The heart of the wood bowl turning arsenal is the bowl gouge. The bowl gouge can be shaped and sharpened in different ways for different purposes. It’s common to have two exact bowl gouges ground to different cutting tips to serve different purposes. Bowl Gouges Start Here. If you are just getting started with bowl turning. You don’t have to make things complicated. Two simple bowl gouges will do the trick to get you started. A medium-sized 1/2″ Bowl Gouge is ideal to gouge to start with. The 1/2″ size is great for shaping and refining small to medium-sized bowls, as well as being great for ma. Segmented woodturning – is turning a workpiece composed of multiple glued together pieces. Many segmented turners enjoy the freedom that comes from assembling pieces together. This process allows them to combine different types of woods with contrasting colors to create striking patterns in the finished piece. Furthermore, segmented turners can create pieces larger than the size of the blanks they can purchase or cut from a log. In addition to the enjoyment and challenges of turning, segmented woodturners also enjoy the challenging aspects of creating designs, and building jigs and fixtures to. Best Resins in the Wood Turning Industry. Combine wood with Alumilite resins to produce a glossy custom blank ready for unlimited turning projects. Customize – Alumilite resins are easily dyed or pigmented. Vacuum or pressure casting is recommended for bubble-free results.  The manufacturer lists the cure time based on 72 degrees Fahrenheit. A temperature lower will take longer to cure, conversely a higher temperature will cure faster. For best results, curing should be done near 72 degrees Fahrenheit. We don't recommend anything lower than 60 or above Watch our video on How Long Do You Need To Keep Resin Castings in the Pressure Pot - Resin Casting Quick Tips. So exact moisture readings are not exactly what you are looking for. Download Article Explore this Article Steps. Did this article help you? This is the one method that I would NOT recommend. Edit turbing Article.

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Edit this Article. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. By using our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Cookie Settings. Learn why people trust wikiHow. Download Article Explore this Article parts. Tips and Warnings. Related Articles. Article Summary. Part 1 of Process the wood. Logs should be processed into lumber as soon as possible to prevent the ends from drying and the wood from rotting. While the ideal thickness for lumber is 1 inch 2.

If you are processing the wood yourself, make an effort to achieve uniform length and thickness. If you are unable to saw your own logs, find a sawmill to do the job for you. Seal the ends of the lumber.

The ends of lumber cure faster than the rest of the wood. To ensure that your wood cures evenly, it is best to seal the ends immediately after sawing the logs into lumber. You may coat each end of the wood in a commercial end sealer, paraffin wax, polyurethane shellac, or latex paint.

Build up a thick layer of the sealer of your choice to prevent moisture from escaping out of the ends. Determine its cure time. When air-drying your wood, the curing time is determined by a simple formula. Allow 1 year of drying time per 1 inch 2. This formula only provides a rough estimate. It does not account for all variables, such as the weather and the location of the woodpile.

Part 2 of Identify an ideal curing location. When you are air-drying your wood, the lumber is left outside, exposed to the elements, to cure. Choose a location that has a slight slope to prevent water from gathering below the lumber. Find a spot that is not covered in foliage—foliage will expose the bottom layer of lumber to moisture. Lumber stacked on asphalt or concrete cures faster. Prepare the foundation of the stack.

In order to cure properly, lumber must be stacked in a very specific manner. Begin by creating a secure base for your lumber: Lay out two rows of three evenly spaced concrete blocks. The rows should be the same length as the lumber.

Lay a bolster, a 4x4 piece of wood, across each set of two concrete blocks. Stack the wood and stickers. Place 5 to 6 pieces of evenly spaced wood on top of the bolsters. Each piece of lumber in a pile should be approximately the same length. Place one sticker across each set of ends. Place additional stickers every 18 to 24 inches Repeat the process, stacking the successive layers of lumber and stickers in exactly the same locations as the previous layer, until all of the lumber is in the pile.

Create a weighted roof. A weighted roof covers the lumber to protect it from rain and snow. To make the weighted roof, do the following: Retrieve several 4x6 inch timbers that are 6 to 8 inches Place one timber across each end of the pile. Place the remaining timbers evenly down the length of the pile.

Retrieve a sheet of metal that is 3 to 4 inches 7. Place the metal sheet on top of the timbers. Place cement blocks on top of the metal sheet to keep the roof in place.

Place the cement blocks in direct alignment with the stickers. Part 3 of The quality of your Curing Wood For Turning Link cured lumber is dependent upon the drying rate. To ensure that your wood is curing at an appropriate rate, you should monitor the moisture content of the lumber every 1 to 3 days.

You can evaluate moisture content with an electronic meter. Use your readings to determine the target moisture content for your lumber. Search for drying defects. When wood cures too quickly or too slow, the makeup of the lumber is altered. If your lumber is drying too quickly, you may notice checking, or lengthwise cracks in the fibers of the lumber, splitting, honeycombing, or warping.

If your lumber is drying too slowly, you may notice stains or areas of decay. Make any necessary adjustments. If your wood is not curing at an appropriate rate, you should alter the structure of your wood pile. I have had problems with cracks regardless of what process I use when the vessel is too thick. Occasionally I do have problems where the vessel is cannot be turned again, due to the wood moving enough that the wall thickness is not enough.

Now it is time to dry the turnings so that they will be stabilized and ready for final turning. I use 3 different processes, boiling, bagging, and sealing.

Why not just 1? If you could see me right now, you would see me shrug my shoulders. Boiling longer will not harm things. You must be careful to not have the turning jam in the pot and act like a steam pot lid.

If it does, it could explode. This would not be good. Do NOT do the boiling in the kitchen with a pot that you would like to continue using for something other than boiling wood. The pot will not be usable for anything other than boiling wood. John Brugo use to boil our turnings in an old water heater tank outside. So you need a good heat source and a large pot. Turkey boilers, crab pot cookers, etc make great sources for heat.

The vessels need to be completely under water, or at least such that they would be covered if the vessels touched the bottom.

If you boil for an extended period of time, you may need to add water. You would not want to have any more water than required to minimize costs. Once done boiling, allow the vessels to cool in the tank overnight. Do not remove from the water till the water has reached the air temperature.

If you remove them too quickly, the pieces will crack. Sad to waste this much time to have this happen. Set the vessels out and allow them to dry. There will be some surface dis-colorization, but it does not go very deep, and turns off when you do the final turning. In summary, the cons are that this is relatively expensive to get set up and a fair amount of work for one or two vessels.

This process is something that takes constant supervision. After rough turning, I will place the vessel in a brown paper bag. If the humidity is low, I will use two or three bags for the first couple of weeks, and then reduce to 2 bags for a week, and then finally 1 bag. If the wood is very wet, you will need to change the bags every day till the bags are not wet the next day.

I keep these bagged vessels on the floor of the shop, with no air flow. After a couple of months, I will move the vessels onto a rack to allow them to finish drying. These vessels can take 6 months to 2 years to dry, depending upon the type of wood. Walnut usually dries in 3 to 4 months. Maple has been closer to 6 months.

Do not use plastic bags. This does limit the drying, but it does create an environment that is likely to cause the wood to rot. Rather than just leaving them out of bag completely, this is a way to continue to control the drying not accelerating, but slowing.

The cons of this process are that it takes lots of attention, and does not dry things quickly. If you accelerate the drying time, you will increase the probability of cracks. The pros are that it is cheap. A great recycle of bags from the grocery store. After rough turning, I put a single coat of anchor seal on the outside of the vessel. Then set the vessel aside in an area with little or no air flow. After a month or two, I will stack them on a rack where they can continue to dry.

If the wood is a variety that tends to have significant movement, I will put two coats on the outside, and one on the inside. This slows the drying significantly. This process can be combined with bagging when I feel like it. The cons of this are that it can cause it to take forever to dry. I have some Walnut that is 18 months old now, and still wet. The pros are that I really only have to deal with it a couple of times, so it takes the least amount of my attention.

Jim also likes it because I use more Anchor Seal. But good meters can be expensive, and to get accurate readings you need to poke holes in the wood. In addition, dry is a relative thing. Dry in Phoenix and dry in Hawaii are radically different. It all has to do with the moisture content of the air. If the moisture level varies radically over the year, the wood will swell and shrink over the year.

So exact moisture readings are not exactly what you are looking for. Might make us geeks feel good, but not particularly meaningful. I use a very simple method, an electronic fish scale with a net basket. I weigh the wood, and when it stops losing weight, it has reached equilibrium with the air.

After rough turning a piece, I weigh the piece and mark it. My marking includes the date weighed and the weight. It is that simple. All we are trying to measure is that it has stopped losing weight, not how much it weighs.

The list of methods to dry wood is endless, and it seems that I hear about a new method every couple of months. Some I really have to what in the world made you try that? In any case, here is a list of a few more methods that you might hear about or want to try:. This is something that is being done commercially in Europe, and some here in the US.

It involves using a combination of heat and vacuum to dry wood. We have some local people that are using this to finish drying dry wood.

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