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Thread: Possible to leave pith?

  1. #1

    Possible to leave pith?

    I always made sure to eliminate the pith in any of my turnings usually at the expense of wasting wood. But lately I've noticed some on YouTube incorporating that into their work. I just attempted to make a box from a walnut branch, which left the pith at both the bottom and top. Of course the pith had severe cracks but they were filled with epoxy and seemed to look fine. Is this approach OK or just foolish?

  2. #2
    I have made 3 large hollow forms using this technique with 2 successful and the other one just starting the drying process. Both times it worked as planned with the waste block cracking but the crack not transferring to the form.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Mathews View Post
    I always made sure to eliminate the pith in any of my turnings usually at the expense of wasting wood. But lately I've noticed some on YouTube incorporating that into their work. I just attempted to make a box from a walnut branch, which left the pith at both the bottom and top. Of course the pith had severe cracks but they were filled with epoxy and seemed to look fine. Is this approach OK or just foolish?
    Many people use this method. Some even cut out the pith in the bottom and glue in a plug. Some pros who make hollow forms with very tiny openings use this method to hollow.

    JKJ

  4. #4
    Wow! This opens up some interesting possibilities and new uses for the scarce wood we have here. I wanted to use a glued plug but thought it was bad form. Now I'm thinking of using one of my larger walnut logs for a larger hollow form and gluing an entire base to it of contrasting wood. The glue up might be tricky though.

  5. #5
    I have transitioned from avoiding the pith completely to occasionally including the pith (some with pith in the bottom and some hollow forms with pith in the side). Pith in the side of hollow forms has worked pretty well for me when the piece is turned thin enough to warp even with difficult woods like dogwood. Pith in the bottom of hollow forms has proved more difficult to master for me (requires careful drying).
    _______________________________________
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  6. I turn many of my hollow forms (most of them end grain) with the pith in, with a good success rate for non-cracking. When I turn in one session to a finished form, I try and make sure that the drying process is done very slowly over a couple of weeks. When I do twice turned pieces I coat all of the exterior surface, including the waste block, with anchorseal before proceeding with drying over many months.

  7. #7
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    I like turning bowls, lidded boxes and so on with the pith in them. I fill the cracks with CA and sawdust, epoxy or what have you. A little over a year ago the edge of a hurricane gave us a pretty good blow here in the Tampa Bay area. A neighbors dying loguat tree blew over and I grabbed the trunk wood and squared it up on the bandsaw. It was a smallish tree so I left the pith in the pieces thinking they would make nice lidded boxes from an unusual wood. Coated the ends and put the pieces up high on a shelf in the barn where wood dries slowly and almost never cracks. Six months or so later pulled them off the shelf to see how they were doing.

    (Loquat 1.jpg

  8. #8
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    And perhaps make a contrasting base and rim of the same contrasting (or complementary) wood for visual balance.

    As for hollowing, Mark Gardner shapes the outside, cuts the piece in half somewhere in the middle, hollows each half, turns an tenon and recess to rejoin, then glues the piece back together. He often carves, textures, and colors which makes the join invisible.

    JKJ

  9. #9
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    To get a good fit on the lid, you need stable wood. Wood around the pith moves a lot and will likely go oval. That makes a lid that may fit poorly and will certainly require proper orientation to fit at all.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Richard Coers View Post
    To get a good fit on the lid, you need stable wood. Wood around the pith moves a lot and will likely go oval. That makes a lid that may fit poorly and will certainly require proper orientation to fit at all.
    I believe if you center your piece around the pith it will shrink symmetrically and stay circular. If the pith is not centered, then you can get ovals. And end grain boxes are less oval than side grain.

  11. #11
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    If you fit a plug don't fit tell dried as it will not shrink at the same rate and will crack .

  12. #12
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    I only turn Hollow Forms and I only turn face grain. I think the pith and grain/figure associated with the pith yields a much more interesting vessel. Definitely adds more challenges, but think it is worth it.

  13. #13
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    I've turned many bowls and vases twice turned with mostly sucesses. Cure between turnings with care--use a lotta end sealer and time.

  14. #14
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    Steve, like Robert above here says, turn green wood without splits and dry it carefully, I’ve always done it that way, and have no problems with it working that way.

    However I you feel the box is stable and won’t move anymore, than you could do as I have with these boxes (they had no splits) for a more interesting look than split wood has.

    Bone, spalted Oak and figured Maple are here used to add to the overall look.

    Spalted Birch box.jpg box with inlay.jpg Black Cherry box.jpg
    Have fun and take care

  15. Leo, those are beautiful boxes. Would you mind telling me the respective dimensions?

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