Very Green Willow Wood

[Nicholas Briggs]

My neighbor just trimmed his weeping willow and said i was welcome to any of the branches. It is VERY green. How should I treat the wood, and does willow turn well?

[Jim Ketron]

Wear a rain coat:D
Your gona get wet!

[Dominic Greco]

Willow can be very nice wood. But like Jim said, it's WET! I would rough it to 10% wall thickness, and then let it sit for a LONG time.

The willow bowl I turned some time ago (picture attached) was soaked in DNA and then allowed to sit for several months. With wood that wet, it will move like the dickens as it dies out. IMHO it's best to allow it to dry as much as possible for final turning to shape.

BTW, watch out for grubs and worms. They LOVE willow. Some of that moisture you'll be getting spattered with is bound to be bug juice. So keep your mouth closed while turning! :D

[Cody Colston]

Also get ready for some major tearout. Willow is a stringy wood and when green, I've found it difficult to cut even on the bandsaw. The wood fibers clog up the sawtooth gullets until it doesn't want to cut.

When it dries out it will be light as a feather but tearout is still something you will have to deal with when finish turning. Sharp tools are a must.

[Nicholas Briggs]

Grr... I hate waiting. Is there anyway to to speed up the drying process? And I am also worried about cracking. Should I treat the wood with anything?

[George Tokarev]

Willow is prone to a lot of grain reversals, so be prepared for some warp. Here the 10% business is probably not a bad idea, as with yellow birch. As to drying, I've found it nearly bulletproof. Depending on your relative humidity, you might just be able to leave it alone in an area out of the drafts.

It also features thick, attractive bark, so after roughing out the larger for conventional bowls, you might want to turn some with bark up. If you stay with a broader form, you won't need to soak the cork layer with CA, but deeper designs would benefit, as the bark sometimes moves paradoxically.

Other hints are good. Expect to be less than satisfied with the surface when roughing green, but rest assured, things improve when it dries. If you've ever turned one of its cousins, the cottonwoods or true poplars, you'll recognize the problems.

How rapidly you can turn it for stable shape depends on the thickness and the relative humidity, no matter what else you do with it.

[John Hart]

I would think that you could speed up the drying by roughing it, then spin it at a pretty high speed. Should throw off a bunch of water and not leave much behind.

[Dick Strauss]

Nicholas,
I'll second everything said by others here...stringy and shower wet when green.

If you want dry willow in a reasonable amount of time, you better rough it green as suggested. I found the local willow was the color of cherry wood (light pink). The wood I turned was so flexible it didn't really crack. Also, it will grow new shoots while the log sits on the ground. Your mileage may vary....

Coat it with anchorseal if you aren't going to turn it right away.

Dick

[Nicholas Briggs]

Wear a rain coat:D
Your gona get wet!

Ha ha ha! You weren't kidding. It's like giant sponge. Blank is nice and rounded, anything else I should do before I just let it sit?

[Dick Strauss]

Nicholas,
did you hollow the inside as well to finish the rough-out? The more mass you get rid of now, the faster it will dry.

Make sure you use the 10% rule... the thickness of your piece should be about 10% of the diameter of your bowl.

Good luck,
Dick

[George Tokarev]

I would think that you could speed up the drying by roughing it, then spin it at a pretty high speed. Should throw off a bunch of water and not leave much behind.

Unbound water. You can do the same with compressed air. It's only going to gain you two/three days, as the unbound comes out pretty fast by capillary action as well. I find it a big help in avoiding mildew on those woods prone to it, because I can eject the majority of the bound water in successive air cycles, and get the drying through the mildew stage more rapidly.