Why, why me oh Lord?

[Don Farr]

I do not understand why this rim cracked on me. I have been going very slow and the wood seemed to be very dry. Between turnings I have put a bag over it with shavings in it. I have done everything that I was told to do and it still cracked.
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tyler Howell]

Don You're given only the burdens you can endure.A lesser man would give up. ;)

TJH

[Bob Oswin]

I do not understand why this rim cracked on me. I have been going very slow and the wood seemed to be very dry. Between turnings I have put a bag over it with shavings in it. I have done everything that I was told to do and it still cracked.
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As I understand it the wood can develop stresses as it dries.
They either opened up on drying or when some other stress is relieved as in turnin out the bowl.
You have several choices depending on the severity or position of the crack(s)
1. Cut them off.

2.Cyanoacrylate them to stabilize them and continue turning.

3. Pour in liquid epoxy and either mask or tint it to celebrate the event.
4. Cut out the crack and glue in contrasting wood and wood laces across the crack and sell it as a novelty bowl.
(Not mine, Raffins idea!)

5. Toss it.
I only show my keepers and they are few! :D

Bob

[Chris Padilla]

Per your sig, duct tape it? :eek:

:D

[Kevin Gerstenecker]

Don, I don't know as much about why wood cracks as I would like to know, but I have discovered that the wood species has something to do with it. I have turned a few small bowls from Oak, that was as dry as a bone. It was a bugger and 1/2 to turn to begin with, and it did develop a few cracks after I had it turned. Nothing real bad, but enough to aggravate me. Some wood just has different reactions to having the stress relieved from the wood fiber as it is turned, is my best guess? Anyway, I have discovered that the Hedge Maple that I have turned can be turned very wet, and dried in the Microwave without any significant movement..............and other species can be "Mohave Dry" and still crack. It is a mystery to me, but I am sure there is an explanation? Don't let it get you down Don..........you are doing great with your turnings, and sometimes, you just lose one. Keep it spinnin' Don..................and don't sweat the small things! ;)

[Don Farr]

Per your sig, duct tape it? :eek:

:D
Right on Chris, what Can I say. :D

[Don Farr]

Don, I don't know as much about why wood cracks as I would like to know, but I have discovered that the wood species has something to do with it. I have turned a few small bowls from Oak, that was as dry as a bone. It was a bugger and 1/2 to turn to begin with, and it did develop a few cracks after I had it turned. Nothing real bad, but enough to aggravate me. Some wood just has different reactions to having the stress relieved from the wood fiber as it is turned, is my best guess? Anyway, I have discovered that the Hedge Maple that I have turned can be turned very wet, and dried in the Microwave without any significant movement..............and other species can be "Mohave Dry" and still crack. It is a mystery to me, but I am sure there is an explanation? Don't let it get you down Don..........you are doing great with your turnings, and sometimes, you just lose one. Keep it spinnin' Don..................and don't sweat the small things! ;)
Kevin, This was that beautiful wood from curly woods. It was nice dry curly myrtle. The only thing that I can figure is the very low humidity that we have had lately in Georgia.

[Dennis Peacock]

Don, I don't know as much about why wood cracks as I would like to know, but I have discovered that the wood species has something to do with it. I have turned a few small bowls from Oak, that was as dry as a bone. Don't let it get you down Don..........you are doing great with your turnings, and sometimes, you just lose one. Keep it spinnin' Don..................and don't sweat the small things! ;)

Oak has the most movement of most all hardwoods. Dry oak is extremely hard to turn...especially for me...as that is what I learned on as that was all I had for turning (neighbors dead tree). IF I could reverse the number of craked turnings I have with the number of turnings I have that are NOT cracked.....I would have enough to call myself a turner.

One thing that I have tried and had pretty good results with is: Boiling the bowl after very rough turning in a large pot on top of my camp stove. Put the bowl in the pot of cold water and turn on the heat. Once the water is boiling pretty good, boil for 35 minutes. Remove the blank from the boiling water and put in a double-lined paper bag and let sit for about a week. Finish turning. This process has HELPED but I still get some cracking or splitting as a lot of the turning wood I get is what folks have tossed to the trash.

I guess I had better start growing me some "turning trees" so I will have my own stock to turn in about 20 years. :)

Don't give up Don....think "creative"....an accent piece on both pieces to match would be a really nice touch......

[Kevin Gerstenecker]

Don, that really is a shame.............that is beautiful wood. I think you should try to get some CA or Epoxy on the crack ASAP, and do what you can to save the Bowl. I would imagine that the Myrtle was kiln dried, or air dried until it had achieved a very low moisture content. I am at a loss then for why it cracked, unless it does indeed have something to do with the low humidity you are experiencing now. I have had a few things crack on the rim like this, and I have either turned the crack away, or glued it the best I could and continued on. I did have an Elm Bowl crack like that on me once..........so I turned the rim a little thinner so I could compress it easier, then worked some CA glue into the cracks, and clamped it tight with a Band Clamp. I used waxed paper to keep the CA squeeze out from bonding the strap of the clamp to the wood. I had to work pretty fast, and had another set of hands to help me, but it worked like a charm. That may be an idea for you to try. Hopefully, someone else may be able to shed some light on why this happened, and have some ideas for a remedy. That almost makes me ill to see that Curly Myrtle crack Don, I know how thrilled you were with that wonderful wood. All is not lost Don...........use your imagination to make the best of the situation...........I know you will come up with something Don..............I have faith in ya! :)

[Jim Becker]

"Sometimes you bite the bear....sometimes the bear bites you."

I'm with some of the others...CA and continue turning. That was probably a crack waiting to happen. Even if you choose to trim it off...CA it (I like that..."CA" as a verb... :D ) first to stabilize things. Consider it an opportunity to "design on the fly"... :rolleyes:

[Tom Sweeney]

Sorry about the bad luck. Would it help any if the rest of us posted pics of all the blow ups, inoportune cracks, etc.. that we've had :rolleyes:

I don't know for sure but I've heard that if the wood comes from a certain part of the tree, or even if the tree was wind blown severly that once you turn it the stresses are relieved and can cause these types of problems.
I'm with the others - keep turnin & CA it!

Good Luck!

[Don Farr]

Thanks everyone, Although I was very frustrated last night, believe me when I say I had my tongue firmly planted in my cheek when I did the post. Plus I had a couple of liquid pain/frustration killers (after shop work of course).
That piece of wood was not meant to be what I intended. Maybe it wants to be a bowl or if it continues to crack, it may want to be two small bowls, HECK! it may want to be firewood.
I get frustrated but I never quit. My dad always said "Son, never say can't, because can't, can't do anything"

I am certainly not an expert on different woods, but that Myrtle seems harder to me than the oak that I have turned. I have to stop every couple of minutes and resharpen my gouge. I have a better gouge on order from Craft supplies, so I am going to hold off until it arrives. A new tool can't hurt, right?

[Fred Voorhees]

Tough break! I'm no expert in turning yet, but I would think it a shame to deny yourself of finishing this particular item. Call it fate and rise above it and snub your nose at fate itself.

Fred

[Gene Collison]

I do not understand why this rim cracked on me. I have been going very slow and the wood seemed to be very dry. Between turnings I have put a bag over it with shavings in it. I have done everything that I was told to do and it still cracked.
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would let the crack be a crack. Like a knot is a knot, so be it, it's natural and wood does crack. The crack has releved internal stresses. Any attempt at fixing it will almost for sure look worse. Just go ahead and finish it like it isn't there.

Gene

[Wolf Kiessling]

I do not understand why this rim cracked on me. I have been going very slow and the wood seemed to be very dry. Between turnings I have put a bag over it with shavings in it. I have done everything that I was told to do and it still cracked.
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don, I would absolutely not sweat that crack. Actually, I could care less if one of my bowls cracks during or after the turning process. What you might do is set it aside and see if the crack will close on it's own. If it does, fine. Another option, and the one I usually exercise, is to fill the crack with epoxy and a contrasting inlace mix. If the crack is very thin, I sometimes enlarge it and sometimes even shape it. This gives you a chance to practice a little creativity. Another option, do what I did on my shattered rim big leaf maple pot, give the rim a free form shape. You might even like it better than a nice, straight rim. Good luck in whatever you try...

Wolf

[Kent Cori]

Don,

It was not the Lord who was involved in the heinous crime against humanity (or at least you), it was his competition. :p