Woodturning from Hurricane Katrina

[Charles Watkins]

I live in the SE Louisiana area that was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Luckily, my town was one of the few not completely destroyed. My grandmother, however lives in the Long Beach, MS area and although her home is fine, several of the age old oaks and pecan trees on her property are down. My question here is that I would like to take some of the logs that we are cutting and use them to turn something to keep as a part of our family. These trees were very special to us and we hate to see all of it just cut up into firewood. I have been wanting to get back into woodturning and have access to a nice lathe. I need to know from those here if it is possible to turn Oak from a downed log and what I need to do to prepare the wood. I know that as it dries it will begin to crack and I was wondering if any of you have any pointers.

Thank You
C Watkins

[Don Baer]

Welcome to the creek Charles, Here is a link to another thread that will help you out.


http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=20292&highlight=Anchor+seal

[Carole Valentine]

Glad the only damage she suffered was downed trees. WHile Oak is probably one of my least favorite woods to turn, you can definitely turn some nice keepsakes from it. Pecan is in the same family as Hickory and Walnut, I believe. You can make some nice turnings from it. Anchorseal the ends of the logs as soon as you cut them and also anchorseal any blanks you cut from the logs. Roughing out the blanks on the lathe is much easier when the wood is green. Once the bowl is roughed out, you can take one of many approaches, including: toss the roughout unsealed in a cool, dry place and wait months for it to dry , hoping it doesn't crack; seal the end grain with Anchorseal, bag it and wait months for it to dry and hope it doesn't crack; or use Dave Smith's denatured alcohol treatment (less chance of cracking) and finish turn the piece in a couple of weeks or less. WHatever you do, you are guaranteed to have fun!

[Pat Salter]

Ok, I'm about to say something sacreligious in this forum. Don't let you ideas be limited to turned items. :eek: If you have acces to a bandsaw, cut some up into flat pieces. Think what everyone would say to a nice picture of your grandmother in front of the house framed with pieces from those trees, especially if there are any pictures that include the trees.
Christmas ornaments made with the differant woods would be nice presents too. keeps the family thinking of one another.
I know, I know, 50 lashes with a bag full of shavings :D