New turner seeking advice

[Wells Jacobson]

After reading Kathy Marshall's pst about her elm bowl I have a general question. When a tree comes down and your friendly neighbor presents you with an 18" long by 14" diameter log-- what to do if plan to store for later?
1) seal the end
2) rip and remove pith and seal end grain
3) rip and remove pith and chain saw or band saw into sort of round bowl blank and seal end grain or seal all around?

What to do to have fun right away
1) make bowl blank and rough turn and paper bag for months or other drying method and return. If this option is the rough turned bowl sealed at end grain before bagging?
2) make bowl blank and finish turn right away and let warp
Kathy's post suggested she turned right away and yet the bowl looks round.

I hope this in not too convoluted a question. I have read a fair amount and yet I don't have a good feel for best approach. I presently have sealed logs and ripped sealed half logs and sealed bowl blanks and roughed out bagged bowls and a number of each have cracks in what were good pieces of wood when I started.
Though this seems pretty basic any thoughts would be appreciated.
Jake

[John Keeton]

Wells, I do very little green wood turning, but I have stored a bunch in hope of having a supply going forward. IMO, the cracking issue has as much to do with the wood species as anything - some wood just cracks. Getting rid of the pith is a real plus, and using Anchorseal vs. paint is a plus.

The answer to your question would seem to depend on your goals - what have you lost due to cracking? Do you need more bowl blanks? Will you be doing other forms? Do you enjoy green turning vs. dry wood?

Kathy's success on a green, but round, bowl is because it was mesquite - rather a unique wood for that purpose. Very stable. It is unlikely you would get that result with any other wood.

[Greg Just]

Wells:

I would highly recommend Michael O'Donnell's book called Turning Green Wood. It covers everything you need to know about harvesting, cutting and turning green wood. It is availabe on Amazon for about $13. It is a good reference book.

Good luck.

[Rich Aldrich]

I have been turning for just over a year. I turn mostly green wood since my family is in logging and have a good supplier. One of the things that I learned was to use denatured alcohol to assist in the drying process. Once you have a roughed out piece, soak it in alcohol for at least 24 hours - time is up for debate, but I have found for smaller pieces, 24 is good and for larger pieces (1" wall) more like 48 hours. When you remove the piece from the alcohol, let the free alcohol evaporate for 1/2 to 1 hour, then put it in a grocery store bag for about a month. Some people put wood shavings in the bag, but I have had good luck without the shavings. There are a number of threads on this topic if you do a search for DNA.

[Richard Madden]

I like turning green wood and I have tried all the methods you mention. I don't think we can expect a 100% success rate with any drying method. Too many variables can affect the outcome, like wood type
and how prone it is to cracking, small unseen cracks that become big cracks later, drying method, and so on. Turning green to finish can produce some interesting results even if it does warp for some types
of forms. I like turning hollowforms with lids or finials so the pieces must be dry to maintain a fit between form and lid. If you want to store some logs for future use I would for sure seal the ends with at least
two coats of Anchorseal. Try leaving some logs whole, and some with the pith removed. Always leave the logs longer than needed so any checking on the ends can be cut off. We might not reach a 100%
success rate, but we can come pretty close. Good luck.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Most times if I have the time I will cut the pith out. I then will anchorseal both ends twice. On logs I will anchorseal twice on each end but will still need cut up as soon as you can as if the pith is left in it will crack even if sealed. I turn mostly green wood and like Richard said success is not 100% with any method.

[Wells Jacobson]

Once again my thanks to forum members for a variety of helpful suggestions. I will buy the book by O'donnell suggested by Greg.
John, I don't really know if I prefer to turn dry or wet. I have assumed that turning dry means buying dried wood and at my stage of the game (frequently ruin a good piece of wood) i'm trying to keep the expense in check. I have some access to green wood so that is largely what I have been doing. Is my assumption that turning dry means purchasing dry wood blanks correct or do you mean waiting long enough to let a log or a ripped log dry out?
I would like to do forms other than bowls but I have to hone my abilities first.
Also, if I am turning wet and the wood has a small crack does CA glue work or is that just for dry wood?
Wells