How to Core Apple?

[Baxter Smith]

Cored the first of 4 large apple blanks today. My plans at present are to turn two of the blanks to finish thickness and let warp, the other two I will core thick and try to return later. I am not sure what the best method for coring and turning to finish thickness is so here is what I did today. If someone has suggestions for doing it differently or more efficiently, I would love to hear them!

I turned the outside of the blank and left a DTR for my #3 stronghold chuck jaws. The blank was 13.5 across by 3.5 deep by the time I had removed enough of the bark inclusions to get a solid grip on the bottom and a solid rim at the top. Flipped it over and flattened the top. I then turned a DTR in the top to hold the cored section later with smaller jaws. I then set my set oneway coring system to leave about a 5/8 thick bottom and a 1" thick rim. After removing the core, I turned the entire inside to give me a 7/16 finish thickness. Could I have set the corer to a 5/8 wall on the side as well? I was afraid of it moving if I made the rim too thin. Anyway here is the first one after being sprayed with some water to keep it wet.
166058
Here is the bottom after adding CA to all the bark inclusions and knots.
166059
Put the center section back on, turned the outside, made a new DTR, then cored the second section but set the wall to about 3/4 since the bowl wasn't as big. Then turned it down to final thickness. 10.5 x 2.5. x 5/16.
166060
Using the original DTR in the top, I returned the bottom then did the inside ending with a 6 x 1 3/4 x 1/4 bowl.
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All three.
166062
I am not sure how many more cores I could have gotten starting with a bowl of only 3 1/2 inches of depth but could/should I have turned each core closer to a finished thickness at the rim?
The sanding will be later. For now they are double bagged and sitting in my basement outside stairwell where it is cool and damp. A little paranoid perhaps but they can spend there first week there!:) Suggestions on coring(this is the third time I have used mine) are welcome along with any thing else I may have missed!

[Alan Zenreich]

Zip zip, oh Chef of the Future.

Oh, come on now... so many of us thought it, someone had to say it.

[alex carey]

the color on this apple is gorgeous, looking forward to the sanding and finishing picts.

[Ted Evans]

Gorgeous wood Baxter and very well executed. Ted

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Wow Baxter that is some awesomely good looking wood, nice work on the coring also.
I do hope you will be able to keep it from disintegrating, (keep it cool and bagged) good luck :-))

[Bernie Weishapl]

Really nice coring Baxter and the wood is gorgeous.

[Reed Gray]

Baxter,
I (guess you all know by now) do it green all the way. I will start the core very close to final thickness at the rim, and aim for a bottom about 1/2 inch thick (not very exact with the McNaughton). For a 3 1/2 inch thick blank, figure 1/2 inch thick bowl, 1/2 inch thick kerf (actually about 3/8, but with a finish cut, easily that thick), and a little trimmed off the bottom for a flat spot and a recess (took me a bit to figure out DTR was dove tailed recess), and you getting 3 bowls out of a 3 1/2 inch thick blank is pretty good. For production purposes, the last one usually isn't worth the effort, but fun just to see if you can. I do use a forstner bit recess in the top of the bowl for mounting to turn the first bowl bottom.

I strongly suggest that you use some 6 inch stretch plastic film around the rim. Maybe $7 at any office supply store. Stretch it out, and go around a couple of times. About 1 inch on the inside of the bowl, and the rest on the outside. This has done far more than paper bags ever did for me, especially on Madrone, which is the most problematic wood to dry I have ever found. Do round over your rims.

To remount for sanding, I use extended jaws on my Vicmark. They get you away from the headstock, and with smaller diameter, will fit into any warped recess. Smaller jaws will do fine as well. If you are power sanding, you will need to have lathe speed of 10 to 20 rpm. Any faster, and you can't keep the abrasive on the wood. If you can't go that slow, use the spindle lock, then rotate when done in one position. I don't worry about turning off the recess. Some times I couldn't even if I wanted.

robo hippy

[charlie knighton]

looking forward to finish product, thats a lot of apple

[Duff Bement]

In my opinion you got about all that you could get with only 3 1/2" to work with. The way I look at it is you got 2 more bowls than if you didn't cored at all. They could of been a big pile of shaveing on the floor.
3 bowls insted of just 1. Not a bad deal and they look GREAT to.
Duff

[Mike Cruz]

Wow, that is some beautiful Apple. Would love to see the finished products. Great job.

[Rob Cunningham]

Beautiful wood and a nice job on the coring. 3 bowls from 1 blank, that will make a nice set.

[Baxter Smith]

Zip zip, oh Chef of the Future.

Oh, come on now... so many of us thought it, someone had to say it.
Thanks Alan, I was counting on someone to say it!:D

Wow Baxter that is some awesomely good looking wood, nice work on the coring also.
I do hope you will be able to keep it from disintegrating, (keep it cool and bagged) good luck :-))
Its in the bag Leo and in the coolest place I could find here outside my refrigerator.:)

Baxter,
I (guess you all know by now) do it green all the way. I will start the core very close to final thickness at the rim, and aim for a bottom about 1/2 inch thick (not very exact with the McNaughton). For a 3 1/2 inch thick blank, figure 1/2 inch thick bowl, 1/2 inch thick kerf (actually about 3/8, but with a finish cut, easily that thick), and a little trimmed off the bottom for a flat spot and a recess (took me a bit to figure out DTR was dove tailed recess), and you getting 3 bowls out of a 3 1/2 inch thick blank is pretty good. For production purposes, the last one usually isn't worth the effort, but fun just to see if you can. I do use a forstner bit recess in the top of the bowl for mounting to turn the first bowl bottom.

I strongly suggest that you use some 6 inch stretch plastic film around the rim. Maybe $7 at any office supply store. Stretch it out, and go around a couple of times. About 1 inch on the inside of the bowl, and the rest on the outside. This has done far more than paper bags ever did for me, especially on Madrone, which is the most problematic wood to dry I have ever found. Do round over your rims.

To remount for sanding, I use extended jaws on my Vicmark. They get you away from the headstock, and with smaller diameter, will fit into any warped recess. Smaller jaws will do fine as well. If you are power sanding, you will need to have lathe speed of 10 to 20 rpm. Any faster, and you can't keep the abrasive on the wood. If you can't go that slow, use the spindle lock, then rotate when done in one position. I don't worry about turning off the recess. Some times I couldn't even if I wanted.

robo hippy
Thanks for the advice on coring thin. I was afraid that if I tried for a half in core to start, the bowl might change shape before I could clean up the inside. Got a little braver today and started at 3/4 rather than the 1 inch. I picked up some plastic film today and used it on todays cores. Hopefully the large recess on the first bowl won't be warped so badly that I can't use it to remount. The slow speed for sanding (of my new to me 3520A) has been one of its best features and a prerequisite for any lathe I might ever buy in the future.

In my opinion you got about all that you could get with only 3 1/2" to work with. The way I look at it is you got 2 more bowls than if you didn't cored at all. They could of been a big pile of shaveing on the floor.
3 bowls insted of just 1. Not a bad deal and they look GREAT to.
Duff
Thanks Duff. When I turned part of this tree earlier in the year I had no coring system and although I got a 12 inch bowl, the even more beautiful insides ended up on the floor.:(

[Jeff Nicol]

Baxter, Very nice job on coring that apple blank. I wish I had some larger apple trees to get some big bowl blanks from. But when I turn apple I save the curls and use them in my smoker for smoking fish and making jerky. I have a few bags right now and some apple to turn for a customer that will produce some more.

Hope they all stay together and Reed's advice is second to none on green turning, I use the stretch wrap for the same thing and it works wonderfully.


Keep up the good work,

Jeff

[Reed Gray]

PM did two things I didn't like with the 3520B. One was lower the speed on the low range pulley to 1200. Way to slow for me. The other was to have the motor shut off at 50 rpm. When I asked them why they did that, I was told that the motor and electronics would over heat and fail. I informed them that I had sanded out thousands of bowls at those speeds, and never had any problems. I also informed them that the motor ran cooler than when I was turning. They told me that in their lab, it ran hot. If some one really wanted, they could send the motor back to them, and they would lower the minimum speed range, and the warranty would be voided.

Go figure. Corporate answers.

robo hippy

[Baxter Smith]

Baxter, Very nice job on coring that apple blank. I wish I had some larger apple trees to get some big bowl blanks from. But when I turn apple I save the curls and use them in my smoker for smoking fish and making jerky. I have a few bags right now and some apple to turn for a customer that will produce some more.

Hope they all stay together and Reed's advice is second to none on green turning, I use the stretch wrap for the same thing and it works wonderfully.


Keep up the good work,

Jeff
Thanks Jeff but no smoker. Have a friend that used to have one. I will check with him. Otherwise they will end up in the horse stall of a friend getting ........ on. :) Do you use the wrap on stuff you turn thick and plan on returning as well? I did a platter today and left it about 1.25 thick. The other piece was about a 12 inch very irregular/very shallow NE piece turned to about 3/16. Didn't put it on that either since it would have only touched in about half of the places around the rim. I can see the potential benefits of pressure and reduced drying rates around the rim when turning thin but I'm not sure about todays pieces.