Greenwood finishing techniques?

[Ron Stadler]

So lately ive been turning greenwood natural edge bowls and turning them with about 3/16" to 1/4" wall thickness, and as soon as I'm done turning I wait a day to sand and put on the finish. In your opinion is this to soon, just seems like the finish isn't as good as the dry natural edge bowl i did, although it was Walnut and the other two are elm and hickory. Anyway would like to hear your thoughts and experiences with that, thanks.

[Tom Giacomo]

Being that green I'm surprised that none have cracked on you, that is way to soon you must let the bowls dry out. I usually put them in a brown paper bag and let them dry for a month or two. A moisture meter is a good check tool.

[John K Jordan]

So lately ive been turning greenwood natural edge bowls and turning them with about 3/16" to 1/4" wall thickness, and as soon as I'm done turning I wait a day to sand and put on the finish. In your opinion is this to soon, just seems like the finish isn't as good as the dry natural edge bowl i did, although it was Walnut and the other two are elm and hickory. Anyway would like to hear your thoughts and experiences with that, thanks.

Some people do wet sand and even apply oil

Excerpts from something turner Brad Vietje wrote nearly 10 years ago:

"I learned from two of my turning mentors, Luke Mann and Dustin Coates, that you can successfully apply at least some oil finishes to wood that still has quite a bit of moisture in it.

But WHY do this? Well the piece has to dry eventually, and it could develop cracks as it does, and the oil acts like Anchorseal, and helps slow down the moisture loss, so the wood can bend and distort without cracking. ...

Which oils? I have used Urethane oil from Craft Supplies, as well as Watco Danish Oil,... I have also smeared on a coating of Tried & True Original (beeswax and raw linseed oil), which works well, but seems to stay tacky a lot longer. I leave the T&T on there overnight or so, then wipe off as much as I can with paper towels, and apply a little more every few weeks. I usually allow these things to dry for months, not days or weeks. Without taking some action, the wood will not be dry for a few months anyway, unless it is really thin. ...

Another avenue is to air dry the piece after wet sanding (again, weeks or months, usually), remove the fuzz with a gray Scotch-Bright pad, and then apply oil to the dry wood. You will get better penetration, and quite possibly a more durable or harder finish, but you won't get the same protection from cracking that you get from slowing down the drying process by adding oil to the wet wood. ..."

I'll look back in my notes and see if I wrote down what Chris Ramsey said about sanding and finishing his cowboy hats. I remember he said he waits "a little while" then sands some.

JKJ

[Prashun Patel]

I wait about two weeks to sand. Then another two weeks to apply a film finish. If I am just waxing or doing an oil varnish, I may finish right after sanding.

[John K Jordan]

I looked in my notes at what Chris Ramsey said when turning cowboy hats from green wood. Remember, he's turning them pretty thin, 1/16" or so.

When turning the inside he said he shapes, sands, and sprays the inside with lacquer. Then reverses to clean up the tenon.

JKJ

[Leo Van Der Loo]

So lately ive been turning greenwood natural edge bowls and turning them with about 3/16" to 1/4" wall thickness, and as soon as I'm done turning I wait a day to sand and put on the finish. In your opinion is this to soon, just seems like the finish isn't as good as the dry natural edge bowl i did, although it was Walnut and the other two are elm and hickory. Anyway would like to hear your thoughts and experiences with that, thanks.

No experience with how you are doing it Ron, even when I finish turn a bowl very thin I will dry it in a paper bag for a couple of weeks to give it time to adjust and dry, sand after that and finish it.

As I use Polymerized Tung Oil as a finish, the temperature has to be warm to have the oil polymerize, I’m sure it will work on wet wood and there should be no detrimental effects, though it will slow down the wood drying some (not bad) and you do need to let the oil harden before polishing it if you want to do that.

I have finished several bowls that were not dry, but close to it, the warping and farther drying never bothered the bowls, like this Applewood bowl I finished in 2001 and which we have used every day after that (our bread bowl) it is as nice or better than when it got made, I would expect if nothing happens in the first couple of weeks when your bowl looses most of its moisture, there won’t happen anything later on.

380663

[Ron Stadler]

Thanks guys, I guess I'm jumping the gun a little bit.