemed to work
fine. Maybe I've just been lucky.

SonomaProducts.com wrote:
My experience with latex paint and some Madrone logs was absolutely
miserable. Within 3 day, every single one was cracked in at least two
places. By week's end, some cracks were 3/8" wide and ran the length
of the log. I can not recommend latex paint for moisture control.


Hmm, has always worked for me. I dried some almond logs for my brother
over the last year and it has worked flawless and I've used it on
various differnt species over the years and it always seemed to work
fine. Maybe I've just been lucky.

SonomaProducts,
Not trying to be a wise guy here, but was wondering if you'd ever done an
experiment where you applied latex paint to some logs and didn't apply it to
other logs of the same batch and allowed them to dry under identical
conditions? A test group and a control group, if you will.
Thanks,
Kerry

"SonomaProducts.com" wrote in message
...


My experience with latex paint and some Madrone logs was absolutely
miserable. Within 3 day, every single one was cracked in at least two
places. By week's end, some cracks were 3/8" wide and ran the length
of the log. I can not recommend latex paint for moisture control.


Hmm, has always worked for me. I dried some almond logs for my brother
over the last year and it has worked flawless and I've used it on
various differnt species over the years and it always seemed to work
fine. Maybe I've just been lucky.

===============

My guess is it would depend when the paint was applied. If the drying out
was already done the split is going to happen no matter how much paint you
apply.

--

Eric

I'm wondering, if I scraped the wax off the top, bottom, and sides and left
the wax on the ends, then let it sit in the house for awhile, if that would
help. Seems it might dry out a little slower that way.

Paul O.

"Paul" wrote in message
...
I'm wondering, if I scraped the wax off the top, bottom, and sides and
left the wax on the ends, then let it sit in the house for awhile, if that
would help. Seems it might dry out a little slower that way.

Paul O.

I am no expert on this kind of thing. But I read an article in the local
paper of an artist who turned madrone. She claimed it was very unstable.
So she turned the bowels green. She then applied some kind of wax based
finish. The bowels then warped considerably. But if no finish had been put
on them, they would have self destructed. The special finish (a trade
secret) that she put on it slowed it down. She made it very clear that you
could not completely eliminate this bad behavior with madrone.

So, it could be characteristic of this particular species. As such,
measures done to control checking may work on some species, moisture
content, etc., and not on others.

"Paul" wrote in message ...

I'm wondering, if I scraped the wax off the top, bottom, and sides and left
the wax on the ends, then let it sit in the house for awhile, if that would
help. Seems it might dry out a little slower that way.

Paul O.

=====

Slow drying is best as it keeps it even.

Turn often, anyway.

--

Eric

On 6/21/2011 10:15 PM, Paul wrote:
I'm wondering, if I scraped the wax off the top, bottom, and sides and
left the wax on the ends, then let it sit in the house for awhile, if
that would help. Seems it might dry out a little slower that way.

The main cause of spitting is the end grain dries out faster than face
grain. My solution is to use an old iron to melt wax into the end grain
of the billet, and this works a charm.

--
Jack
You Can't Fix Stupid, but You Can Vote it Out!
http://jbstein.com

SonomaProducts,
Not trying to be a wise guy here, but was wondering if you'd ever done an
experiment where you applied latex paint to some logs and didn't apply it to
other logs of the same batch and allowed them to dry under identical
conditions? A test group and a control group, if you will.
Thanks,
Kerry

Not so wise... No I really don't do this too much, only on the rare
occasion. Latex was suggested by someone else and it just seemed to
work.

In article , Larry Jaques
wrote:

My experience with latex paint and some Madrone logs was absolutely
miserable. Within 3 day, every single one was cracked in at least two
places. By week's end, some cracks were 3/8" wide and ran the length
of the log. I can not recommend latex paint for moisture control.

My experience matches yours, C-less. I've had poor results with melted
paraffin, too. Log end sealer has worked consistently well, otoh.

On Fri, 24 Jun 2011 00:24:00 -0600, Dave Balderstone
wrote:

In article , Larry Jaques
wrote:

My experience with latex paint and some Madrone logs was absolutely
miserable. Within 3 day, every single one was cracked in at least two
places. By week's end, some cracks were 3/8" wide and ran the length
of the log. I can not recommend latex paint for moisture control.

My experience matches yours, C-less. I've had poor results with melted
paraffin, too. Log end sealer has worked consistently well, otoh.

Got a brand name or tech specs on the goo, Baldy?

--
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
--Jack London

On Jun 21, 1:45*pm, "SonomaProducts.com" wrote:

If they dry too fast they get stressed and crack. The drying happens
out the ends mostly. You can use latex paint to slow the drying
process. My experience is with lumber in general and not specific to
turning blanks but wood is wood... I think.

Yellow or white glue also work, IIRC. I imagine shellac would,
too -- good use for old 3 lb that dries too slowly.

Would wrapping the pieces in plastic trash bags work?