First Boiled Bowl ....

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Well, I boiled the first bowl I tried to turn, and now, as I unwrap it, I see....CRACKS!!!! :(:(

36020
Yuck...... look at them cracks!! :mad:

36021
Man this sucks!!

36022
May not see them here well, but they go all the way through.....

So, do I have neat fire wood or what?

I'm sure the cracks were there to start with, not from the boiling.

Cheers! :(

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Stu.......my first Cherry one.....DNA'd it........cracked the next day....of course, I didn't wrap it in newspaper................I'm thinking Stu........these other guys are "rolling chicken bones on the floor in front of their lathes!":eek: :D

[Bernie Weishapl]

Don't roll chicken bones as Ken suggests but some woods are just proned to crack. One I can't seem to work with that cracks on me is apple. Cherry is another that is hit or miss. I have had no problem with maple, ash, elm, hackberry and hickory. Of course I use the DNA method that Dennis has in another post.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Well this is Sakura, the ornimental Cherry, and this was from a chunk of the tree that had been taken down wiht the claw on the excavator, not by a chainsaw, so I suspect it may have had cracks in it from being torn down, instead of cut donw.

Cheers!

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

Stu, do you have any thick CA or epoxy? If so, fill the cracks with it.

You can fill the crack with coffee grounds first, then add the glue. It gives a neat look. Glitter works well, too, as does Turquise and other dusts.

Bruce

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Thanks Bruce.

If by CA you mean crazy glue for wood, then yes I do have it, and it is on the bowl as we speak.

Cheers!

[Frank Parker]

Most of your fruit woods move alot and are prone to cracking. I've had some luck with boiling and than using the dna method after. when you boil wood remember to let the blank stay sumerged untill the water is completly cooled off, otherwise it'll dry to fast. Than I set it aside in a cool place untill all the surface water is gone and than I drop it in the dna overnight. I've had pretty good success with Madrone and Mimosa which are big movers, I still get some warping but very little checking.
Frank

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Most of your fruit woods move alot and are prone to cracking. I've had some luck with boiling and than using the dna method after. when you boil wood remember to let the blank stay sumerged untill the water is completly cooled off, otherwise it'll dry to fast. Than I set it aside in a cool place untill all the surface water is gone and than I drop it in the dna overnight. I've had pretty good success with Madrone and Mimosa which are big movers, I still get some warping but very little checking.
Frank

Hey who's wood are you calling "fruit".......... ? ;) :D

I guess the Sakura could be classified as fruit, even though it only blossoms, no fruit is produced.

I'd not heard the advice to let the water and bowl cool completely before removing :o

I took it out HOT and wrapped it in a bunch of newspaper, and left it set for a week or ten days.

I'll know more for the next one!

Cheers!

[Ernie Nyvall]

Stu, some bowls have a tendency to crack and warp more due to the orientation of the grain. Bill Grumbine explains it in his video where it makes sense. Anyway, by the looks of the grain in your bowl, it is tighter on one side than on the other. By the looks of the inside bottom it appears the bowl blank was cut at an angle to the way the tree was growing.

Okay, let me see if I can explain this. If you cut a chunk of tree out and look straight down at the pith... it may be that the growth rings are tighter around part of the tree than the other, especially when the pith is way off center. What you do is cut the pith out separating the closer rings from the area where they are farther apart. If it's cut so that you have close rings on one side of the blank and wide rings on the other, the will be unequal stress in the drying process. Does this make sense?

Ernie

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Yes that makes sense, and I know what you mean.

It is not a big worry, as this was just scraps that were left over, so to speak, so that is why I'm turning it first.

Cheers!

[Dick Strauss]

Stu,
I've found that danish oil finishes match the color of CA (super) glue pretty closely. I tried brushing lacquer but it was too light to match the residual CA glue.

I hope this helps....

[Jim Ketron]

Stu sometimes you win sometimes you loose, Hope the next one comes out better for ya!

Ernie brings up a very good Point!
I give a close inspection of the log before I make a cut.
It makes a huge diff in the outcome of successful
green turning and not! Plus I think they look better with more of a uniform grain pattern.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Actually Jim, in the end, this one worked out OK.....

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=34738

Cheers!