Wet madrone is Like a box of chocolates; You just never know what you'll get.

[Russell Neyman]

Friday I posted a note about some fresh, green madrone with a blueish tint here (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?182390-Blue-Madrone) and recieved several messages wanting to see how it turned out. I began to make a 22-inch bowl but decided to make something smaller since it was so late in the day. I turned the urn you see here within an hour of when the tree was felled, and had to constantly wipe off my face shield because of the water spinoff. After turning it, I dried it in the microwave two minutes at a time, then applied some boiled linseed oil.

In less than ten hours it warped all to heck, which is what I expected (and wanted) it to do. I love the adventure of this! You just never know what to expect from turning such green wood, and I'm certain there will more distortion in the coming weeks. I also expect the reds to darken and a grain texture to appear.

You can see the blue/purpleish hue on almost every side, but that bright red streak is a curiosity.

I have so much of this that I plan to turn some really huge salad-type bowls, probably with extra tall bases so I can turn them flat after all the warping is complete. I'm also going to rough turn some blanks, seal them, and put them in the drying shed. Should be interesting. Will keep you posted.

Size is 10" wide and 11 inches tall.

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[Dave Masters]

Having seen this vessel in person (Russell brought it to my shop Sunday morning) I can confirm that the color is extremely interesting. I want to see what it looks like after several coats of wipe on poly and some polishing. Have your considered dying the beads (like you often do with your projects) to accentuate the warping? How much of it does that guy have? I only do segmented bowls, so wet material is out of the question, but my girls might want to try some since it's such a breeze to turn.

[Russell Neyman]

Jos has plenty left (see other thread) and the blue went the entire length of the first tree. The second tree, which came down later and I haven't bought any of it yet, looks like it will have some heavy figuring, if the bumpy trunk is any indication. For those guys in the Olympic Penninsula Woodturners group, I'll bring this bowl and a chunk of raw stuff to this week's meeting.

And yes, Dave, I saved a chunk for your Junior Woodchucks!

[Bernie Weishapl]

That is a beauty Russell. Really colorful wood.

[Reed Gray]

The only way the rough turned one will survive is if you boil them like Dale Larson does. If they do survive the drying, they will warp too much to be able to twice turn them.

I had a 22 inch madrone bowl I turned Dec. 2010. It finished moving at 25 by 17 inches.

robo hippy

[Steve Vaughan]

That's some interesting stuff. Almost looks like a square-turned bowl. Be sure to post some pics once the color and warping settles.

[Russell Neyman]

The only way the rough turned one will survive is if you boil them like Dale Larson does. If they do survive the drying, they will warp too much to be able to twice turn them. --robo hippy

Yep, gonna boil them. Or, perhaps, wax them to really slow things down.

[Michelle Rich]

wow, that really moves. I've never seen madrone, so this is fascinating

[Steve Schlumpf]

Impressive movement! Sure is some pretty wood and that red streak really stands out! Hope everything survives the extreme contortions while drying!

[Russell Neyman]

Impressive movement! Sure is some pretty wood and that red streak really stands out! Hope everything survives the extreme contortions while drying!

If I turn it thin enough, it usually does. This one is fairly thick and it looks like it will do fine. I've turned it paper thin -- 3/16ths of an inch -- and had it bend 10-15 degrees with no splits. The thing that's unusual about this batch is that it has almost no red.

Michelle: I'd like to see some of your open form platters using this material, turned wet, and allowed to twist. Follow that link and get some from the guy who just harvested it. He doesn't want much for it.

[robert baccus]

Really nice work and outside the box!!----old forester

[Ralph Lindberg]

I look forward to seeing this tonight...

Of course I have to also setup the food and help get the TVs setup... I built boosters for them so we can start to figure out how tall they have to be to be seen in the back

[Russell Neyman]

After 7-10 days and several coats of lacquer, the blue tones have faded slightly, but it definately continues to have a blue cast, despite what the lighting in the photograph shows. As madrone tends to do, lots of wrinkly features and reds are beginning to appear, and I expect that to continue for months to come. Yes, I airbrushed an amber dye on the beads. The warping seems to have died down.

I have already turned second and third bowls from this batch, and will post photos of those when I get the chance to take photos.


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A detail of the warping within 12 hours of turning, burnished, but not finished.


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Same day, whole bowl

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Finished bowl after one week, with lacquer and tinted bands.


Another angle, showing blue banding.
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[Hayes Rutherford]

Russell, that madrone is great for cowboy hats. I have had good success drying thin turned items in plastic bags, turning the bag inside out every day or so.

[Reed Gray]

If turned 1/4 inch thick, 90% of the drying and warping is done in 2 days. After 10 days, it is done other than seasonal movement. Turned 1/8 inch thick, done moving in 2 to 3 days. Always unpredictable.

robo hippy

[Russell Neyman]

This urn is the second in the series, but from a tree with traditional red/creme coloring. Neither of these have any finish on them at all and, in fact, have not been sanded. What you see is strictly the result of a bowl gouge.

Here are two vies the urn directly off of the lathe, no finish:
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And a view of the same urn 24 hours later after a coat of boiled linseed oil, two coats of shellac, and three coats of lacquer (including a tinted lacquer to highlight the banding). Yes, that is a hole through the side and the base of the "musical note" shape. Note the warpy lid. The bowl itself has mostly gone oblong, with minimal up-and-down distortion.
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[Russell Neyman]

The third wet-turning madrone experiment is more complicated. This one deserves a name because of it's size (13"W x 12"H) so it's called Popcorn. Again, wet-turned madrone less than a week after the tree came down, turned with a very sharp bowl gouge but no sanding, left to dry in ambient air this time.

What made this different is that I left the bowl in my soft jaws (top end in the jaws, of course) unsealed for the first 12 hours. It did as expected: going slightly crookedy and warping, but because of the softjaws, only moderately out-of-round. I took it out and a day later it was kidney bean shaped, which I did not like. So, I steamed it in a large spagetti pot and put it back into the soft jaws, and the result was back to the first stage of crookedy. The useful information for my fellow Creekers is that, yes, you can undo (or, at least, alter) unwanted warp and control the shape it to some extent.

This piece has considerable cross-grain distortion, hi-lo ring texturing, and significant coloring after the re-steaming. This is unsanded and there is absolutely no finish on this yet -- not sure which way to go -- but I will probably tint the bands and only apply BLO to it and polish with the Beal system after a week or two when it's dry. I know that the longer I wait to apply any coatings, the redder it will become. The black lines above and below the beads are burned with a copper wire.

I should add that this stuff is extremely easy to cut with a bowl gouge. From start to finish, the actual turning took about 40 minutes. I spent as much time getting it roughly round with a chainsaw. The steaming took me another half hour. These first three experimental bowls are just an "expedition of exploration" and I haven't even gotten into the figured stuff.

I will post additional photos after finishing.

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[Trevor Howard]

Thanks for the updates Russel. Have you ever thought/tried turning a green bowl then placing it upside down on a pyramid shape. Then add slight weight to the bottom and see if you can force the bowl to stretch to a square shape as it dries?

[Reed Gray]

If you want to make it conform to a certain shape, you need compression as in a square or triangular form to go on the outside of the bowl. If you put a form on the inside pushing outwards, the bowl will crack. Similar forces to putting a wedge into the grain and driving it in like a splitting wedge.

robo hippy

[Rick Markham]

Neat piece Russell, I'm glad it turned out! :)

[Rick Markham]

That's super nice too Russell! I really like the tinted band you did on it!