Question for those who turn green wood

Does this help?

Here's an expanded version of what Glenn posted:

http://workingwoods.com/tutorials/bowl_blanks_from_log.pdf

I don't remember who did this write-up (if I did, I'd credit them), but it's helped out a lot of turners.

Unless I am given a reason, I am planing to use the face for the bottom and the bark side for the top. Then I will end up with something like #2 in Glenn's post / bottom figure on page 2 of Vaughn's post.

How do I remove the Anchor Seal from the area where I will be turning? I am assuming that it would put goo on a turning tool and make a mess. Assuming can be a very dangerous word; don't hesitate to set me on the right path if I am wrong.

Once I have the wood naked and start turning---How long do I have before I need to re-goo the wood?

Is there a "best" place to purchase Anchorseal?

I wish I could draw the "trunk" part of the wye in SketchUp so I could make slices and see what I am going to get.---And, if pigs had wings they could fly over the fence. Sorry but that sentence reminded me of a popular song dating back to sometime before 1925. It had the words, "If I had the wings of an Angel over these prison walls I would fly."

This is fun!! It seems that my life is made up of doing something I have never done before. It is fun. It is MORE fun when it works.
I hope this is a "MORE fun" something.

Enjoy,

JimB

Jim C Bradley said:

...How do I remove the Anchor Seal from the area where I will be turning? I am assuming that it would put goo on a turning tool and make a mess...

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I remove it with a bowl gouge. At however many RPMs feels comfortable. In other words, don't worry about removing it, since the turning will do that for you. It won't gunk up the tools any more than the wood itself will. You're gonna have a mess any way you approach it. That's part of the fun.

With the flat part of the blank as the bottom of the bowl (which I think is a good call, by the way), you'll have the choice of making a bowl with a natural edge along the rim, or turn it down to the point where the rim is level like a conventional bowl. My personal inclination would be to make a natural edge bowl, but it would be a challenging piece for me. It would be even more challenging for you as a relatively new bowl turner. From the looks of the photos, I think you've got enough thickness in the blank to be able to get a decently deep conventional bowl, especially if you favor the thick end of the blank when you cut your initial round blank. My recommendation would be to go with a conventional bowl.

You can get Anchor Seal (or the house brand of wax-based green wood sealer) at Rockler or Woodcraft. I used to buy it by the quart or gallon (I don't remember for sure) at Rockler. Once I started dealing with a lot of green wood, I bought a 5-gallon bucket via mail order from Woodcraft. For a single piece, a quart should be more than enough.

When I'm working with green wood, I usually try to finish the rough turning in a single session. When I need to work on a piece in multiple sessions (like over the course of a couple nights), I just leave the piece on the lathe and tie a plastic grocery bag over it at the end of the session. (Be aware this can cause a bit of minor surface rust on your chuck jaws if the wood's real wet.) If you're going to leave it for a few days, then I'd suggest removing it from the chuck and slapping a coat of sealer on it when you're done working on it for the day. When you remove it from the chuck (to prevent rust), mark the piece so when you re-mount it, you can put each jaw back where it was originally. (You'll still probably have to re-true the piece after putting it back in the jaws, though. No biggie.)

Be calm. We have faith in you, young Grasshopper.

vaughn, if he wasnt trying to save the bark and just have the natural edge he would be able to do that easier right? the bark stayun on is the hard part of a natural edge bowl i think???

Larry, the rim - bark or not - is really the hard part, because part of the time you're turning air. Keeping the bark on is an addition to the challenge, but even without the bark, holding a gouge steady and getting a clean cut while the wood spins around and hits it whap-whap-whap-whap is pretty tough for a relative beginner.

That said, Jim's gonna have to turn his way through a bunch of the uneven part anyway, so he could start out trying to keep the natural edge, and if it gets to be too challenging, he can always change his mind...turn it down level and go conventional. He might just find keeping the natural edge is easier than I'm making it sound.

Jim C Bradley said:

Sorry but that sentence reminded me of a popular song dating back to sometime before 1925. It had the words, "If I had the wings of an Angel over these prison walls I would fly."

Click to expand...

I remember Bill Munroe singing that... Haven't heard it in years so I looked it up. "The Prisoner's Song" apparently written in 1924 by Guy and Robert Massey. First recorded in 1924 by Vernon Dalhart, and was a hit many decades later for both Eddy Arnold and Bill Monroe.

BTW: This is a great thread, really enjoying following along on the design thoughts and details. Pretty cool.

Ryan Mooney said:

I remember Bill Munroe singing that... Haven't heard it in years so I looked it up. "The Prisoner's Song" apparently written in 1924 by Guy and Robert Massey. First recorded in 1924 by Vernon Dalhart, and was a hit many decades later for both Eddy Arnold and Bill Monroe...

Click to expand...

Wow Ryan, if you know this stuff, you must be older than your avatar picture looks.

Vaughn McMillan said:

Wow Ryan, if you know this stuff, you must be older than your avatar picture looks.

Click to expand...

I'm just mentally old, still working on the physical part, just give me time I did have to look it back up (although maybe that's not good evidence for being young.. we'll just claim I was always forgetful, probably true as far as I can remember ).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoner's_Song

And... I've found a copy here http://archive.org/details/VernonDalhart-81-90
More Vernon here: http://archive.org/search.php?query=creator:"Vernon Dalhart"

The more I think about it the more I don't think it was the Munroe version, quite probably the Hank Snow version he was more of a crooner like Veron (its possible someone in the family had a copy of an old Dalhart record but less likely, I know we had Hank Snow records).

Good Grief Ryan! That is the first time I have heard that song since I was in grade school. Thanks for the memories and the laughs.

Enjoy,

JimB