fresh cherry and seeking advice (pics)

[Walt Caza]

Good Day Turners,
After a lifetime of chasing hardwood boards...
I have now begun craving hardwood logs.
This greenhorn is eager to turn!

Not much luck yet, but I am definitely on the hunt for some turning stock.
Yesterday I scored a 3 foot log of freshcut cherry, about 5.5" in diameter.

Timid to shove it through my bandsaw, I decided to handsaw this first one.
I know there is a chance the bandsaw can grab and roll the log,
and wreck the blade and jump at fingers.
Guess I need to build a little cradle sled to do that safely?
126905

Overnight, end checks appeared.
I took a slice to build up my muscles, and get a peek.
The checks were shallow, and my slice exposed good wood.
126906

I stood my lil stump on the bandsaw and took off a swipe.
Faceplate mounted on my XP, it felt pretty exciting!
All of a sudden my lil chunk seemed like a monster.(just growing pains)
126907

Having few cutting tools, and Zero skills, I worked an
embarrassing and rudimentary form with just my 3/4" roughing gouge.
126908

I plunged a big forstner bit down the center to depth,
to get my hollowing started.
I'm not sure where I go from here?
She's soaking wet, so I sealed it in a zipbag to slow the inevitable
cracking due to my nonexistant experience with wet wood.

I plan to open it up enough to stick a glass shot-glass style candle
down it's throat to please my wife.
She's been a terrific sport about my spendy new lathe habit.
I will likely improve this blob when I figure out how!
126909

Question:
I have limited access to hollowing tools within Canada.
Can anyone recommend the Termite by Oneway?
http://www.oneway.ca/tools/termite.htm
I could probably have one in hand in a couple days flat.
(Oneway is 2 hours up the highway from me)

I know there are endless hollowing choices and systems,
I just wanna break the ice and get my party started.

Would a good finger nail ground bowl gouge be more appropriate?
I have no skills, and can only improve from here!

I got sprayed and this was huge fun,
I'm hooked!
Walt

ps ya, I put a lil Shelawax on my blob for now,
after sanding with 80 grit. eek

pss Ya, I know I used the pith and broke all the rules...
hehe

[George Morris]

If you would like some cherry logs road trip to tioga co. PA we had a tornado go thru and in a 1\2 mile area we have over 200 trees down. Come and get it! Cherry and Maple are down. G

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Yes Walt the "blob" will very probably split in the pit area, especially if you keep it in the open air and sun.
As for the termite, that is a good tool, but really meant for end grain turning.
I has got a bit of a learning curve, but works very well for things like goblets and small boxes, for side-grain you will become frustrated with the clogging and it is also harder to control with the grain continual changing directions as the wood spins.
A hooktool is much better for that IMO, or a scraper, scraper surfaces aren't quite like cut surfaces though.
Oh and dont cut ends from a round piece of wood on a bandsaw, bad for the saw (twisted blades) and dangerous for your health and fingers, DON'T DO IT !!!
A hollowing tool like I made is easy to make by yourself, you can use just round bar steel or keystock, drill a hole in the end and stick a steel turning bit in it, (glue it or cut thread for a setscrew)get it at Busy Bee for a dollar or two, depending on size, smaller is easier to control.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Walt - you have a good eye for form! Looking forward to seeing what you turn in a few months!

A word of warning - a roughing gouge is for spindle work and could possibly break when subjected to the heavy stresses of turning a bowl! A spindle gouge uses a tang to secure the tool to the tool handle - a bowl gouge uses solid bar stock - so it is a lot stronger!

For smaller logs I use a 20" bow saw and it cuts through green wood like butter! A couple of years ago I did manage to ruin 2 Timberwolf bandsaw blades in about 15 minutes when I tried to cut a log on the bandsaw. Dang lucky I didn't get hurt but it scared me enough that I haven't tried it since - so it was a learning experience!

There are a number of small hollowing tools that you should be able to locate locally. Leo's suggestion of making your own would be the easiest option and it would be a great experience and something you could build on in the future! If you are unable to find one or make one - a heavy duty round scraper would also work.

[Marty Barron]

Walt,

LV has some hollowing tools, Oneway has the Termite and they also have a hollowing system. Woodchuckers has hollowing tools as well and the owner John is a great person to deal with for turning tools and supplies. I purchase my Oneway products from him good prices and good service.

The last link is for the Thames Valley Woodturners Guild located in London and in the classified section of their newsletter some people make hollowing tools.

Hope this helps.

Marty

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&cat=1,330&p=49232
http://www.oneway.ca/hollowing/index.htm
http://www.woodchuckers.com/CONTACT.HTM
http://ca.geocities.com/tvwt1@rogers.com/newsletter.html

[Cyril Griesbach]

Walt, nice start but beware that this is a slippery slope.

My advise is to locate an AAW chapter nearest you and contact them. You'll find lots of helpful folks there. Here's a link to those in Canada. Sorry but they're not broken down by province.

http://www.woodturner.org/community/chapters/LocalChapters.asp

You might also consider chapters in the Detroit, MI area if they are closer. Here's a link to those in Michigan.

http://www.woodturner.org/community/chapters/LocalChapters.asp

Good Luck,
Cyril

[curtis rosche]

you can hollow out and make a hollow form with just a simple bowl gouge. look for my hollowform posts. you juat use the gouge on its side. it works prettey well.

[curtis rosche]

just remember to be careful with that wet cherry, it you leave it in contact with bare metal, the wood will turn black

[Thomas Canfield]

Walt,

You can make a simple sled for cross cutting the logs by attaching a runner under a piece of plywood ( 1/4" is thin but works, 1/2" better) and a "V" for the log/limb/round section on top. That will hold the piece for cross cutting. Highland Woodworking in Atlanta, GA sells a 3/8" 3 tooth heavier thickness Green Wood blade that works great for green wood. I do not use mine for dry hard woods ( read that mesquite) after dulling a blade in the past on mesquite using a circle cutting jiig on kiln dried 2" material cutting 3" to 6" blanks. The same mesquite did dull bowl gouges very rapidly and even a hunter tool so it probably had more to do with the wood itself.

Another suggestion would be to use a reciprocating saw. I recently aquired one to use to cut off sections to help balance green blanks on the lathe. It works better in the shop than a gasoline chain saw.

[Mark Burge]

Walt: I agree with everyone, looks like you've got the form going the right way. Nice surface too. My early work had a lot more tool marks than that even after sanding. About the hollowing tools, I've gotten mine off ebay. You have to be careful, of course, and sometimes the prices go too high. If you stick to the brand names, like Sorbey, you'll probably do better. Just make sure you don't pay more than you could get it new!

Thomas' suggestion of a sled for the bandsaw is a good one, but I wonder if that will address the blade twist problem that Leo brought up. I don't know, just wondering. I've been considering getting an electric chain saw to trim up blanks.