Wet Turning Blank Questions

[Dennis McDonaugh]

I found some newly cut pecan sitting by the curb this morning and grabbed a few pieces 10-14" thick and two feet long. Is this good wood for turning? And if it is, how should you orient it for bowl turning?

[Richard Allen]

I like Pecan for turning. Most of the pecan I have turned has a hig silica content which dulled my tool fast. Most bowls made in the USA are turned from the side of the tree. A natural edge or wane edge bowl is turned so the bottom of the bowl is near the pith and the rim of the bowl is the bark. The largest bowl is often fround by turning with the foot of the bowl comeing from the wood nearest the bark and parts of the rim being close to the pith.

An endgrain bowl is turned with the grain running up and down through the bowl.

Good luck

[Mark Stutz]

Richard,
I'm geting ready to try my hand at cutting up some blanks for the first time. I have some "rounds" about a foot thick. Can the blank be orinted radially? I'm don't know haw to post drawings, so if this is not clear, I'll try a better description. Thanks.

Mark

[Richard Allen]

Hi Mark

That would give you an end grain bowl. There is nothing wrong with an endgrain bowl. I find it takes different techniques than taking the bowl out of the side of a log. I don't do many endgrain bowls so my experience is more anecdotical than factually. This is to say that if someone else were to provide different advice I would give there sugestions more consideration than mine.

Cuts should be made towards supporting wood. On the outside the cuts are from the largest diameter to the smallest diameter. On the inside the cuts need to be from the smallest diameter to the largest diameter. There are tools that let you do this. Ring tools and hook tools work well cutting endgrain this way. Just as it take a while to consistently get good cuts with a bowl gouge it takes a while to get consistently good cuts with a ring tool or a hook tool. Those tools work differently than a bowl gouge and finding the proper way to use the tool can be frustrating. Sharpening is also a challenge as there are no jigs for sharpening hook tools or ring tools. Many woodturners will use a diamond hone to keep a ring tool or hook tool sharp.

You can use scrapers and live with the torn endgrain. A well sharpened scraper with a light touch can give a good surface. Not as good as a sharp ring tool that is properly presented to the wood.

Green wood is a LOT more forgiving of less than perfect technique than dry wood. It is usually a good idea to exclude the pith from turning a bowl. Sometimes you can include the pith if the wood is very green and is turned very thin around the pith so that wood can move instead of crack.

I would likely turn the bowls as depicted in the drawing instead of endgrain. I would also turn the bowls thick (1" for every 10" of diameter with a minimum of 1" of thickness), coat then with anchorseal and wait 6 months to a year before finish turning.

Thanks

[Mark Stutz]

Richard,
Thanks for all the info! I'm clearly not ready for an end grain bowl yet!!! The piece I have is half of a 4' diameter piece. It's a foot thick. What I'm envisioning would orient the long grain the same way, but only "quarter sawn" instead of "flat sawn". I'll try to post a PIC later tonite. Thanks.

Mark

[Dennis Peacock]

Richard,
Thanks for all the info! I'm clearly not ready for an end grain bowl yet!!! The piece I have is half of a 4' diameter piece. It's a foot thick. What I'm envisioning would orient the long grain the same way, but only "quarter sawn" instead of "flat sawn". I'll try to post a PIC later tonite. Thanks.

Mark

Mark,

End grain turning is a real challenge. Depending on the grain structure, tool control can get tricky at times and getting and keeping good smooth tool handling takes real concentration. Now...I'm just speaking as one who has turned a few end grain bowls and they are more difficult to turn that standard bowl turning with the end grain to the outside of the bowl blank. Keep your tools sharp and keep your cuts slow and light at first and then start making heavier cuts. I really have to concentrate on end grain turning or I will rip through the grain and really have a mess on my hands. :rolleyes:

[Jim Becker]

I'm clearly not ready for an end grain bowl yet!!!
When you are ready to try, consider that endgrain bowls and vessels are often best hollowed with different tools and techniqes than faceplate-oriented bowls. I don't necessarily consider it "harder" to work with endgrain...just different!

[Richard Allen]

Hi Mark

I misundersood. You can of course make a bowl from a quartersawn slab. The part nearer the pith will warp differently than the part nearer the bark. You can still get a very nice bowl out of it but the diferintal warping could be a problem. The grain patern might be interesting though.

Mostly I would say that you learn a LOT more by trying a few things than by wondering.. Sounds like a you have a nice size hunk of wood to turn.

[Mark Stutz]

Thanks to all for the helpful information. I have two pieces, so I'll cut one each way. Will let you know how it turns out. I hadn't thought about the differential warping.
Do you coat the entire rough turned bowl or just the end grain?

Mark

[W.C. Turner]

Thanks to all for the helpful information. I have two pieces, so I'll cut one each way. Will let you know how it turns out. I hadn't thought about the differential warping.
Do you coat the entire rough turned bowl or just the end grain?

Mark

Coat all of it.

[Glenn Hodges]

When pecan is dry is a very hard wood. This is a picture of a 30 inch wide roughed out pecan bowl. It is now drying, and fortunately it does not have any cracks.