preparing wood for woodturning

[chris hennelly]

.....whats a good way to prep. wood for turning later in the year?

Leave it in the round or cut a blank and cover with sawdust in a box?

Going to have more time over winter.....cheers!

[Will Heal]

I'm sure an old boy told me once to boil the piece of wood in water, only good for small bits. Or am I talking rubbish?

 

 

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[se7enthdevil]

people do boil their wood but i don't know how to do it or how effective it is. could be worth looking in to though.

 

 

if you are talking about wanting to turn dry wood later in the year then rough turn it to about 1" and leave it for 6 months.

 

most woods will need the endgrain sealing once roughed out with a coat of pva to stop it drying too fast.

 

 

what timber do you have?

[woodyguy]

Depends what you mean by turning?

If you are cutting a bowl blank then you need to cut it now not dry it first. Look on line how to cut it to exclude the heart of the wood, otherwise it will crack. You can then as seven says, rough turn it, or dry it first. If you plan to turn a full branch/trunk, then coat the ends with old paint and let it dry for a few years first.

[Green man]

The best method I know is quite simple and very effective.

Collect the old stubs of candles and chuck them into an old saucepan. melt it slowly over heat and paint the ends of the timber with the wax. It slows down the drying process considerably and prevents most of the cracking you'd expect with plain old air drying.

[se7enthdevil]

useful for square blanks but can take years to fully season.

 

roughing a blank out drastically reduces the amount of time it takes to do this. i turned a cherry urn 6" in diameter and took out the middle and it has take only 4 months to dry. if i had done it the end sealing way it would have taken years.

 

 

if time is on my side i do use wax on square bowl blanks.

[Green man]

Have you tried roughing the blanks then end sealing? I've found that works well too.

[se7enthdevil]

for the larger bowls yes i do that.

 

turn down to 1"-1 1/4" thick then seal most of the endgrain

 

some don't need it in my opinion and if they are small enough too they are less likely to split.