New Turner Checking In

[Mike Turkley]

Hi Everyone!

My name is Mike and I'm a turner, well a new turner anyway. I started turning about six months ago on a Harbor Freight 34706 lathe and tool set. After turning on the HF lathe for awhile I decided I wanted a better lathe and purchased a mustard monster along with new tools as needed. I currently have about 60 bowls roughed out from green wood and put up for drying along with a few platters, hollow forms and a natural edge. I just started trying out hollow forms using a Sorby Hollowmaster. Below is a picture of my HF lathe and some bowls, and my mustard.

I will probably be asking some questions as I go and posting some pictures of completed work.


MikeT

[Jim Dunn]

Mike let me be the first to welcome you, and apologize for helping support your addiction by stating that that is some real pretty work.

[Kurt Rosenzweig]

Welcome Mike! I love the cherry bowl! Another mustard man! I think someone may be getting nervous!:D

[John Hart]

Nice lookin' pieces Mike!!! You're leagues ahead of me for just starting out. (heck...you're leagues ahead of me anyway!!!:) )

Welcome to the whirlpool!

[Pete Jordan]

Looks like you came to play!

Welcome and keep it up.

[Mark Pruitt]

Welcome Mike! I love the cherry bowl! Another mustard man! I think someone may be getting nervous!:D
Maybe Travis will show up after a while with "The Picture"! Add some more mustard!:D Lay it on thick!:D :D

Mike, Welcome to the best place to hang out on the 'net!:) I went from a 34706 to a Mustardizer too, only I had the intermediate step of a Midi in between, 'cause the motor on my 34706 died.:mad: I still have that worthless piece of scrap iron lying around and can't figure out what to do with it. Maybe I'll make a mailbox post out of it.:p

[Jim Ketron]

Welcome to the Creek Mike, and the Mustard Club:D
Looks like you have some nice turnings under your belt, Keep'em coming!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Wow Mike welcome to Creek. Looks to me like you just closed your eyes and jumped with both feet. Those are some mighty fine looking bowls. Keep'em coming.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Welcome to the Creek Mike and Welcome to the Vortex...the Abyss.....Looks like you are a spin crack addict too!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Hi Mike and Welcome to the Creek! Great looking bowls! Looking forward to seeing more of your work!

[Gary Herrmann]

Welcome to the Creek. Nice job on those bowls, especially that cherry burl.

[Andy Hoyt]

Woe is me.

Guess I need to go back to Stratford for refesher training.

[Travis Stinson]

He he he. Welcome Mike, great looking work! Looking forward to seeing lots more.

Ahhh, life IS good!
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c213/tstin27/1234/DSC02494a1a.jpg

[John Miliunas]

Welcome to the Creek, Mike! I'd say, "Welcome to turning." but, it looks as though you're well beyond that already! :) Looking forward to seeing more of your work. Oh, and congrats on the Mustard!!! :D :cool:

[Joash Boyton]

Hey, welcome to SMC, that's some pretty nice stuff you got there.....look forward to seeing more;)

Oh!! and never mind them^^^ Turning is'nt that bad is it!!;)
Joash

[Ed Scolforo]

Welcome, Mike. Looks like you got a good jump start in turning. Nice work!
Ed

[Mike Turkley]

Thank you all very much for your nice welcome folks! I can't wait to finish some of my turnings. The six month wait is a killer, but I'm turning inventory stock. Pretty soon I can finish some of my dried turnings and replenish with newly roughed out stock.

Thanks again.


MikeT

[John Chandler]

Nice looking work.

[Ernie Nyvall]

Welcme to the Creek and the Mustard club Mike. Some fine looking work you've done there.

[Keith Burns]

Welcome to the Creek Mike. You are off to a great start. Keep them coming !!

[Dick Parr]

Welcome to the Creek Mike.

[Mark Pruitt]

The six month wait is a killer...
Mike, take a look at this article (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=34370) when you get a few minutes. This is a proven way to accelerate the drying process.

[Tom Sherman]

Welcome to the Creek MIke. Great turnings too

[Skip Spaulding]

Welcome, guess all those big lathes arn't that off white color!

[mike fuson]

Welcome Mike, nice work.

[George Tokarev]

Thank you all very much for your nice welcome folks! I can't wait to finish some of my turnings. The six month wait is a killer, but I'm turning inventory stock. Pretty soon I can finish some of my dried turnings and replenish with newly roughed out stock.


Depends on your thickness and relative humidity, but an inch of a wood like cherry is about a quarter to a third of that time to EMC around here. Not, as you have discovered, as if there's any rush once the shelves are full of possibilities. You can game the system a bit by cutting thinner, but you won't be as well protected from undiagnosed stresses, nor will you have the redesign capability a thicker blank gives. Guess there's no free lunch!

As to the two-martini lunch suggested, just recall that alcohol leaves faster than water in the distillation process, so it's fairly obvious it doesn't accelerate water loss any more than mixing paint thinner with your oil finish causes the oil to evaporate rapidly.

Watch your relative humidity to control degrade, wrapping as suggested when the RH is low, and if you can, weigh the piece a week in advance of use to make sure it's reached equilibrium. Alternative for the "gotta have" but questionably dry stuff is to weigh, microwave on defrost or some other interrupted power setting for three minutes to check for evolved moisture and weigh. Negligible change in weight and little moisture on the glass is a go.

Site's down now, but tables in chapter three of the wood handbook give a good idea of what to expect when drying. www.fs.fed.us/ (http://www.fs.fed.us/)

[Mark Pruitt]

As to the two-martini lunch suggested, just recall that alcohol leaves faster than water in the distillation process, so it's fairly obvious it doesn't accelerate water loss any more than mixing paint thinner with your oil finish causes the oil to evaporate rapidly.
As I understand it, it's not about how quickly the alcohol evaporates relative to water; it's more about what goes on during the 24 hours the piece is dipped in denatured alcohol.

[John Miliunas]

As I understand it, it's not about how quickly the alcohol evaporates relative to water; it's more about what goes on during the 24 hours the piece is dipped in denatured alcohol.

Yes, this was (is) my understanding, as well. As I recall, the alcohol displaces much of the water in the piece when the wood is submerged in the DNA. Once out of the DNA, there's much less H2O content in the wood, hence the quicker drying. :) :cool:

[Von Bickley]

Mike,

Welcome to "The Creek"... Great looking bowls.

Good to have more people from the wonderful state of South Carolina.:) :) :)

[Jim Stoppleworth]

Welcome Mike -- really nice looking work!!
Got a 34706 as my first lathe and added Mustard on 1/15 this year. The 34706 is now a permanent Beall buffing station, it's happy it has less work to do and I'm thrilled with the Mustard.

Jim

[Mike Turkley]

Mike, take a look at this article (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=34370) when you get a few minutes. This is a proven way to accelerate the drying process.

Thanks for the info Mark. I had though about trying DNA on a hollow form to see how it would work for me. Only thing is where to get the DNA as it's pricey at wally-world.


MikeT

[Mike Turkley]

Mike,

Welcome to "The Creek"... Great looking bowls.

Good to have more people from the wonderful state of South Carolina.:) :) :)


Thanks Von, I see that you're just outside of Columbia. I didn't know they were any from SC on here.

Thanks again.

MikeT

[George Tokarev]

Yes, this was (is) my understanding, as well. As I recall, the alcohol displaces much of the water in the piece when the wood is submerged in the DNA. Once out of the DNA, there's much less H2O content in the wood, hence the quicker drying. :) :cool:

Well, no. It certainly displaces air, but it mixes with water. Truth be known, and demonstrated to my satisfaction by adding a dye, there's not much penetration by the alcohol anyway on close grain woods. Where alcohols like PEG are used to stabilize woods, soak times are measured in months per inch.

Measure the volume and weigh the piece before and after soaking to find out what's displaced.

The chemistry involved in "displacement" would require that the sugars have a greater affinity for the alcohol, which is a less polar compound than water. Hydrogen bonds everywhere else favor the more polar molecule. It'd also mean that every vintner or distiller storing his produce in wood was watering it down.