Wood gloat :)

[Trevor Howard]

Being completely new to this, all FREE wood is good right. My cousin called that he had seen the Power company cutting down some tree's and it was Bradley pear, did I want some? Sure, so he brought me some logs (pic 3) ask me tonight if I wanted some more? Sure.
Come to find out they had cut 4 tree's down, pictures 1 & 2 are what we got tonight and there is still more.
Not sure what to do with it all, but I guess tomorrow I will be out with the Anchor seal. :D

[Dick Wilson]

Trevor, Lucky you. Pear is a great wood to turn. With a sharp tool it turns like butter with long strings piling up. Anchor Seal it good. Let the first coat dry and coat it again. You have a lot of turning wood there. I don't know how fast you can turn it but Anchor Seal will only keep it from splitting in the short term.....particularly with Pear. It also has a real tendency to check. If at all possible get rid of the pith. Happy turning

[Tom Hamilton]

Trevor, Bradford Pear is one of my favs. Caramel/Peanut Butter color, usually with worm holes and voids. Makes for all kinds of wonderful turnings. Seal it up and looks forward to some fun time at the lathe.

Best regards, Tom, in Douglasville, with several BP logs in the stash.

[Jim Burr]

Dude...that's not a gloat...that's an in-your-face-lookie-what-I-got kinda post. Your going to be busy!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats on some great wood.

[Roger Chandler]

Nice wood haul! Bradford pear is great to turn, and will finish really well................let you inner termite come out, you have a lot of shavings to make! :D

[Thomas Canfield]

Trevor,

That is some nice looking pieces of Bradford Pear. It is hard to get the larger diameter, and it looks like there are several there. I recommend cutting out the pith and then sealed ASAP. I have tried to be a little stingy cutting out the pith slab on some of the larger pieces and it has resulted in checks on the large rough turned bowls. Turning hollow forms has also been a problem with the pith area checking, but not so bad that it cannot be filled with epoxy/shavings mix and some coffee added if a dark seam is wanted. The cut out pith slabs can then have the pith cut out and have some quarter sawn material for spindle work. I made a couple of pestles out of some BP pith slab material as an example. Rough turning the wood for bowls gives good practice, and also helps save from checking if sealed. I was weighing a bunch of rough turned bowls today that were turned back in November, and expect that some more drying is needed before finishing. Some of the solid wood makes excellent salad bowls when finished with Walnut Oil or a salad oil finish. It will take a slick finish also.

That trunk section in pic#2 with all the branches looks interesting as a hollow form is someone can spin it and hollow it out from the branch end. It would have a lot of air gaps, but make a nice flower.

[Baxter Smith]

Nice haul and more to come!

[Tim Thiebaut]

Wow that is a nice pile of wood you have there, dang...you could build your own Bounty with that....lol sorry old movie buff here.

[Ron Stadler]

Thats cool, and bradford pear seems to hold it own pretty well even without anchor seal, not that I wouldn't put some on but the recent batch of it that I got didn't get any for about a week and a half and it all look pretty darn good still.

[Dan Forman]

That ought to keep you out of trouble for a while.

Dan

[Keith E Byrd]

" I recommend cutting out the pith and then sealed ASAP. I have tried to be a little stingy cutting out the pith slab on some of the larger pieces and it has resulted in checks on the large rough turned bowls......"


Thomas, I need some help. Being somewhat new to turning and having only tried a couple of green (and unsuccessful) turnings - How do you remove the pith from a log that you are going to turn?

[Donny Lawson]

Trever, bradford pear makes great looking bowls. I brought home 3 large pieces yesterday and I'm looking foward to working with it. Like the others have said it turns very easy. Seal it up good and it will be ready when you are. Good turning.

[John Keeton]

Some great looking wood!! First pic, bottom left - this piece would make a fantastic HF! The figure in that one is going to be exceptional.

[David E Keller]

Great haul! Bradford pear is one of the great turning woods in my opinion, but the others are right about it's willingness to crack... Seal it well. It's a great canvas for pyrography, and it takes dye extremely well for ebonizing. It hold detail well, and I've even had a little luck hand chasing threads into it. It would be good for carving and texturing as well. It's fairly tight grained, so you can try for long stem goblets with the smaller limb sections if you're interested.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Trevor - congrats on picking up some beautiful wood! Hope you get it sealed in time!

Looking forward to seeing what you turn from it!

[Eugene Wigley]

Congrats on the wood. Nice haul.

[David DeCristoforo]

Nice! I'm drooling over that big crotch piece in the first pic.

[Trevor Howard]

Thanks for the words of encouragement guys, and good knowing I didn't bring a haul of fire wood home. :D
A little late but I will make sure I take the pith out. I had other plans today so I just went ahead and anchor sealed all of it, I will give it a second coat tomorrow. As far as getting to turn it, this is enough wood to last me a looooonnnnnggggg time and what sucks is if i had the storage I could get another 4 loads like it. :( It is a shame to think of the remainder going to waste.
Couple of picks for those of you who drooled over the crotch piece in the first photo, here is what you did not see buried under the pile, the 5 gallon container is for size. No idea what I am going to do with them yet, I will be back in the future to ask :D

[David DeCristoforo]

Send em over...

[Thomas Canfield]

Trevor,

There are articles about preparing green wood for turning. Most bowls are usually turned cross grain and not end grain. Preparing a gross grain bowl from a log, cut a log section slightly longer than the bowl diameter (usually slightly longer than the diameter). That log section is then split, and to cut the pith out you make a cut lengthwise on each side of the pith. I like to think of the pith cut thickness as about 10 to 15% of the diameter to help prevent the checking. Depending on your log, the pith section can be cut thicker if the bowl blanks will allow. Bowls can be turned from the blanks with either the bark out (natural edge) or with bowl bottom at the bark side which is more traditional.

The hollow forms are usually turned with the pith remaining. Some smaller section of Bradford Pear make good goblets if the pith is off center so that it does not end up in the stem. BP is good practice wood in any case, and you can get some excellent finished items in the learning process.

[Trevor Howard]

Thanks again for all the advice, unfortunately as happens lately, this has gone on the back burner, life got in the way. Pleased I got them sealed yesterday, I will try to get a second coat ASAP.

[Brian McInturff]

4 more loads and you didn't offer it to fellow creekers?:eek:

Great Haul. I think you are in need of a bigger lathe than the one in the background of pic 3;). Now postpone those other "life things" and get to turning:D