Trying something a bit different.

[John Spitters]

This is a piece of Cherry that I cut down earlier this week. It's from a crotch area that had 4 different branches coming out, so I'm a bit concerned about the piece having excessive cracking as it dries.
I've hollowed it to the point where the walls are apc 3/16" thick and I wrapped it in stretch wrap to help prevent moisture loss from the outside but still allow it to dry from the inside out.
I'm pretty certain that it "will ?" work as in the past I've turned hollow forms from wet / green wood and applied a coat of antique oil to help seal the outside of the form and prevent moisture loss from the outside but letting it dry from the inside out and it has always worked to prevent cracks from forming. These other pieces though were always from rather plain wood with not much going on in wild grain etc. as this piece has. Hopefully it will have dried enough by the end of this week that I will be able to finish it off.

John

[Jon Nuckles]

Looks good, John. Let us know how it works out. I am currently hollowing a similar shape in a piece of walnut where the trunk split into 3 branches. I bought some of the 5" tough cellophane on a roll today and may wrap the piece with that when it is hollowed. If it works on cherry, it should certainly work for walnut, right?

[John Spitters]

Hi Jon
Here are a few more pics with the wrap taken off.
After just one day having it wrapped it has already lost a significant amount of moisture.
There is a bit of staining happening though but no cracks, I guess the staining is from moisture being trapped under the shrink wrap, so I will leave it unwrapped for most of today then wrap it up once again.
I temporarily placed it back on the lathe and much to my surprice I have minimal distortion, so far this seems to be working.

John

[Reed Gray]

The only problem I have had with drying pieces like that is that the bottom is a lot thicker than the rest of it, which has caused cracks. I generally leave that a bit thinner, and SOAK it in an oil finish (Deftoil). the end grain will take in a lot of oil. If you leave the bottom too thin, it tends to warp out/away from the top of the vase, and can leave you too thin to return the bottom.

robo hippy

[Steve Kubien]

Do you really have a piece of fitness equipment in your kitchen? Are you a bachelor or just hoping to become one? :)

Nice vase BTW

[John Spitters]

:) :confused:. this just happens to be the second kitchen (formerly a suite) on the lower level of my home, currently being used as a rec room area and placement of the 60" flatscreeen, in order to accomodate the T.V. I bumped the wall 16" into the adjoining bedroom and did the built in console. This pic was taken with the kitchen part behind me. P.S. I still have more work to do to finish this room.

John

[Bernie Weishapl]

That is a nice looking vase. Can't wait to see it finished.

[Steve Kubien]

HA! That explains a lot. :)

[Bill Bolen]

That wild looking grain is sure gonna give you a beaut when done. Good luck and hope it survives the drying process.

[Jon Nuckles]

John,

Is it still in one piece? Any tips to offer based on your experience so far? Mine survived several days in a plastic bag before I had a chance to finish it yesterday. Now it is wrapped in cellophane with just a nail hole in the top:
205440
Do you leave the entire opening of the form open to the air? I plan to expand the hole some, but didn't know how much to expose, especially at first. This is my first time wrapping in anything other than paper.

[Chris Burgess]

Wow that is a great piece of wood. I hope all goes well. Can't wait to see the finished product.

[John Spitters]

John,

Is it still in one piece? Any tips to offer based on your experience so far? Mine survived several days in a plastic bag before I had a chance to finish it yesterday. Now it is wrapped in cellophane with just a nail hole in the top:
205440
Do you leave the entire opening of the form open to the air? I plan to expand the hole some, but didn't know how much to expose, especially at first. This is my first time wrapping in anything other than paper.

Hi Jon

So far so good.

I've had some warpage happen and one small crack develope which I have stabilized with some C.A.
I'm thinking though that it was the result of taking the shrink wrap off and leaving it wrapped in several layers of paper towels for more than 2 days. I did this on the advice of others who said that they have had more success wrapping with either newspaper or paper towels. But what I can say is that there was next to no detectable warpage or cracks before I took the shrinkwrap off but my concern was that I was starting to get a fair bit of staining with the shrinkwrap. Since then though it has been rewrapped with the plastic and after one day the warpage was partly reversed and the crack had also closed back up at which point I applied the C.A. The turning at this point appears to be fairly dry, especially when you consider how wet it was to start with. My thoughts now are to leave it in the shrinkwrap for at least the next week or so and also keep it attached to the chuck and periodically tighten the jaws as the piece dries out in hopes of keeping the bottom from cracking as well. As long as the turning does not warp significantly more then I should still be able to true it up on the lathe, I left the wall thickness at apx. 3/16" and at this point I still have enough to work with.
P.S. I should have mentioned that I do leave the entire opening free from the wrap, you want the piece to dry as quickly as possible from the inside only. This should in theory make the turning shrink inwards. As mentioned before I've done this many times with more "plain grained" wood but using a finish as a sealer instead of the wrap with great success and so far it seems to be having the same effect with this piece of wild wood using the wrap.
John

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

John,
If this is a once turned hollow form, why didn't you finish the bottom and remove the tenon? Are you hoping to chuck it back up after the drying process for sanding as well as finishing the bottom?
faust

[Tim Rinehart]

John,
I think the approach you're taking is sound, leaving wrapped in plastic for at least a week or more, unless turned very thin, and then perhaps less...but not much. Also, coming back to tighten the chuck is good...but if you want to free up your chuck, I've turned down a good portion of the bottom leaving perhaps 1" or less to get less meat at bottom which is thick and heavy on yours, I'd guess, but still leave the larger tenon below that for chucking. Then put a hose clamp on the base tenon turned just below the final bottom of the piece and tighten every day till it stops taking additional turns.
If that doesn't make sense...PM me and I'll try to provide a sketch or describe better.
Keeping the outside wrapped and dry from inside should put more compressive forces on the outside, which will help avoid cracking. This is similar to concept of either using plastic or paper on outside of roughed bowl blanks, allowing the piece to dry from inside out. Very popular with those who DNA their roughings.
Looking forward to the finale!

[John Spitters]

John,
If this is a once turned hollow form, why didn't you finish the bottom and remove the tenon? Are you hoping to chuck it back up after the drying process for sanding as well as finishing the bottom?
faust

This piece was far too wet to be able to finish it initially on the first turning, after it has dried some more I'm hoping to be able to true it up once again ( it has slightly warped with drying ) then to finish sand on the lathe.
My other approach would have been to rough turn / hollow it but leaving thick walls, set it aside for a few months then go back and finish the piece. The problem I saw with this is that I am certain that it would have substantially cracked because of all the wild grain and knots leaving me with a piece of firewood. So by turning the walls relatively thin 3/16" apx. I'm in hopes that I will have minimal cracking and distortion. So far it seems to be working.

John

[John Spitters]

So far so good.

I've now taken the piece back to the lathe ... trued it up, there was no further cracking ( it was only slightly distorted ) did the finish sanding and applied a few coats of antique oil to help seal the wood ( also finished the bottom ) I will once again wrap the turning in the stretch wrap and set it aside till it is completely dry, meanwhile I will work at turning a finial for the piece.

John

[Jon Nuckles]

Looking good, John. I have wondered about wrapping a green piece after applying a finish, especially one that cures via exposure to oxygen. I've never used antique oil, but will be interested in your results in that area as well. Way to blaze a trail for others to follow!