Walnut woes.

[Dan Forman]

Have you ever had a walnut bowl start to show cracks while still being roughed out? I was just taking this one off the lathe when I noticed a bunch of small cracks forming in the end grain near the rim on the outside. The other two bowls from this same tree at least had the decency to wait for a few days into the drying process to start cracking. There was no pith included in any of the bowls. This one was a shallow nut or candy dish. I put some water on the damaged part, and after a couple of minutes the cracks were no longer visible. No DNA for this one, I Anchor sealed the end grain, and put it in a bag.

This wood was cut last fall, showed a lot of end grain cracking by the time I got it a week or so ago. I trimmed away the bad stuff, and had what I thought were sound blanks. This blank had a few cracks still showing, but I turned past them in forming the bowl. The shavings produced were damp, but not wet. Should I expect the remaining half dozen blanks to have issues as well? These are mostly from crotches, and have that lovely feathering on the bottom of the blank. Would be a shame if they all self destruct.

Dan

[George Guadiane]

Depending on how prominent the cracks are, I might soak them with CA glue as I go along. Crotch wood is generally pretty stressed, so cracks are more common I think, and since you said you are roughing them, all but the filled cracks will be turned away.
I don't love doing that, but the cost, as compared to kicking a crotch blank is minimal, and the finished product would be worth the effort and expense in my mind.

[Jeff Nicol]

Dan, When the piece of wood has checked or cracked and you have cut off the part you think is bad, put some lacquer thinner, naptha, water or something that will soak in a bit and you will see if the cracks are truly gone, I have been there and it sucks to get to the end and start to see the cracks show up. And definitley soak them with thin CA and them put on the anchor seal, the results will be much better.

Good luck,

Jeff

[Bernie Weishapl]

Dan have had the same thing happen. I soak with thin CA when that happens. Also when turning and getting ready to go to the DNA bath I also round the rims and don't leave them sqaure. Al Stirt told me about that last year at Richmond. He said on some woods it will help keep them from cracking. I started doing this and it seems to help some.

[Dan Forman]

Thanks for the tips. I have been rounding the rims as in the Grumbine video. I've been leery of CA since having it go all the way through my spalted bowl and come out the other side (not just the cracks, but the "straws" of the wood fiber), but maybe that was an exceptional case. Will see how this one fares as it dries. It was a little disheartening, being the 5th out of the last 6 bowls to crack - all either black walnut or black locust.

Dan

[Mike Meredith]

Walnut is one of the slower drying woods so over the winter, your walnut won't really have dried too much. I have 5 year old walnut bowl blanks that are still pretty wet. As you rough you are cutting away dry wood and exposing wet wood. A moisture meter is a real bonus. At least them you can get an idea of with what you are dealing. I've started covering the whole roughed out bowl with Anchorseal before bagging. The rationale is that was you cut a curve in side grain you are making end grain. Another suggestion i have heard is to rought the progect then soak in alcohol before sealing. The alcohol dehydraets the surface to some depth, then as the sealed piece sits, water from the interior slowly rehydraes the area allowing a more uniform rate of loss.

It's always a mystery......

[Chip Sutherland]

with the cracks filled with some inlace or metal powder in epoxy. Sounds like an opportunity to embellish.