mini wood gloat

[Rob Price]

A buddy of mine mentioned he was chopping up a tree today for firewood. I've never collected wood like this, but I've been lurking long enough to be jealous of all you guys who have trees to chop down for free wood. He thinks it's an oak tree of some type, I really have no idea. The tree has been down for about a year, but he cut up some of it recently. I snagged this piece which is about 9"x10"x5-6" at the thickest point. I cut just a 1/4" off the ends and it's pretty wet still. Some spalting in the sapwood but not the heartwood. I think it would make a cool looking bowl- it would be my first bowl. Any tips on preparing it for turning? I have a power hand planer to flatten with, along with my 14" BS with riser to prepare the blanks. I wiped some mineral spirits on the end to show the grain. I may chicken out of the bowl idea and use the burl down the middle for a pepper mill or something.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-r7mTDKvRZtU/TxNJUeoSNjI/AAAAAAAABiU/OxqGsHwYcf4/s640/IMG_1062.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Lfa0wwKSJCE/TxNJU1-gfwI/AAAAAAAABic/JWDV14Hr66Y/s640/IMG_1063.JPG

I also grabbed this chunk. It's about 13" diameter by 3 feet. The lines were drawn by a buddy of mine helping me 'see' a potential bowl. He talked about riving it down the middle with some chisels and a sledge hammer, and then turning a bowl out of each half. He offered to help with all that. Its from the same tree:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-l0nqyoT7pd8/TxNKF5n5ooI/AAAAAAAABik/uUDL7Q_9lts/s640/IMG_1064.jpg

Plus, my friend who gave me the wood, pointed to a cedar tree that had been knocked over in a storm last year, 'You want some of that?' Sure. These are about 6" diameter, 3-4 feet long from the thickest point of the tree. Not sure if that's big enough for bowls, my try some spindle work on them?
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bEFm3zhuIeg/TxNKGyQoL7I/AAAAAAAABis/4OENaJk-kg4/s640/IMG_1065.jpg

I'd appreciate any and all tips you guys/gals may have for me. This is brave new territory for me.

[David E Keller]

Congrats on the free wood, Rob! The cedar can be a bit sappy at times, but it smells nice and can have some outstanding color.

The oak pieces will be prone to checking and cracking although you may catch a bit of a break since its been down for a while. I use a chainsaw to rough prep bowl blanks and remove the pith. I've not had much luck leaving oak in log form or even waxed blank form, so I'd rough it out fairly soon concentrating on keeping an even wall thickness. Alternatively, you can turn it green to final thickness(think thin), but it'll likely move/warp quite a bit.

Cutting a piece for blanks is hard to describe accurately from photos... I generally have to study a piece in person before I can figure out how I want to cut it... Maybe the others here can help you there.