Fuzzy Logic

[Prashun Patel]

I've noticed that on many of the green bowls that I'm turning I get really bad fuzz in the end grain regions of the bowl. It's like tearout, but with whiskery fibers.

Is this just a function of the wood being soft and wet? How to alleviate this? It makes it really hard to get a finish cut. Should I just let it dry and try to finish it later?

[Bernie Weishapl]

Prashun some woods have a tendancy to do that. I have found that razor sharp tools are a must. Most times I turned green, dry and then return to the lathe to finish. Once dry the fuzz is not much of a problem but like cottonwood or willow they can still bite ya even when dry but that is where the 80 grit comes into play. When I turn cottonwood or willow I shapren mine of a tormek and hone.

[Scott Hackler]

Yes this can be normal, depending on species. I dont get too worked up about "finishing" cuts on bowl rough outs. As long at the thickness is consistant, no sharp edges and fairly smooth... its ready to dry. Your going to end up turning it again, so a perfectly smooth surface on a pre-dry bowl isn't really needed.

On a related note. With time and practice, your rough outs will have a smoother and smoother surface as your tool control increases.

[dan carter]

Use sharp tools; with that said, sometimes you still have punky, frissee wood fibers, that is a good time to turn in reverse, many times that will cut the whiskers off and you are ready to proceed.

[Scott Hackler]

One of the fellas in my woodturning club, mixes up a slurry of white glue and water. He paints it on the inside of the bowl, waits for it to dry and turns it again. I haven't had a case where I thought I "needed" to do something like this, but I have only turned cottonwood once! :)

[Sean Hughto]

I've had this happen with walnut. Once dry, it turned "normal" (i.e., no fuzz, just regular old tearout <<chuckle>>).

[Prashun Patel]

Thanks, All.

One more question: How do you guys 'twice-turn' a bowl. Re-turning the inside is easy because the tenon is still in tact and once it's brought into round. Do you just use Cole jaws or something to bring the outside into round again? Sorry for the basic question.

[Sean Hughto]

I use the tailstock to push the rough into the base of my donut jig (i.e., a plywood disk mounted on a faceplate with cushy shelf liner glued to it's face). This allows me to round the tenon and return the bottom third of the bowl's outside (more if I wanted). With the newly round tenon chucked inteh scroll, I use a curved (oneway inside) rest to support the tool on the outside (banjo is on the tailstock side of the bowl, and the rest is on the headstock side). Works fine. More blending can be done when you turn the tenon off if needed.

[Mark Levitski]

Prashun,

I do the same as Sean, though I don't bother using anything but my scroll chuck to push the roughout into with the tailstock. With this, you true the tenon and part way up the bowl, then reverse into the same chuck jaws to finish the rest of the outside and the inside.

You can also merely true the tenon as above and, once reversed into the chuck, use a pull cut for the lower section of the outside. The base will be finished, and the lower portion of the bowl will be blended and finished off as a final event later (using donut, jam, vacuum, etc.).

I am in NE WI now, but grew up in NJ (Sussex County).

Mark