Hollow Form Question

[Rob Cunningham]

I'd like to take a stab at a hollow form using some of the sycamore I got from my neighbor. I'm not sure if I'd have enough time in one evening to turn the outside and rough out the inside. If I turn the outside one evening and rough out the inside the next evening, do I need to wrap the piece in plastic to prevent it from beginning to dry or am I over thinking the issue? Any thoughts?

[Matt Haus]

My opinion is when you turn something wet and leave it alone, it will dry and reshape and often crack. I wrap mine in plastic with some shavings and a little water on the shavings to keep it wet. If I plan on coming back with a decent amount of time, this works. Otherwise if you leave it for a long period, it may get mold and fungus.

So, I would rough out the outside, cover it with plastic and core it out the next visit and then let it dry by your method of choice and finish the outside then recore the inside to the specific thickness at a later date. Good luck.

[Joe Meirhaeghe]

I'd like to take a stab at a hollow form using some of the sycamore I got from my neighbor. I'm not sure if I'd have enough time in one evening to turn the outside and rough out the inside. If I turn the outside one evening and rough out the inside the next evening, do I need to wrap the piece in plastic to prevent it from beginning to dry or am I over thinking the issue? Any thoughts?
Rob
I would cover the outside with anchorseal.if it's only overnight. If it will be a day or two beforew you get back to it,I'd put it in a freezer after the anchorseal has dried. Yoy can keep them a long time in the freezer.

[Brian Brown]

I have the same problem. If I have to leave it for a day or two, I wrap it with streatch banding (pallette wrap). If you wrap it tightly, there is very little ogygen near the wood, and it slows the mold growth. It has always worked for me. I have even wrapped it on the lathe, covering the face plate and tail center, but this may be a rust issue, and I try to avoid it if possible.

[Jeff Nicol]

I will rough out the outside and if I am at the end of the day or just plain tired, I take a plastic bag from the grocery store or quick stop and put that around it for the night. This keeps the moisture in and slows the drying. Some woods depending on where they came from on the tree may be a little more prone to cracking so maybe a bit more attention is need for those. I have never had anything crack or check over night with the bag wrapped around the piece, and it is ussually still on the lathe.

Because............."I did it my waaaaaaaaaaayyyyy!" If old blues eyes could here me now!

Jeff

[Kaptan J.W. Meek]

I have alot of sycamore that I've only had moderate success with.. It moves.. it moves a lot. I tried cutting spindle blanks with a table saw, and it moved so fast I couldn't get a really square blank!.. I did turn a nice lidded box from a nice spalted figured piece though.. turn the outside, wrap, and hollow later.. GOOD LUCK!

[Scott Hackler]

While this might not be the optimum way, I would suggest cutting the sycamore in half (rip it) to remove the pith and let her dry out.I recently was delivered a large chunk of sycamore and it was fallen 2+ years ago. I would say that in the center it was probally at around 20-25% moisture. It had a couple cracks all the way through and I thought I would at least try to salvage something out of it. Least to say, Im going after a supposed 6" section of it thats still laying on the ground. It turned wonderfully and looks fantastic. I salvaged everything I could out of this log and cant wait to get more. After the fact it moved just slightly, butI turned these peices to final thickness and sanded them in one night.

[Richard Madison]

Rob,
After roughing the outside you might even want to add water with spray bottle or wet sponge, and then seal a plastic bag around it before leaving it for a day or two.

[Ryan Baker]

I agree that you need to cover/seal it up somehow. Even with that, you can expect to true-up the outside again when you come back, because it will have changed shape considerably over night.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Rob - anytime I want to take a break from hollowing I just wrap the turning with a plastic grocery bag - like Jeff mentioned - while the turning is still on the lathe. It retains whatever moisture is in the piece and prevents everything from drying out. I have left a piece - wrapped - on the lathe for 4 days and did not have any problems!

[Nathan Hawkes]

I have alot of sycamore that I've only had moderate success with.. It moves.. it moves a lot. I tried cutting spindle blanks with a table saw, and it moved so fast I couldn't get a really square blank!.. I did turn a nice lidded box from a nice spalted figured piece though.. turn the outside, wrap, and hollow later.. GOOD LUCK!

This is about my luck with sycamore. I've turned quite a few spalted bowls out of it, which were pretty wet to start out. I had so much movement between working the inside & outside of bowls that I had to stop and retrue the bowls outsides while hollowing the inside. That was without stopping in between. Just the centrifugal force spinning the water out of the wood was enough to cause movement. That said, it is pretty wood and worth the effort.

In your case, my experience would tell me to rough the outside, put it in a bag-watch out for mold spots that form quickly in warm weather. Don't spend a huge amount of time smoothing the outer surface as you'll have to re-true it before working the inside, and maybe again afterwards.

[Steve Trauthwein]

Another trick from Ellsworth. After turning the outsice wrap in plastic to keep the spinning lathe from causing the piece to dry while turning the inside. I have had pieces of hackberry dry so fast that you virtually could not keep them round. Goof luck!

Regards, Steve

[Rob Cunningham]

Thanks for all the info. Sounds like I better wrap it up or learn to turn faster:)

[Scott Conners]

Be careful leaving it in your chuck, I rusted my jaws and spindle taper leaving wet wood in a bag too long on the chuck.