best practices for making blanks with green wood

[Ollie McDottie]

Hello turners!

I'm pretty new to turning and just got my hands on a whole lot of green jacaranda. I'd like to use it to advance my turning skill.

Wondering though how to best cut turning blanks from it without destroying my carbide bandsaw blade? Do you all have any recommendations for this? Is there a best way to clean the gummed up residue from the green wood? Should I have a spare old blade for this kind of thing?

Any insights for this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Don Frank]

I have not had a problem cutting green wood on my saw but I don't cut a lot of gummy wood like pine etc. Get a rattle can of Stihl hedge trimmer cleaner. It's a solvent that does a great job of cleaning up any build up you get on saw blades etc. It is easiest if you simply take the blade off instead of trying to do it on the saw. It will quickly remove any gunk.

[Reed Gray]

Well, I have never had any jacaranda, so can't advise about it in particular. My Pacific Madrone is one that really gums up the bandsaw blades. I take a flat blade screw driver to it, and spin the wheel by hand. I have heard a product called the slick stick from Ken Rizza of Woodturner's Wonders does a good job. I tried Pam/veg spray, WD40, and a few other things and maybe a few others. Most don't seem to prevent build up from some woods. Some times you just have to take them off and soak them in oven cleaner. I generally will scrape off the rubber tires on my wheels also.

As for bandsaw blades, my local source and maker told me that the carbide blades are for cutting veneers. You should look into bimetal blades. The brand I use is Lennox Diemaster Bimetal blade. The teeth are M42 high speed steel, which is what the pallet cutting blades are made from, though a different type of tooth shape. They will go through just about anything, including nails, without ruining them.

I do have a bunch of videos up on You Tube, mostly about bowl turning, and do have one or three up about cutting blanks.

robo hippy

[Ollie McDottie]

Thank you broth for your excellent suggestions.

Reed — didn’t know you were Robo Hippy on YouTube. I have indeed watched your videos many times. And just subscribed to your channel there. Thank so so much for making these excellent works. Been a long time fan. Grateful to be able to connect with you directly here. I’ve learned a lot from you.

[Ollie McDottie]

Well, I have never had any jacaranda, so can't advise about it in particular. My Pacific Madrone is one that really gums up the bandsaw blades. I take a flat blade screw driver to it, and spin the wheel by hand. I have heard a product called the slick stick from Ken Rizza of Woodturner's Wonders does a good job. I tried Pam/veg spray, WD40, and a few other things and maybe a few others. Most don't seem to prevent build up from some woods. Some times you just have to take them off and soak them in oven cleaner. I generally will scrape off the rubber tires on my wheels also.

As for bandsaw blades, my local source and maker told me that the carbide blades are for cutting veneers. You should look into bimetal blades. The brand I use is Lennox Diemaster Bimetal blade. The teeth are M42 high speed steel, which is what the pallet cutting blades are made from, though a different type of tooth shape. They will go through just about anything, including nails, without ruining them.

I do have a bunch of videos up on You Tube, mostly about bowl turning, and do have one or three up about cutting blanks.

robo hippy

Wondering if you have any robo rests still available?

[Reed Gray]

All of them have been sold. I sent all parts, pieces, jigs, and schematics to some one who said 'some time after the end of the first quarter of this year'. Can't tell you who, yet... Both grinder platforms and bowl rests.

robo hippy

[Ollie McDottie]

Would it be too much to ask for you too keep me apprised of who whenever you’re able to do so. It seems like an ingenious device and I would love to add it to my shop.

Also, just read your excellent article of CBN wheels. Buying a pair of them right away. 80 and 180 grits per your suggestion for my jet slow speed. After these years of reconsideration, do your recommendations still hold? And if so, who would direct me to buy these?

[Reed Gray]

I will at least post an update on the rests on my web site. Not sure what the moderators would think about me posting it other than a review.

As for CBN wheels, I do have one 80 grit that I still use from time to time, but if you are getting 2, then I would go for a 180 grit and a 600 grit. The 180 gives me an excellent burr for my scrapers, and will provide a fine edge for about 90% of the cutting you do. I like the 600 for very fine finish cuts on softer punky woods. The 600 grit edge does not seem to hold up as well for heavy roughing cuts. I recently was turning some very punky silver maple. I had to take the 600 grit edge and hone the burr off on my Tormek to get the best surface. That is very rare for me to turn some thing that soft..

robo hippy

[Brice Rogers]

I picked up about a dozen Jacaranda rounds and found them to be easy to cut green and I don't recall any issues with gumming up my BS blade (a cheap one). My own experience with Jacaranda is that it is light weight and easy to turn. Also, I don't think that a single one of the dozen rounds cracked (except for my experiment) or badly warped. In fact, as an experiment I turned one 6" bowl (single turn to finish) and made the wall thickness around 1/16 " by the rim and then set it in the sun. I think that I got one small crack on the rim that was easily filed. The only thing that I noticed was the nearly white wood would turn a little orange 5 minutes after I turned it. But after it dried it easily sanded off. The wood IS quite porous though. So be careful if you are dying it or painting one side, as it will likely bleed through more than you are expecting.