Possible to leave pith?

[Jon McElwain]

My wife and I were visiting the Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia a few years back. We stopped in one of their fancy galleries during the course of our outings, and I was admiring some of their wooden vases. I was looking at one vase in particular (probably 24" tall and 18" dia.), noting that it was turned with the pith running vertically through the center. The curator came over and started giving me some line about how I deserved to treat myself to the vase, how I may never have another chance to buy it, and I should just go for it. The price tag was $9,000 - like I had an extra $9k to drop on a piece that I could make at home from a piece of firewood. So, I told her that it was cracked on the bottom. She was put off and seemed offended (I could hear her thinking, "we would never sell something that was cracked"), but when I told her to check it out, she grabbed her white gloves and tipped the vase over to look. Sure enough, 3-4 cracks, one about 2" long, were running out from the pith. When she asked me how I knew it was cracked, I just smiled and walked out. I'm sure they went back through the security footage as soon as I left...


I've turned a number of bowls, vessels, and hollow forms with the pith in them. The big thing is that you have to expect and plan for some cracking and warping. I've been able to avoid cracking some of the time, but I've never completely avoided warping. I probably could if I was more patient with waiting for it to dry, or if I used the twice-turned method. But is seems like no matter how long I dry the wood, when it gets down to the last few cuts, it releases just enough moisture to warp a little.

19" Bowl with the pith just beyond the rim:
IMG_20140819_220528_386.jpg
Same bowl a few hours later. Not a great picture, but you can see just a little warp on the edge at the center of the heartwood, but no cracks:
IMG_20140829_193844_625.jpg
The two little pots have pith running parallel to the ground. They both warped and are now a little oval shaped, but since they were turned fairly thin, they didn't crack. The light colored one has the pith running vertically. It did crack on the bottom, but not on the inside. There was also some warp to the foot, but I was able to sand it back flat. Again, not the best photo:
0522012001.jpg

Moral of the story: if some lady can sell a vase for $9k with a crack in it, I think it is worth it. My experience leads me to believe that with a little planning and care, the pith can add a lot of character and give you access to larger pieces if you are so inclined to turn them!

[John Sincerbeaux]

Kudos to the woodturner who has a piece in a high-end gallery. Secondly, who has a price point at $9k.

Back to the thread.... I view my vessels as a race from the start. Everything I do gets twice turned, boiled, and slowly dried for at least a year. When, I turn to final thickness, I dont get any further movement because it is dry dry dry.

Below, I wrap the outside to prevent rapid moisture loss to the surface. It stays wrapped through the hollowing process till I boil it.
22D161A6-F41B-4696-B16C-65F4761E45C1.jpg