From Log to Lathe

[Glenn Samuels]

I met a really nice guy in my hometown who has a Tree Service Company. He gave me pieces of black walnut, cedar, and two small pieces of figured cherry. I have not split them yet as I am very new to turning. Should I split them first and 1. turn them green, split them and let them dry awhile, or leave them whole to dry. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

[Greg Ketell]

I'm very new to turning from logs but all the demos/videos I've seen, split them, rough turn them (leave walls 1/10 diameter of bowl), bag the rough turned bowls, let dry, final-turn bowls.

Alternatively, split, turn to finished making the wall thickness VERY thin (1/8") so there is no more strength in the fibers to warp/crack your bowl.

[Fred Belknap]

There is no easy answer. If you leave them whole they will split and check. Normally logs are cut to about firewood length and then split down the middle or pith. The blanks are protected from drying out to quickly by coating the end grain with anchorseal. Anchorseal is a wax based substance that sawmill people put on the ends of lumber to keep it from splitting. You can substitute paraffin wax or paint. Store the blocks in a dark (out of sunlight) dry place. Greg gave you good advice if you want to go ahead and rough turn them. If you make a search on this forum I'm sure you will get an overload of advice and most of it is very good, but you have to consider that we all live in different climates and humidity zones and what might work for one person may not work for you. Dig in, learn and give it a try.

[Rob Boesem]

I'm relatively new to turning, but I have been pretty much exclusively turning from green wood. Greg nailed it as to how I have been doing it.......Split the log, eliminating the pith. Rough turn to 10% of diameter wall thickness (1 1/4" wall on anything over 12"), bag them in paper bags (I get paper feed bags from a fellow down the road that has chickens). As you build a "stock" of dried blanks, you need some patience, until you get a rotation going (That's where I'm at... Bagged wood everywhere)...Leave your wood in whole logs as long as possible, to reduce the end checking, unless you want to go the sealing route.

I know lots of guys cut the whole thing into blanks and seal for later, but so far I have been able to keep up with roughing out as the free wood comes along.

[Tom Porter]

I'm also new to turning, having turned only about 8 bowls. I've been turning green wood to about 1/4" thick, sanding and bagging the bowl in 3 paper bags to dry. After several days, I finish them. Depending on the wood and how thin I get it, they do warp as they dry. But right now, I don't care about warping. Like anyone with a new hobby, I want to see the final result as I learn. I don't want to turn something to an inch and a half thick and wait months for it to be dry enough to finish it. As I get more experience and better technique, I'll probably do that but not yet.


Here's a couple I've done this way.

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By the way, the middle bowl has a walnut bottom because I made the bottom too thin and it tore out when parted it off the tenon. I managed to make a patch with walnut. (For some reason, the photo is upside down when I post it).

[Bernie Weishapl]

I also split mine getting the pith out and turn green to 10% of the width. I then coat my whole bowl with anchorseal after date them. Let them dry and return them to the lathe to finish.

[Chip Sutherland]

I have several logs where all I did was end coat them with Anchorseal instead of splitting and rough turning them. Most have significant splits. I can still get bowls out of them but only small ones. These logs still provide plenty of HF blanks but I definitely missed the opportunity for some large bowls. Such is life.

[Thomas Canfield]

You did not give diameter of logs and that makes some difference also. My experience with the cherry family is that it requires removing a thick pith section, at least 15% of diameter, and larger logs you might consider a little more and end up with some useable slab less pith for other work. 8" and smaller, I typically cut to a little longer than diameter for a standard bowl, then split down center with chain saw and not remove a pith slab planning to rough turn fairly quick. For a natural edge bowl, I cut about 150% of D and split for oval, or possibly cut into wedges instead of splitting to get 3 or more out of the longer section. On the wedge sections the pith is cut off to provide a flat spot for the live center. Sealing to me is important if it will be more than a day or so, and pieces should be put in plastic bag if not sealed. I do typically green turn and seal the green bowls, but have been using paper bags more recently, especially on the less dense woods with good success and faster drying time.

[Rick Vincent]

dry them in the mico wave after you ruff turn them

[Anthony Diodati]

Those look great Tom.

[Glenn Samuels]

The walnut and cedar are approximately 10" wide. The burled cherry is only about 4" wide. I am not sure about when I should seal the ends. All these pieces came from a wood pile so nothing is a brand new cut. Since they will all be roughed out in the next 2 months, do I still need to seal them now?

[Thomas Canfield]

I've seen checks develop in Cherry Laurel in 24 hours only a couple of weeks ago. I would recommend sealing ends with Anchor Seal now if you are not going to cut into blanks until later or as you get ready to turn. The 10" should make some nice bowls, and you might consider a natural edge about 6 to 8" long out of a half section of the 4" burled cherry, even if the bark will not hold.

[Vicki Hayden]

I'm a newbie, haven't even turned anything yet. I'd like to know how long it takes to let the wood air dry. I know it depends on size and other factors so I'm just looking for a range. My lathe can only turn 10" diameter bowls and I'm thinking of goblets, weed pots, bottle stoppers and such. Thanks.

[Dennis Ford]

I'm a newbie, haven't even turned anything yet. I'd like to know how long it takes to let the wood air dry. I know it depends on size and other factors so I'm just looking for a range. My lathe can only turn 10" diameter bowls and I'm thinking of goblets, weed pots, bottle stoppers and such. Thanks.

Vicki; You should try turning the wood while it is wet. Turn it to a consistent thickness and it will dry will much less cracking problems than drying the blank before turning.
This won't be much help with the drying time but you asked for a range: My shortest time was with a goblet (very thin) that I microwaved and finished a few hours after turning and one day after cutting. I often rough out bowl blanks and have dried the rough-outs for several months.

[Olaf Vogel]

Vicki; You should try turning the wood while it is wet. Turn it to a consistent thickness and it will dry will much less cracking problems than drying the blank before turning.
This won't be much help with the drying time but you asked for a range: My shortest time was with a goblet (very thin) that I microwaved and finished a few hours after turning and one day after cutting. I often rough out bowl blanks and have dried the rough-outs for several months.

I turn all my pieces from logs as wet as possible. The 10% rule works. I anchor seal them all. Date and weigh them, then check periodically.

Initially, they're in a cold part of the basement, later near the furnace. Once they stop getting lighter, they're dry.
My fastest was 2 weeks, the slowest (so far) is 8 months and counting..........
Then remount and turn them again.

If you're working with pieces under 12" it shouldn't be an issue.
Initially I thought that working with green wood should save me money, not quite the case.....

But it does give me the look I like.

Olaf

[Anthony Diodati]

You may want to look into rough turning, and then Denatured alcohol soaking, then drying. I just ordered a 5 gal drum, so have not tried it yet, but many swear by it. Google it, or advanced search at top of page, will give you google/sawmillcreek search.

[Scott Hackler]

The most important part of log to turning, is removing the pith ASAP and sealing the wood. Leaving it in log form...it will check and crack. Cut it to firewood size and then lengthwise...cut it so you are REMOVING the pith (center) of the log. I generally cut the logs so that there is a 1-2" flat piece left were the pith is located. If it's nice figured wood I will cut the pith out of that slab and make pen blanks or something flat out of the cut off. Next is sealing GOOD. Anchorseal2 is terrible. If you buy Anchorseal, try to get the originial formula and slop it onto the end grain "to the drip". Then, when kept out of heat and moving air, the logs sections will last a long time, alowing for you to get to them.

When roughing out you should not have ANY sharp edges and leave a consistant thickness. 10" bowl = 1" thick. More on woods like Oak and Hackberry or any wood that warps a lot. Once roughed, you can do the denatured alcohol (Dna) soak and wrap in paper for a 4-6 week dry time or lather the rough out with Anchorseal and wait 6-12 months.

Turning to final thickness is possible but you should set a goal for 1/4" thick or thinner and understand it's gonna warp (likely) and may crack. Some cracks can be kept at bay with CA (super) glue, by filling the starting crack with sawdust or coffee grounds and soaking them with the CA glue.

Good luck and have fun!

[Glenn Samuels]

I am splitting my first logs tomorrow. As I have mentioned earlier, I have walnut, cedar, and small cherry logs. The term pith is new to me but I gather that it is the center of the log. Do you just use a chain saw and cut a V to remove it? Is it very noticeable and easy to detect? Thanks for all of your suggestions and thoughts. A beginner like me needs to soak up any and all information.