Salt cellar from green wood

[Stevan Hopkins]

Hi all. I bought some 4x4x8 wax coated Norfolk Pine bowl blanks intending to cut them into 4 pcs and turn them into salt cellars with a pivot top on a magnet. I have done this before with dry wood. The blanks I have are about 30% moisture, too wet to finish turn. Any suggestions on how to either, dry the blanks or rough turn them wet, dry, then finish turn.
The part I am struggling with is if I were rough turn (rough turning would be larger than the finish product) part off the top, partially hollow out the bowl….once dry I have no issue with rechucking the base and finish turn…how do I deal with the top. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[David Gilbert]

When you rough turn the wood just put a tenon on both ends. Then cut off the lid with it's tenon. Hollow out the bottom and then let them both dry. My basement is about 50% relative humidity and 65 degrees. Under these conditions it takes only 2-3 months to come to equilibrium. You could speed the drying with a microwave but you will want to go slow.

Good luck!

[Stevan Hopkins]

When you rough turn the wood just put a tenon on both ends. Then cut off the lid with it's tenon. Hollow out the bottom and then let them both dry. My basement is about 50% relative humidity and 65 degrees. Under these conditions it takes only 2-3 months to come to equilibrium. You could speed the drying with a microwave but you will want to go slow.

Good luck!

Good advice, thank you

[John K Jordan]

The method Dave described is the method commonly used for making lidded boxes from eithe green or not-quite-dry wood, partially turning both the top and the bottom. Richard Raffan describes this plus other useful tips in his book on turning boxes, https://www.amazon.com/Turning-Boxes.../dp/1561587079 (When beginning I learned much from several of Raffan’s book including Turning Wood, and books from a couple of other authors.)

For those who don’t know, a good way to know when the two partially turned pieces are completely dry is to weigh them with a sensitive scale, record the weight, then periodically reweigh. When the weight quits dropping the pieces are dry and may be finish turned. I use digital kitchen scales for most moisture monitoring.

Another thing I always do with a box or box-like turnings even if the wood blank is completely dry: hollow the pieces “mostly” then let them sit for a while, at least overnight. This allows stresses in even dry wood to equalize and can result in a much better fit after final turning. I think I learned this from Raffan as well.

JKJ

[Dave Mount]

When I'm turning boxes from less than well seasoned wood that requires turning twice, but I don't want to sacrifice any of the blank for a tenon, I super glue a 2" square tenon on the base and top, rough turn, and then turn off the added tenon(s). Important to take the applied tenon off before drying, as it can cause stress on the blank if the rough turning is shrinking and the tenon is not. Even if it doesn't cause problems with the blank, you can't trust the glue joint after drying because of the differential shrinkage.

After the rough out has dried, repeat the process. Only trick there is truing the surface for the tenon after drying. I usually find a chuck that will hold it, regular jaws or cole jaws, sometimes with some shims to get the irregular shape secure. Another option is a stationary belt or disc sander.

I do this quite frequently, so I mass produce 2x2" (and 3x3" for larger work) tenon blocks and have a box of them in the shelf so they're ready when I need them.

When turning dense exotics in large sizes, turning twice is about the only option for boxes that require mating parts, as internal moisture moves so slowly it takes years to dry the whole blank (usually covered with wax). Even if you get it dry, it's likely the MC is not consistent throughout and it may move during turning. Thinning it out lets it really stabilize before final turning.

Best,

Dave