Newbiee Question about wood blanks

[Keith Albertson]

During my first dabbles with the vortex, I've made a few spindles and a little bowl out of kiln dried maple. Being male, I now think I'm ready for the fancy stuff, so I bought some wax covered exotic blanks from WoodCraft. Most are just 1.5 inch spindle blanks, but I also picked up a few 2x6x6 blanks and a 4x4x12 blank, all from their sale area....

My question is can I turn these like they are kiln dried, or do I have to act like they are green wood? If I have to treat them as gree wood.....help!!! what do I do? I've been trying to read the posts, and have finally figured out what DNA is. Do you guys soak the blanks in a big bucket of the stuff?

I had dreams of making pretty osage orange candle sticks and a rosewood plate over the weekend........is that wishful thinking? How do I handle my "wax coated wood?"

Thanks for any direction you guys can give,

Keith

[Burt Alcantara]

Most likely they are dry enough to be considered not green. So, have at it and don't worry. Even if they are a tad green, the worst that would happen is you'd get a little warp. For some of us, me included, warp is a good thing.

At this stage of your Life in the Vortex, you should just keep turning and spinning until the truth emerges.

[Scott Conners]

I've gotten everything from nice and dry to still wet with fully wax coated woods. If they are wet, you run the risk of them checking/cracking if they dry too fast after they are turned, and most wood will move (warp) some while it dries. The simplest way to handle that is to turn them, then stick them in a heavy paper grocery bag until they are dry. You can weigh them every few days, once they stop losing weight, they are dry.
If non-warping is important, you probably want to rough out the shape and leave them oversized, then go back and finish turn them once they are dry and have stopped moving. If memory serves, rosewood and osage are both fairly stable woods, and will probably dry without cracking, though it really does depend on the wood's moisture and your local humidity.

If you want to use DNA, yes you soak them for a few hours or overnight (or until you remember them...I've gone over a week before) in a bucket, then put them in a paper bag until they are dry. It is important you control the moisture loss with the DNA method, leaving them out to air dry for more than a few minutes can easily cause cracking, as the DNA evaporates much more quickly (which is the whole point, and the reason it speeds the overall drying process).

You should be able to tell how dry they are as soon as you start turning them, if the chips are dry and dusty they wood is probably pretty dry, if the chips are soft and stringy, it's wet. I can usually tell by the feel of the wood as well...moist wood is somewhat cooler to the touch.

If you cut into the spindles and they are too wet and you don't want to mess with them, turn the wax off and make them round, but leave the wax on the ends, and set them aside for a while. This will help speed the drying process.

[Jake Helmboldt]

Keith, I'm pretty new to turning and was given a walnut and an osage orange blank to turn bowls for relatives. The walnut was almost totally dry but warped ever so slightly.

The osage was not green, but had more moisture and both warped and checked quite a bit. Lots of very fine checks that look like crazing, so I'm letting it stabilize and I'll finish it up in a couple weeks. From my limited experience and others here it seems like the moisture content of blanks runs the gamut.

[Dan Forman]

I wouldn't be using rosewood to try my first platter, which are actually more difficult than bowls. One of our local teachers advises doing smallish plates as practice for bowls to sharpen skills. If you do go after the rosewood, be sure to use a dust respirator to prolong the period before you become allergic to it. Rosewood dust is very nasty.

DNA is used to soak a rough turned object prior to final shaping, you don't ordinarily soak the blank in it before turning.

Dan

[Ken Glass]

Keith,
I have found most times the wax coated blanks are coated green to prevent them from checking and warping before being sold. That said, it is best to treat it as it is green. I would turn your bowl or plate to rough thickness equal to 1/10th the diameter. Example: 6' diameter, turn it to 6/10th of an inch thickness all over. Then soak it from 12-24 hours in DNA. You can buy DNA at the borg for $15-$18 a gallon. Use a container that will immerse the turning completely. After soaking the turning, allow it to dry for an hour and then wrap it in brown paper (grocery bag) and seal it with tape. Wait a week and start weighing the blank every few days. When it stops losing weight for (3) three days in a row, you can turn it to finish dimesions and apply the finish of your choice.

This is a basic way to turn most any green wood whether it is wax coated or anchorsealed. Have fun and remember you will only get beeter with practice.

[Keith Albertson]

Thanks for all the great info. I'll definitely turn any exotic wood while wearing a mask. If any of the blanks seem wet, I"ll try the DNA process you explain Ken. Thanks everyone.

Keith

[Bernie Weishapl]

Keith I use the DNA method and soak my bowls, HF's, etc. for 1 to 5 days. Fruit wood I do the 5 days. Here is some info for you to read. Dave Smith has been doing this a long time.

http://www.woodcentral.com/articles/turning/articles_473.shtml

[Keith Albertson]

Thanks Bernie, this is a great article!!