Video: Logs into Turning Blanks

[John K Jordan]

This video is on how I use a shop bandsaw to make woodturning blanks from log sections. The goal is to end up with useful dry blanks. I cover several methods with an emphasis on safety.

I made this video last year for a Knoxville club remote turning demo. I didn't make it public it since I had good intentions of making some needed updates including some streamlining. I finally gave up on that - have no idea when I would get to it!

This is a much-shortened version of my 4-hour bandsaw class on the same subject. I had to leave out a lot!

BTW, I'm no stranger to video shooting and production but I'm TERRIBLE on the other side of the camera. Towards the end I finally broke down and bought a teleprompter which greatly reduced the number of retakes. I shot this with a 4-camera video setup with digital switching/recording and wireless lavalier microphone. Edited with DaVinci Resolve. This was the first time I used the entire system and the editing software, and under a time deadline, so I can blame any bumps on the learning curve! (Resolve is an incredible editor)

https://youtu.be/4Rbdas-jtD0

https://youtu.be/4Rbdas-jtD0


Comments appreciated - maybe I'll get around to polishing it some day. I've also had several requests for a short video on sharpening the bandsaw blade.

JKJ

[Dave Mount]

Nicely done, as expected. A collective thanks from the woodworking community for taking the time to share.

Best,

Dave

[Bernie Kopfer]

Nicely done with minimal wasted time. Thank you. Had to chuckle when I saw your overflowing shelves of turning blanks. Someday you will have to spend a year turning them into finished products. Please do take the time to make a sharpening video. I for one would much appreciate it.

Not to take away from your video, Festool makes a Router sliding table for their router table that can be mounted to a BS table with little effort. Expensive relatively until I see how fast and safely I now make those first cuts on a wobbly log or odd shaped piece of wood. Turning rounds can be done easily and precisely also.

[Pat Scott]

Glad you published it John!

[Dave Fritz]

Outstanding video John as one would expect from you. If and when you make your sharpening video could you include a little more about your dust collection system on the band saw. It looks interesting. I've seen others too cut the baffle inside the Rikon making the opening a complete circle instead of just the half circle. I wonder if you've done that? Thanks for all you contribute to this site and woodturning in general.

[David Bolson]

Thank you for the video. Very nicely done. I do have one question. I’ve always read, and so done it this way myself: I don’t cut through the pith, I make two cuts, one on each side of the pith. Doesn’t leaving half a pith on a blank lead to a greater likelihood of cracking?

David

[John K Jordan]

Thank you for the video. Very nicely done. I do have one question. I’ve always read, and so done it this way myself: I don’t cut through the pith, I make two cuts, one on each side of the pith. Doesn’t leaving half a pith on a blank lead to a greater likelihood of cracking?
David

Thanks. You should probably cut out the pith with the chainsaw when cutting a log section down the middle for making bowl blanks, especially if they won't be turned that day. Making two cuts saves the effort of making three to remove the pith but that's not much of a problem when processing on the bandsaw. I do that when preparing larger blanks on the Woodmizer.

485543 485544

I remove the pith on the bandsaw while cutting blanks I almost always process the short log sections very soon after cutting from the tree and before they get a chance to check much. If I can't process within a day I'll heavily seal the end grain and also usually set the cut end on a board with another section or board on the top or otherwise keep the wood wet. I mention cutting away the pith/juvenile wood at about 29:10 in the video, but due to time constraints didn't go into more detail.

I don't cut a wide section out since that would limit the size of square blanks I might decide to cut. For those corner is often right at the pith which usually isn't a problem since most stresses that create the pith cracks are removed and the pith itself will be removed when turning round. It's very rare to see a pith crack from a corner once the blank is dried. However, it's usually very important to not leave the juvenile wood or pith in a wide rectangular blank or one I turn round for bowls I intend to dry, like this from ambrosia maple:

485545

I wish I could have gone into more detail about sealing and drying. That topic might be good for a separate video. For example, I always seal the end grain but often the sides of a blank, depending. I seal sides where the grain is almost parallel to the side since that is where the largest drying stresses occur. I seal sides that have figure such as crotch flame or burl. I always seal the sides of some species, such as dogwood, that expose both heartwood and sapwood since experience has shown that unequal shrinkage is sure to cause cracks there. (Dogwood is one of my favorite domestic woods for turning so I process as much of that as I can get.)

After a few weeks or a month of drying (depending on the season and humidity in the shop) I check each large blank for developing cracks and cut them away immediately and reseal. This prevents them from propagating and ruining the blank. Note that some species local to us, such as cedar or sassafras, seldom develop cracks even if not well sealed.

It was painful to leave out so much useful material. This subject would be best covered with a series of 4 or 5 videos!

JKJ

[John K Jordan]

Outstanding video John as one would expect from you. If and when you make your sharpening video could you include a little more about your dust collection system on the band saw. It looks interesting. I've seen others too cut the baffle inside the Rikon making the opening a complete circle instead of just the half circle. I wonder if you've done that? Thanks for all you contribute to this site and woodturning in general.

Thanks, Dave! I just checked my 18" Rikon and don't see a half-circle baffle. It's an older model, 10-345. I've posted details in the past about the dust collection and what I did below the table that was a huge improvement. I'll try to locate one of those threads. The dust collection itself might make a nice short video.

JKJ

[John K Jordan]

Nicely done with minimal wasted time. Thank you. Had to chuckle when I saw your overflowing shelves of turning blanks. Someday you will have to spend a year turning them into finished products. ... Not to take away from your video, Festool makes a Router sliding table for their router table that can be mounted to a BS table with little effort. Expensive relatively until I see how fast and safely I now make those first cuts on a wobbly log or odd shaped piece of wood. Turning rounds can be done easily and precisely also.

Thanks Bernie. At 72 I think I have a lifetime supply of dried turning blanks. :) I have enough excess that visiting turners always go away with wood. I usually take 5 or 6 tubs of blanks to our turning club auction and given so many pen blanks to our Pens for Troops coordinator that he hasn't needed any more for years. (When I can, I'm the wood auctioneer since I'm loud, have no shame, and know just a bit about wood.)

I've seen some of the sleds and gizmos that make this easier. I've been fine without one. One point of the video was to encourage people to use just the bandsaw to start processing log sections without having to invest the time or money into setting up a jig. There are some other ways I use to cut rounds: large v-blocks work well (sometimes I make special "nearly" v-blocks), and for cutting small rounds like fat dowels a wooden clamp works well. The plywood method I described briefly is cheap and easy and always works. BTW, it's also great when I want to make the first cut somewhere off the center line. I been using the same two pieces of plywood for years, not often, but helpful on occasion.

JKJ

[Bernie Kopfer]

Your two pieces of plywood technique to steady a log is wonderful. Like all great truths, obvious when you see it,

[John Kananis]

It was painful to leave out so much useful material. This subject would be best covered with a series of 4 or 5 videos!

JKJ

I like the way you're thinking here... thank you for sharing this, really enjoyed it. Both times.

[John K Jordan]

Your two pieces of plywood technique to steady a log is wonderful. Like all great truths, obvious when you see it,

Thanks! Someone has probably thought of that before but it just came to me one day. Has worked well. I use short deck screws that go through the bark but not too deep into the wood, deep enough to hold.

Since there are no large or sudden forces it doesn't take much to hold the log steady.

JKJ

[John K Jordan]

...I've posted details in the past about the dust collection and what I did below the table that was a huge improvement. I'll try to locate one of those threads. ...

Dave,

I see the latest notes I posted about what I did for bandsaw dust collection are on 5/24/2018 and 12/29/2018:

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?265138-Bandsaw-dust-collection&p=2816067#post2816067


This post is in a thread started by Derek Cohen about his bandsaw DC mods:

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?270526-Dust-collection-for-bandsaw&p=2881437#post2881437

JKJ

[Dave Fritz]

Thank you so much John. My Rikon is a 14 inch and has a little different dust port inside the bottom and none at the top. I do however get saw dust at all the places you've identified and remediated. My dust collector is a 2 hp Jet model with 4 inch runs so all in all a much smaller system. Since I'm doing less and less due to health reasons I'll continue using the vacuum to pick up errant sawdust but do appreciate you taking the time to share your system. I'm in awe of all the things you're up to and the level at which you achieve them. Thank you and continue posting please.