My first DNA cherry bomb.........

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I had roughed out a little cherry "finger bowl".........DNAd it for 4 days.........set it in the window to dry.....FORGOT to wrap it in newspaper......Well that was 2 weeks ago. After 2 weeks of drying it appeared to be dry so I decided to finish turn it this afternoon. It was small enough I was able to expand the jaws on my chuck to grab and center the mouth end and brought the tailstock up to it's old hole and finish turned the tennon and the shoulder of the bowl. Then I put it in the chuck by the tenon. Note....it had cracks going through the inner and outer walls...small hairline cracks........MAYBE I shouldn't have even tried to turn it?........Well I got the sides down to about 3/16" and was working on the bottom. I had a lot of endgrain tearout on the inside from using the scraper so I decided to try some scraping cuts with my bowl gouge. It seemed to be working well as each pass from the bottom of the sidewall to the outer edge reduced the amount of endgrain tearout I had......Then I had a catch and the bowl exploded. I know why you wear a full face shield!

With these small, seemingly, insignificant cracks appear to go through the walls of the bowl before I began finish turning.........Should I have (a) not tried to finish turn it....or (b) filled them with coffee grounds and superglue and then finish turn it ...or (c) proceed as I did?

can't find all the parts......scattered around the shop........

[Corey Hallagan]

Awww that stinks!! Sorry to hear about that Ken.

Corey

[Bernie Weishapl]

Ken I had one like that. It had hairline cracks in it. I doused both side with thin super glue. Let it dry overnight and turned it. It came out fine. One thing I might try the next time that happens to me is John H. cocktail mix of 5 minute epoxy mixed with DNA to a state like milk. Paint it on till it won't take any more. Let dry overnight and then try turning it. See how it turns compare to the CA one. By the way I put the cocktail on after it has been thru it drying cycle. In other words just before I return it to the lathe.

Kinda stinks when they explode like that. Oh well Ken grab another hunk of wood and go for it.

[Dennis Peacock]

Ken,

Sorry to hear about your exploded bowl. I know how it goes as it's happened to me a few times in the past. You'll get better at it as time goes by and you gain more experience at turning. For me, the inside is the hardest to get turned cleanly and smoothly. Especially all the while trying to avoid catches while working on the inside of the bowl. One thing that I've learned while working on the inside of a bowl is to use a sharp scraper with "very" light cuts. I don't scrap with a bowl gouge on the inside of a bowl as I've had some pretty bad catches doing that, so I reverted back to a heavy bowl scraper and life is much better.

Chalk this one up to experience, but on hairline cracks? Use thin CA and follow that with some Medium CA as the medium CA is really a moderate gap filler type of adhesive where the thin is meant to penetrate deep into the wood....and yes.....you need both thin and medium CA. :rolleyes: :D

[Andy Hoyt]

Hey! Don't feel bad. I remounted a 17" +/- bowl this afternoon to finish turn it. Initial visual and thump test indicated all was hunky dorey. Spun it up to full impulse power, let it ride for a spell, and all seemed good. Shut it down. Grabbed the gouge, sharpened same. Spun it back up to about 3/4 impulse power and it immediately went super nova on me. Never even put the steel to it. The only piece larger than a deck of cards was that which was still held securely by the chuck.

I weighed my options: Ice cream, another chunk, or a beer. I ended up choosing beer - more than once.

[John Hart]

I listen for the tick tick tick tick of a crack while turning. If I hear it or feel it, I immediately stop and do a repair.

[Keith Burns]

You know, this learning curve has to be the most exciting time in a turners life as you just don't know what's going to happen next:D

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Yeah and as one other turner puts it.......you put a lathe in your shop and suddenly magic just starts happening there! When that thing exploded....I was using a Bill Grumbine technique and position.....I had my bowl gouge extended out over beyond the bed of the lathe...so I was out of the firing line.......Somebody was looking out for me!......one second it was there...the next minute I was looking for pieces!

[Mike Ramsey]

Bad luck Ole Boy! Glad the missile missed you! I had some explosions
from bad catches but not from cracks. I usually CA any cracks out of
the bath before I start re-turning, then stop about half way thru the
finish process and re-apply Ca a second time. That usually works
for me. I put mine in a dark location to dry, the sunlight in a window
seems like would really cause more cracking & movement to a drying
bowl..just IMHO.