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Rough turned bowl

Chuck Ellis

Chuck Ellis

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6,999
Location
Tellico Plains, Tennessee
Continuing my gloat over the flame box elder.. I roughed out a bowl today.. the bowl is 11 x 4.5 inches and has some nice flame running through it. It's just roughed out and soaking in the DNA (hopefully it won't ruin the flame).
I plan to cut the walls a lot thinner after it dries out from the DNA.

The wood was so wet it actually slung a line of water across the floor of my shop and once when I reach across the bowl to the lathe switch I thought it was raining in the shop. A couple of times when I touched the bowl with my scraper, I got more water then sawdust. May be a new way to dry wood... put it on the lathe and spin it real fast for a couple of hours??:D
 

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Looking good, Chuck. The DNA won't hurt the flame a bit. At least it hasn't for me, and my DNA is as dark as espresso.

I've read of a guy who does dry his wood by spinning it at high speed. He also saturates the inside with mineral spirits, with the intent to force it into and through the walls of the wood, replacing the water as it goes. I haven't tried it, but he says he has had good results.
 
What is needed when turning Really WET wood is:

1. Full Face Shield
2. Raincoat
3. Window Squeege (to clean off the face shield)

A wet/dry vac should be used instead of your dust collector.

I dry mine one of two ways. After rough turning:

1. Place in a brown paper sack filled with wet chips. Open once weekly, mix the chips until both are dry.

2. for quick drying, use a microwave. Set it on 20% for 2 minutes. When done, touch the piece. If it's hot, let it sit till it's cold (do whatever you want during this time). Put it in and do it again. If not hot, you're done. Let it acclimate to the shop (just let it sit for about a week) then finish turning it. One thing - Do NOT nuke it more than 5 times in a 24 hour period. I have had NO cracks using this method. It's worth a try, anyway.

Bruce
 
Thats going to be a great piece Chuck. I pulled a silver maple bowl out of some midnight colored DNA and it was still silver.
 
Bruce Shiverdecker said:
What is needed when turning Really WET wood is:

1. Full Face Shield
2. Raincoat
3. Window Squeege (to clean off the face shield)

A wet/dry vac should be used instead of your dust collector.

I dry mine one of two ways. After rough turning:

1. Place in a brown paper sack filled with wet chips. Open once weekly, mix the chips until both are dry. Haven't tried this method yet... I usually soak in DNA, then put in a paper bag with dry chips and let it sit for a couple of weeks..

2. for quick drying, use a microwave. Set it on 20% for 2 minutes. When done, touch the piece. If it's hot, let it sit till it's cold (do whatever you want during this time). Put it in and do it again. If not hot, you're done. Let it acclimate to the shop (just let it sit for about a week) then finish turning it. One thing - Do NOT nuke it more than 5 times in a 24 hour period. I have had NO cracks using this method. It's worth a try, anyway.I do the microwave bit with my pen blanks and smaller bowls... think I'm going to try this with the second half of this log.. it's still on the chuck and haven't worked with it for a couple of days... high speed spinning slung quite a bit of water out.. I had to mop the floor of the shop. I think I may be at the maximum size that will fit in my old "Monkey Wards" microwave.. mine doesn't have percentage settings.. but does have a defrost cycle that seems to work well.

Bruce
Click to expand...

1.I always turn with a full face shield.. I had to stop a couple of times and run a paper towel over the front of my shield to get the wet sawdust off.. kept getting dark in the shop.
2.Forgot my rain coat, but the sleeve of my turning smock was soaked.
3.damp paper towel worked..
 
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