First Apple Roughouts

[Baxter Smith]

Cut up one of my apple pieces late this morning.

136817

Wanted to try a couple regular and a couple live edge.

136818

Only got 3 done and sealed. Will probably put them in bags tomorrow. Then I will just have to hold my breath for awhile.:) I have one more good trunk section so should get 4 more of this size.

Will try and turn one thin and let warp. Any suggestions as to how thin?

If I wanted a different kind of finished rim, should I rough turn that shape now or just leave it at about 7/8 like these ones?

Comments or suggestions for better things to try are always welcome!

[Bernie Weishapl]

You didn't waste any time. Going to be some pretty turnings. That wood looks really good.

[dennis kranz]

That is some good looking wood. I hope they turn out just the way you want them to.
Dennis

[Steve Schlumpf]

Baxter - looking forward to seeing the finished bowls!

I usually leave the rough outs close to 10% of the diameter and have found that there is usually enough wood there to play around with rim options a little. If you want to try something fairly radical - then I would suggest roughing it out close to the finished form.

When roughing your bowls - try to make sure the thickness remains constant throughout the blank. I have always had problems when the base was real thick compared to the walls. Once I started turning everything the same thickness - had lots better luck having them dry in one piece!

[Baxter Smith]

Thanks Steve. I tried to follow Bill Grumbines suggestion on turning the rim thicker than the bottom. Tried to make the rim about 7/8 and the bottoms about 5/8 on these 8-9 inch bowls.

[alex carey]

beautiful wood, good luck with all the warping and crack.

[John Keeton]

Nice bowl blanks, Baxter!! That is my next project - I need to rough out some wood I have and get it sealed. You have motivated me!

[Nathan Hawkes]

please keep up informed as to how these dry; the only apply I've turned was turned to final thickness green, and anything over 3/8" thick tried to split on me. The rest were all turned to 1/4" and did great. Apple is amazing wood to work with!

[Maylon Harvey]

Baxter,
Next time round over the inside and outside corners a little. The sharp corners dry faster and start cracks.

[Baxter Smith]

I think you have adequate motivations John.:)

Thanks Nathan. I just finished shaping the outside I was going to finish turn green. Was going to try for 1/2 to 3/8 but will take your advice and go thinner. It looks so pretty I am almost afraid to not anchorseal it.

Maylon, I was wondering about that. Rounded one a little and had a catch doing it. Decided to quit while I was ahead! You can see it in the picture. I will do that next time and be more careful.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Baxter I've turned lots of Applewood bowls, in both turn green and let warp, with natural edge, and the turn and return when dry way.
I basically don't have the wood split on me, there is the seldom exception to this
I always use the brown bag and dry, tried the anchor seal and the only difference for me was it just took longer to get dry.
You started off right with not giving the wood time to start splitting, a major cause for bad end results.
You can turn to finished shape and thickness or turn to 10% walls IE 10" diameter blank gets 1" walls on the top and turn slightly thinner going down.
The other thing I do is to use a recess for holding my blank, as I found the thick tenon to be a cause for splitting.
As I'm not at home I have only access to previous posted pictures, but they should give you some idea as to the finished pieces

[Baxter Smith]

Thanks Leo. I was wondering about the thicker tenon bottom being a potential problem area for drying. I had a lot of problems keeping the blank in my Nova chuck on these bowls. A combination of poor tenon shape, not tightening it enough and poor tool technique on the inside around the bottom. Got a lot better today. I will give the recessed dovetail a try. Will have to be a lot more gentle on the tightening though!

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Thanks Leo. I will give the recessed dovetail a try. Will have to be a lot more gentle on the tightening though!

Baxter you can get a good hold with a recess, just keep enough wood around it, and it doesn't have to be deep, just make it the best size for your jaws (I use Oneway chucks and jaws) and make sure the recess is the right taper for your dovetail jaws, and nice and clean, also the bottom of the recess has to be nice and even and clean for the best hold.

Of course you do have another option, just remove the tenon for now, and glue a new one on when the piece is dry and ready to be returned :)