cutting up logs for the lathe?

[Brian Knop]

I have some cherry logs that I have sealed the ends of and will try to cut up this weekend. Wants some bowl planks and some smaller stuff. Do I need to cut out the pith?

Thanks Brian

[Jim Becker]

In most cases, it's best to eliminate the pith when you are making up your blanks...they will tend to be more stable that way. But do be sure to reapply Anchorseal on them once you cut them out of the logs to make sure you reduce the chance of checking as they dry further.

Bill Grumbine has a nice pictorial on his site about cutting blanks out of logs that you may find useful, too.

[Wolf Kiessling]

I have some cherry logs that I have sealed the ends of and will try to cut up this weekend. Wants some bowl planks and some smaller stuff. Do I need to cut out the pith?

Thanks Brian

As Jim pointed out, for stability's sake, it's best to cut the pith out. The pith will almost certainly check if left in. I, however, usually don't cut the pith out on the smaller logs. That's because I don't care if it cracks, I like filling the checks and cracks with colored epoxy. If the log is pretty large, and I can get a pretty good size blank by removing the pith, then I do remove it. Otherwise, I just let mother nature take it's course. I normally turn natural edge bowls and find that the faults in the wood add a lot of interest and character. They also sell better, IMHO, than the non-flawed bowls. However, if you are turning functional bowls, which I never do, that probably wouldn't work.

Wolf

[Jim Becker]

Wolf brings up a good point...sometimes you actually "want" the pith for special effect, etc. On smaller logs that are going to be turned in end-grain orientation for vessels, the pith would normally stay in and if you can get the wall thickness even throughout the entire piece, including the bottom, you often can get away with it without splitting. Species will affect that ability, however. A beech vessel I made split badly after I hollowed it--beech does that. Those splits have closed back up over time and I may try remounting the rough vessel and finishing it off, even if it ends up as a painted piece.

But generally speaking, bowl blanks for faceplate orientation are usually best without the pith coming to the party!

[Brian Knop]

I have only sealed up the end grain. Is that all that needs sealing?

Brian

[Jim Becker]

I have only sealed up the end grain. Is that all that needs sealing?

While it's absolutely necessary to seal the end grain, I tend to seal the whole things with the Anchorseal. That way, the blank stays a little greener over time and is easier to cut. You also expose a lot of wood when you chop a lot up into blanks, especially with a chain saw...some of those surfaces might have more "end grain" than you think they do. The sealer goes a long way and in the end, it's not raising your cost all that much to coat the whole thing before putting it on the shelf.

IMHO, of course...and you know how much that cost you!

[Wolf Kiessling]

If you have wood that you are REALLY interested in preserving, it's just about mandantory to follow Jim's advice. That is, seal the entire piece. I had a nice load of aspen a few years ago where I only sealed the ends. I sealed them really good as they were cut into fairly small pieces and I couldn't afford any end splitting at all. I used paraffin and put it on pretty thick which made me fairly confident I left not even pin holes. I ended up losing about 80 percent of that load. :mad:

Forewarned is forearmed

Wolf

[Brian Knop]

Thanks for all the good information!

Brian