Should keep me busy for a while...

[brian zawatsky]

Got a great deal on a pile of walnut logs, most between 16-20" diameter, and a couple maple logs with really nice color and a little bit of spalt for good measure. There are a few more walnut logs the guy wants to sell, if you're in the central PA area I'd be happy to send you the contact info.

[Brice Rogers]

Make sure that you address the sealing of the ends or you'll lose some wood.

[brian zawatsky]

Make sure that you address the sealing of the ends or you'll lose some wood.

Spending the afternoon with a can of anchorseal and a brush. I cut them all today out of 8'-10' logs that had been down for a few months. All three logs had pretty good heart checking going on all the way thru, so it doesn't leave me much of a choice as to how to cut blanks. I'll try to make my first cut right along the heart check and hope for the best.

[John K Jordan]

It a great deal on a pile of walnut logs, all between 16-20" diameter, and a couple maple logs with really nice color and a little bit of spalt for good measure.
There are a few more walnut logs the guy wants to sell, if you're in the central PA area I'd be happy to send you the contact info.

That's a lot of wood! Two things, one is Steven Russell's article "Processing green wood logs" here:
http://www.woodturningvideosplus.com/woodturning-tips.html
(If you like this kind of info also check out his Main Library and Turning Blog.)

Also, the other John Jordan said he doesn't get chunks of wood but gets the whole log, even if he has to pay for delivery, and stores it on blocks in the shade under a tarp. He covers the log then only cuts off a chunk when he is ready to turn it. The wood will be fine for years, even if not anchorsealed (just cut off a few inches before cutting a chunk.)

JKJ

[Bob Bouis]

It depends on what wood (and where you live, I guess). Walnut will hold up better as logs than most. But the sapwood will discolor and will be eaten by bugs (which may occasionally venture into the heartwood). Other woods will stain or be bug eaten all the way through in just a few months.

[Thomas Canfield]

For 16 to 20" logs, my preference would be to cut out a 1.5 to 2" pith slab, about 15% diameter, as minimum or cut slabs about 3 to 4" thick at pith and then remove pith to get larger thickness for hollow vessels, lidded boxes, or other end grain turning. The slabs are quarter sawn material and good for end grain turning. Seal end grain no matter what. I find that just cutting down the pith center still leaves the blank with tendency to split at the "pith" center and also hard to follow pith center. I am sure others have different opinion and luck.

[brian zawatsky]

That's a lot of wood! Two things, one is Steven Russell's article "Processing green wood logs" here: http://www.woodturningvideosplus.com/woodturning-tips.html (If you like this kind of info also check out his Main Library and Turning Blog.) Also, the other John Jordan said he doesn't get chunks of wood but gets the whole log, even if he has to pay for delivery, and stores it on blocks in the shade under a tarp. He covers the log then only cuts off a chunk when he is ready to turn it. The wood will be fine for years, even if not anchorsealed (just cut off a few inches before cutting a chunk.) JKJ

Thanks for the link John! Lots of interesting info there, I spent about an hour looking it over last night.

I had to cut the logs into chunks, as I have no place to store long logs on my property. We have a home on about a half acre lot in a development, and the Mrs doesn't want to see a chunk of her yard taken hostage by logs under an ugly looking tarp lol

I roughed 10 blanks yesterday that will be offered on the web auction giant as a means of paying for the log haul and the 036 I bought on Friday (what a screamer!! I got lucky). This should minimize my wood loss, as I DEFINITELY have more than I can rough turn in 3 months, let alone one!

[brian zawatsky]

For 16 to 20" logs, my preference would be to cut out a 1.5 to 2" pith slab, about 15% diameter, as minimum or cut slabs about 3 to 4" thick at pith and then remove pith to get larger thickness for hollow vessels, lidded boxes, or other end grain turning. The slabs are quarter sawn material and good for end grain turning. Seal end grain no matter what. I find that just cutting down the pith center still leaves the blank with tendency to split at the "pith" center and also hard to follow pith center. I am sure others have different opinion and luck.

Thanks for the suggestion Thomas. In all likelihood I will cut a 2" thick slab containing the pith for all the larger logs. Cut the smaller ones (12-15") yesterday afternoon with my electric saw and made a heck of a mess in the garage (it rained all afternoon here)

[brian zawatsky]

Any suggestions as to how to best cut this crotch section to keep most of the feathering intact, but still get rid of the pith?

[John K Jordan]

It depends on what wood (and where you live, I guess). Walnut will hold up better as logs than most. But the sapwood will discolor and will be eaten by bugs (which may occasionally venture into the heartwood). Other woods will stain or be bug eaten all the way through in just a few months.

Could be. Here in TN I've left whole logs in piles (off the ground) with anchor seal on the ends and cut them over a year later on my sawmill. I didn't start to see discoloration like grey stain until after they were sawn. I don't have much experience with big green turning chunks.

I did hear from the other John Jordan (the famous one): "Leaving logs whole means they degrade less as it takes the fungi etc longer to reach the inside of the log. Sealing the end and keeping it dry and in the shade also help."

He is also in Tennessee. I suspect cutting logs into smaller pieces may expose more of the wood to fungal spores. I don't have much problem with bugs unless the logs are left on the ground. The biggest thing for me is as Steven Russell wrote about, taking in more wood than I am able to process even though I don't turn green but process most into smaller turning blanks and let them dry for years. I have enough wood now to turn for two lifetimes, some of what I'm turning now drying in the shop for 10 years or so. It is so hard to resist free wood...

JKJ

[brian zawatsky]

I spent quite literally the entire weekend processing logs into bowl blanks, and coating them completely in anchor seal. It was exhausting! I still have a half dozen log sections to get to; they've been end sealed and stacked up off the ground & tarped. Some of them I cut round on the bandsaw, some I just slabbed out and sealed that way. Came away with 2 really nice sized crotch slabs that should yield some nice platters/shallow bowls too. Finally got to rough a couple bowls out this evening. The walnut is sweet, as expected, but the Norway maple turned out to be way nicer than I had anticipated.

[Pat Scott]

Nice looking Walnut! I'm jealous.

[Bruce Wilson]

If you find yourself too busy with it and not enough time, you could always ship some of it to me.

[Aaron Craven]

If you find yourself too busy with it and not enough time, you could always ship some of it to me.

I too would "sacrifice" some time if you wanna send me some! :D

[Bob Bouis]

Any suggestions as to how to best cut this crotch section to keep most of the feathering intact, but still get rid of the pith?

Right through all three piths, and make the figured part the bottom of the bowls.

[brian zawatsky]

Right through all three piths, and make the figured part the bottom of the bowls.

Thanks Bob, that's exactly what I ended up doing. I ran off a bit and missed one of the piths in one half of the crotch cut by about an inch and half. I had to rig up a slab holding jig so that I could re-saw the blank and straighten it out. I didn't want to take the chance of it cracking if I left the pith in.
Anyway, I lost some of the crotch figure in the resaw, but it still produced a nice shallow dish rough out, about 2.5"x14".

[David Delo]

That's some sweet looking walnut Brian. Nice job.

[Brice Rogers]

Brian, my hat is off to you focusing on the processing. Last year I picked up 10 or 12 large rounds from a neighbor's Gum amber/liquid amber tree. Some of it was already spalted. Some was starting to get a little "punky". I divided my "find" into three piles, dividing two piles to two dear woodturning friends. I also processed about half of my pile. Then I crushed a finger in a lathe accident and was out of commission for 4 to 6 months. I ended up being able to save almost all of my portion. My two friends didn't process their wood. After over a year of non-action, each of them lost all of their portion of wood. One person's wood cracked (no end seal and in the sun) and the other just went punky (put in the shade or put in plastic bags).

So, my hat is off to you for processing your wood. I always think that something is wrong when something that was once living and has potential value is left to spoil. That is the way that I was brought up....

[brian zawatsky]

Thanks Brice. I totally agree with you. Silly as it sounds, I often find myself feeling conflicted when looking at a huge, beautiful, century old walnut or maple or oak tree. The woodworker in me can tell by looking at the features of the tree that its' wood has the potential to be fantastic. The other part of me feels like it would be such a tragedy to see such a tree cut down.

At any rate, it would be a damn shame to waste it. I'm hoping that I'll have time to get to the rest of the logs next weekend. Hopefully they hold up without checking until then.

[Bob Bouis]

Looks great, Brian. What I do when I really want to get a good straight chainsaw rip cut is chock the wood up so the piths / cut line are perfectly plumb on both sides, then draw plumb lines with a level and marker (offset so you can see them as you cut). As long as you start with the bar at the right spot on both ends and follow the line on your side, you ought to get a straight cut.

Also, one thing I don't enjoy about the hobby is the perpetual guilt over wasted wood. It helps to just get the best pieces and leave the rest. Failing that, get a big bandsaw so you can easily turn logs into turning blanks that won't degrade [hopefully].