Some advice from a novice to other novices.......

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Friends.............if you find a crack in a piece of dry wood you are turning....forget it.....or fix it and then be extemely cautious! I was given some slabbed apricot. It's approximately 2 3/4" thick by 10" by 18". It is extremely dry and has a lot of cracks. This afternoon I spent a couple of hours preparing a 9" bowl blank from one of the slabs. When I went to turn it there were multiple cracks that appeared to go about 5/8" - 3/4" from the side that I was going to make the bottom. By the time I got the bottom flattened, shaped and a tenon on it, the cracks had mostly been turned away. I then sanded the outside and bottom through 320 grit. Wow...some of the prettiest wood I've seen yet. Three large knots penetrated the outside of this future bowl and wow...color... grain...I'd post a photo but the digital camera is on a 3 week vacation to Illinois. I removed it from the face plate and mounted it in the chuck. Soon after I started turning the interior, the tenon snapped. I was disappointed. Then...wait a minute......I was able to remount the faceplate using the original screw holes.....turned a tapered mortise in the bottom....finish sanded the bottom. Boy I want to complete this one...it's going to be a beauty.......Mounted it on the chuck. Just about the time I had the sides and bottom to 1/2" thickness....at a speed of approximately 1800 rpm it launched......split right down the middle......Luckily for me...I was out over the bed presenting the gouge to the wood so I didn't get hit. One large piece bounced off the ceiling of my shop (9'10" in height) hit the east wall 23 feet away.......Morale of the story..........I don't care how pretty the wood is...if it's got cracks...fix it and be extremely cautious....or burn it....don't continue to try to save!:( :o

[Ernie Nyvall]

Wow Ken, you got lucky. Myself, I turn stuff like that a lot slower... maybe 6-700 rpms. I'd be too skeered to get it up to 1800.

Ernie

[Brian McInturff]

I agree on slowing it down. One of the Spalted Oak bowls I posted earlier cracked after rough turning. But the DNA procedure seems to have it stabilized. It didn't crack on me any more and it's some freakin hard wood once it's dry. I turned it probably in the 3-400 range with it dry. Be careful at those speeds with any imperfections.
Brian

[Bernie Weishapl]

Ken glad you weren't hurt. One thing I will have to say you are a lot braver than I am. I don't much turn bowls at the most 800 to 1000 rpm. If they got cracks I don't much go over 400 to 600 rpm. I learned that on my first bowl. Those speeds are most what I have studied and read.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Thanks guys! I've got a good amount of it left. I'd like to turn it. Boy that piece that blew up.....One of the prettiest pieces of wood I've seen! I'll try to turn another piece but at a much slower speed!

[Corey Hallagan]

Ken, glad you weren't hurt. Hope you are able to turn some it without problems. Sure sounds nice!

Corey

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Hey guys I went and looked at my belt position and where I had my VS set to ..........It was more like 800-1000 rpm not 1800.......

[Joe Melton]

Thanks for the warning, Ken.
Joe, newbie

[Vaughn McMillan]

Glad to see you didn't get whacked.

I've got an olive(?) bowl started (posted pics a few days ago) that is cracked. So far, I've only roughed out the outside...I'll rough the inside as soon as the necessary adaptor for my chuck arrives. I turned much of the initial cracking out of it, but within a day it was opening up again. I trimmed it down a bit more, then sealed it back up with thick latext paint until I can finish roughing it out and get it in the DNA.

I'll have your experience (and other folks' RPM suggestions) in mind when I try to continue on this bowl. ;)

- Vaughn

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

...........Yes, ditto all of that, but how is the lathe!!! :eek: :confused:

:D :rolleyes: ;)

[George Conklin]

...........Yes, ditto all of that, but how is the lathe!!! :eek: :confused:

:D :rolleyes: ;)

Can you feel the love, Ken?








:D