Fire wood pile. What works??

[Bill Wilcox]

Hey all, I finally got the shop set up with my lathe set up on a nice lower kitchen cabinet with a nice long thick office cubicle L-shaped top and 3X3 legs with a lower shelf below to store tools and stuff. At the end of the top I have my sharpening station and have made a Wolverine style sharpening jig and all tools are nice and sharp.
I have ben looking around my property and during the past few years have collected several piles of logs. Mostly, box elder, poplar and I have a real nice huge log of silver maple that was blown over during a wind storm that is approx. 30" in diameter and at least 40-50 feet in length till it branches out to limbs that are maybe 12-16 inches. It has fallen so that one of the main branches is supporting the main trunk off the ground. I am thinking that now I need or would like to harvest this wood for turning.
Should I cut it into long logs and treat the ends? Or should I cut it into smaller blocks and then seal. Also, I have the smaller piles of box elder and poplar. How would this wood turn?? It has no bark at the present time and does have some cracks but only on the ends which I can cut off with the chain saw.
The chisels I have currently are:
1-3/8" spindle gouge
2- 1/2" spindle gouges
1- 5/8" spindle gouge
1- 1/2" round nose scraper
2- 1" HHS skews
1- 1" Buck brothers gouge
3- parting tools
1- 1" skew type scraper that is ground to approx 20 degrees.
Would the large gouges work at all for doing some bowl work? Or do I need to get a couple of bowl gouges. I know that in time I will aquire some bowl gouges because I would really enjoy doing some small bowl work. Would the gouges I have currently work for bowl gouges for smaller bowls?
Thanks for your help.
Bill

[Rick Prosser]

Should I cut it into long logs and treat the ends? Or should I cut it into smaller blocks and then seal. Also, I have the smaller piles of box elder and poplar. How would this wood turn?? It has no bark at the present time and does have some cracks but only on the ends which I can cut off with the chain saw.If you have room, leave the logs long, seal the ends, and cut pieces when you need them - they will keep better this way rather than cutting into smaller chunks.

Free wood is always good for turning - even if it is just practice. The greener wood should be easier to turn, as it gets harder when it dries.

Just grab a chunk, trim it up, and spin it.

You can use the round nose scraper for bowls, but you will need to get a bowl gouge eventually.

[charlie knighton]

in a pinch, that 3/8 spindle gouge works on bowls also