Even spindles need to wait forever to dry??

[Rick Cicciarelli]

Jeesh...I can understand bowls, but you need to take "years" for spindles to dry as well? Say i want to make the legs and stretchers for a chair..I need to get some green stuff...turn it most of the way...wait for a few years and then finish it off? There just must be something else you guys are doing for spindles...I can't believe you are putting this stuff off in a corner for a couple of years before you come back to it.....

[Harvey M. Taylor]

Buy kiln dried stock and dont worry about it. s'what I do. Max

[Jeff Nicol]

Rick, Wood is one of those things that just takes time to get where you want it for turning. Either you air dry it in turning blank sizes for a few years or you have to kiln dry it. I know it is tough when you are in a hurry to use some wood you get for free or off your own wood lot. If you cut the timber into the smallest dimensions you will need to use for turning with an allowance for shrinkage and warpage it will dry the fastest. For furniture building and spindles the lumber is best quarter sawn, this is the most stable way to cut it.

So if you are in a hurry you will have to buy some stock or you will have to wait for your found, free or cheap wood to dry for a while untill it gets the dry enough to turn. You could build a small kiln and dry it faster yourself, but that still takes more time than going to the lumber store and getting what you want now.

Good luck,

Jeff

[Curt Fuller]

Rick, wood is wood regardless of what you're making from it. Like Harvey said, start with dry wood to eliminate the problem. But unless you're making something that you want to warp, split, or otherwise take it's own shape, when you start with green wood you have to go through the drying process one way or another.