Another New Guy

[Greg A Jones]

267809
Brand new to turning. Don't have my shop set up yet and fell into a mixed load of pecan, sycamore, and a bit of red maple. Has been on the ground for about a month but is in great shape after removing the ends.
Got 2 nice pecan crotches and lots of knot free lengths. Here is a pic of the wood pile which is slow work - Mississippi, August - not hard to figure. Two questions if I might. 1st, I'd like to leave the big pecan rounds lay for a couple of months to (hopefully) spalt. Should I seal the ends of leave them open? 2nd, for the pecan branch wood 6-8" d, I'd like save them for spindle blanks. Question here is will leaving the pith in and simply turning it as is cause cracking problems? Sorry for such fundamental questions, but I've been reading everything I can and haven't been able to find a suitable answer to those two. Thanks.

[Roger Chandler]

You should remove the pith if possible and seal the end grain areas....leave the bark on, and store in the shade if possible covered by a tarp or inside out of the rain...........

Storing in the sun only accelerates the cracking as it makes some wood dry faster than other parts causing the checking........

[Brian Kent]

Hello, Greg. I am a relative newbie at turning, but I agree with what Roger just said.

[Richard Madden]

Welcome to the creek!! Roger gives good advice on how to handle that haul you have there. And as far as questions...you just ask away. There are a bunch of very knowledgeable folks here more than willing to help.

[charlie knighton]

good answers, only thing to add, pecan will get very hard as it dries out, anchosealing the ends will not only slow the cracking, it will slow the drying out, ounce pecan sets up or dries it is very hard, dulls chainsaw blades and you will need to keep sharping your turning tools, so get your shop set up, and we like pictures ........welcome, enjoy

[Greg A Jones]

Thanks to all. If anyone happens to be in the general vicinity of Vicksburg, MS, I'm happy to share some of the pecan. More than I want for now and want to try as many different woods as possible. I have my eye on nice size dying honey locust by the creek out back. Pecan is pretty abundant around here as plenty gets blown down after every good T'storm. And to be honest, I'm on my 5th chain and still have a bunch more of it to de-pith. I think I'll just leave some of the big logs round and seal the ends for now.

[Thomas Canfield]

Pecan around here tends to have worms in the bark that attack the wood in short order. I would look at some and then decide if you should peel the bark. You can also check to see if the bark is tight. A lot of the dulling of chains and later turning tools is caused by the dirt in the bark. The limbs for spindle work can be a problem with the pith being of-center. 4" plus solid wood diameter pieces make some nice natural edge bowls if length is about 1.5 or so times diameter to give the long oval look, and they can be turned thin green to finish or thick for returning after drying. Sounds like you have some fun ahead of you.

[Greg A Jones]

Thanks. Some is wormy but most is solid and the bark is tight. I'm thinking I'll rough them out thick while it out while it's still green and "relatively" soft and put it away to finish drying and come back later.

[Lee Koepke]

i was just passing through vicksburg 4th of july weekend. I'd picked some up had I known!!!

welcome to the Creek! Enjoy.

[Bill Bukovec]

Welcome to SMC Greg.

Ask all the questions you want. People are happy to answer them.

Bill

[Jim Burr]

I typed "Pith removal" into the Search function and look what I found! http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?146433-pith, http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?147606-pith-removal, and so on

[Richard Jones]

Pecan around here tends to have worms in the bark that attack the wood in short order. I would look at some and then decide if you should peel the bark. You can also check to see if the bark is tight. A lot of the dulling of chains and later turning tools is caused by the dirt in the bark. The limbs for spindle work can be a problem with the pith being of-center. 4" plus solid wood diameter pieces make some nice natural edge bowls if length is about 1.5 or so times diameter to give the long oval look, and they can be turned thin green to finish or thick for returning after drying. Sounds like you have some fun ahead of you.

I'll second that. One of the few woods that I bother about bark removal. Pretty wood, fun to turn green.................

[Greg A Jones]

Do you seal the wood where you remove the bark? Thanks.