A little walnut help please

[Brian Brown]

I turned my first walnut log this weekend, and tried to make some natural edge bowls. For the most part, green walnut turns "like buttah". The problem I have is under the bark, between the bark and the sap wood, there is a layer of very fiberous stuff of unknown name. Rather than cutting cleanly like the wood, it seems to pull out or just get bent over, and the bowl is then wider here than in other areas. So far, I have only rough turned the bowls, but I am worried about how this will work for the final turning. I was working with freshly sharpened tools. I tries CA Glue to stabalize it. The glue seemed to wick into the fibers very well, but when I tried to turn some more after the CA dried, the glue hadn't really penetrated the fiber very far.

When the wood is dry, does this stuff cut better (cleaner), and if not how do you deal with it. I am worried that if it just gets pulled out, the bark will fall off. Sorry I have no picture. When I pulled it out of the DNA a few minutes ago, everything was so dark that you can't see the problem. After some of the DNA evaporates and the wood starts to lighten, I'll try to get a pic.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Brian

[Bob Hallowell]

Brian,

Don't worry once dry it will cut much cleaner. The walnut ne I just posted under the "first bowl of frankie" did the same thing till it's dna bath and 3 weeks of drying.

Bob

[Bernie Weishapl]

Bob hit the nail on the head. Also if you do find soft spots after drying saturate it with CA and then finish turning. I just did the same as Bob did except my was mesquite.

[William Bachtel]

I turn all Natural Edge bowls green from start to finish

[Brian Brown]

William,

I would like to have done this but the problem I am having stopped me for fear of losing the bark. How do you cut this fiber stuff when it is green?

Brian

[Curt Fuller]

Sometimes it helps to give that inner bark layer a dose of thin CA. Let it get hard and it will usually cut a little cleaner and also help the bark stay on. But when you do it hold the bowl sort of upside down so the CA won't run into the wood. It sometimes leeches out the pigment from the bark and stains the wood.

[joe greiner]

I'll probably remember the name of that thin layer in a few hours.

I usually load it with thin CA, like Curt says, but on the lathe; wipe the wood with a paper towel before it sets; turn until I get just past the CA'ed part; load with more CA, and repeat the cycle until done. If any paper towel sticks to the wood, sanding takes it off.

Joe

[joe greiner]

OK. A little more than a few hours. Cambium. :o

Joe

[Pat Salter]

it is usually taught that when you do a bowl you cut from the bottom to the top. this creates problems with doing NE bowl. cutting in that direction has a tendancy to lift the bark. the area where the bark is needs to be cut from the top down. this causes a little more tearout that you have to sand away but it saves the bark. I'm not sure if this helps with your problem. just something to remember.

[keith zimmerman]

I've had the same issue when turning walnut NE. I found that if I use a lot of thin CA, literally soaking the cambium and bark, I don't have problems. I also don't use accelerator when doing this because the foaming that occurs is really hard to remove from bark.

keith

[Nathan Hawkes]

Where's a good source for large bottles of thin CA glue?

[William Bachtel]

If you want the bark to stay on, you have to cut the tree when the sap in down ( in the winter) or there will be to much water in it, and it will fall off. Some wood carrys less water at the stump, like locust, Ash, Osage Orange, these are good to turn N.E., some carry more water on the stump, like Willow, Elm, they never make a very good natural edge bowl. I believe you also have to have experience, and good tool control. Practice you will get better. Like I said earlier, I turn all Natural Edge bowls green from start to finish, and I cut only in the winter for them, I have never had bark fall off, but your tools most be sharper than sharp for that soft edge, and take small bites, hope this helps.

[Tom Keen]

I find walnut a pain to work with..but it sure is pretty when it turns out right. Best results come if its allowed to dry for a very long time..the drier the better.

On NE bowls I follow the advise already given. For me, NE bowls are more difficult than conventional bowls. I turn them green. Green bowls start warping almost immediately so I shape and finish sand the outside of the bowl first and put a coat or two of CA on the bark. On the inside, I start at the rim of the bowl at about twice the final thickness, taking my cuts down until I get to solid wood. Then with a small gouge I make the final cuts and get the rim of the bowl to its final thickness. I have it in my head that doing the rim before I hollow out the middle gives the piece stability. If the inside bark seems loose i use more CA. I hollow out the rest of the bowl and if Im really lucky everything stays intact.
Best,
Tom

[Brodie Brickey]

http://woodenwonderstx.com/WWBlue/NewGlueWS.html

Monty is probably your best option. I don't have any financial responsibilities here, just a very happy customer.

[Mike Vickery]

Where's a good source for large bottles of thin CA glue?
best prices I have found is
http://woodenwonderstx.com/WWBlue/NewGlueWS.html

[Ron Chamberlin]

This is interesting. I just scored a small pile of walnut branches with the bark still on, relatively green, and am looking forward to trying some NE bowls.

[Scott duprat]

Cambium - the tree must be dormant for the cambium to be minimal (winter), thus the bark sticks to the wood...the tree must be harvested in the winter. This is the "natural way" -the CA method is hit or miss.