It is also available in some best green wood for turning vision supply stores as well. All kinds of stresses will inevitable build up inside the wood until it splits open. The situation is much worse in the tropical rain forests where millions of "non-commercial" bezt of trees are cut and wasted just to provide access to the loggers. Power Sanding is there any visikn kind? Remember also that the chain and bar can get very hot. So, very dry here. During this phase of roughing out, examine the wood carefully for any checks or cracking.

I have been asked many times how I painted the growth rings onto the sides of the bowl. The growth ring configuration of Pine is especially beautiful. The Fifth argument in favor of turning green wood and the one that adds a certain mystery to the process, some of that Hocus Pocus mentioned earlier, is just this: the final shape is largely undetermined. Once the piece has been turned and sanded and set aside to dry, wondrous changes take place.

This is usually a surprise. This adds a mystical quality to the work. These events are exciting, and give the bowl that magical quality. Most of the time a bowl elongates, but sometimes it will really change shape dramatically. I have had bowls almost close and others twist as severely as any pretzel, all without cracking. Paper Bags. Sycamore 12" X 16". The Sixth and final reason for turning green wood is perhaps one of the most important. Green wood is generally free. In Los Angeles, tree trimmers have to pay to dump their loads.

I allow them to dump their loads free at my studio. They grind up the leaves and small branches and sell that as mulch.

I just want the large branches and trunks as logs. Think about it. It is delivered already cut and free. The tree trimmers are happy because they do not have to pay a dump fee, and I am happy because I have a lot of bowl blanks. On this note I admit to being a bit greedy. However, you can pick pieces when they are cutting the tree down. Just call a tree trimmer in your area and find out when and where he will be cutting his next tree.

He will usually be happy to give you all that you can haul away, because the bottom line is that he does not want to pay to dump it. This gives you a safety net in case the logs start to check. The second benefit to you as a wood turner for using free green wood is a financial one. When you sell your work, you can do so at a reasonable price. Since the price of all work sold in galleries is doubled over the price you need to get, anything you pay for the wood is also doubled.

Now you spend time turning it and add more to the final selling price. It does not take to long before you have created an unsellable work. The price you pay for wood can truly have a negative affect on the salability of your work. An additional advantage is that it allows you to experiment without the burden of worrying about the cost of materials. When wood is free, you are more likely to take chances with new designs and techniques than when you have paid dearly for the wood.

This can really affect future sales, because experimentation, skill improvement and product development are essential Best Green Wood For Turning Emoji for personal growth, artistic renewal and marketability.

Now that we know why we turn green wood, we need to understand how to cut it and prepare it for turning. You really need two chain saws. Use a gas powered one for cutting trees down and cutting up fallen trees. Gas is necessary here because there are never any electric outlets around where you need them. You also need an electric chain saw to operate in your shop.

Firing up a gas chain saw in your shop is hard on your ears, and neighbors do not take kindly to that kind noise on a Sunday morning. It seems that I always want to turn a bowl on a Sunday morning. This will ensure that you get a clean end if the log checks.

The chain saw can be used to efficiently cut large logs into more manageable pieces. Before cutting into that log, examine it carefully for nails and staples, especially if it was cut down near the curb or in a back yard.

Garage sale ads are put on every tree lining a street, and play houses are built in back yard trees. Nails are not good for chain saws or band saws. Cutting branches or trunks to length is easy. It is the basic cross cutting technique. Where most beginners run into trouble is in cutting a log down the middle. It is the area of the log that is most likely to split, and therefore its removal helps prevent checking when the blank is going to be stored for an extended period of time.

The temptation is to set the log up on its end and start cutting down. This is the most difficult cut to make because you are cutting end grain the entire length of the log. These mills can cut logs into planks with reasonable efficiency. Standard off the shelf chain saws are not equipped with such chains. You will see dust for the most part.

For faster and easier cutting, lay the log down and cut parallel to the the length of the log. Notice the difference. Long shavings are produced, and faster cutting is achieved.

Make sure to prop up the log so it will not roll , and make sure that as you get close to cutting through, stop and turn the log over. Photo 5 Almost Completed Cut. Also make sure that you clean the long shavings out of the chip port of the chain, or they will build up and bind the chain. Either way, it is important that when you break through, you do not hit dirt or rocks or concrete.

Sharpening a dull chain is not difficult, but it is not as much fun as cutting free turning blanks. It is imperative to keep the chains sharp and well oiled. The fastest way to burn out a chain saw is to try cutting wood with a dull chain without oil. Remember also that the chain and bar can get very hot. Do not touch them immediately after cutting through a log. Even wet wood generates enough friction to heat up a chain and its bar.

Once you have cut the logs into more manageable pieces, the rest can be cut up on a band saw to meet your needs. I have done that often. It takes a little more diligence and time, but it can be done that way. However, having said that, once they are liftable, the final cutting on the band saw can save you a lot of time by cutting away unnecessary wood more accurately. Mark an outline on the blank with a compass or a disc, an old table saw blade works.

Reference A Circle. A Compass Will Work Too. This gives you some guide when you are cutting the blank. While not impossible, I would say that it is difficult. They are heavy. That is why I use a chain saw to make logs more manageable. Most of what you turn will fit into this dimensional range. It is most important when cutting wet or green wood with a band saw that the blade be a 3 or 4 Tooth Per Inch skip tooth blade.

A hooked tooth blade does not shed wet sawdust as well as a skip tooth, so build up on the blade becomes a problem, in fact downright dangerous. Remember to always allow the blade to do the cutting. Never force the wood into the blade; let it feed itself. If you have to force the wood into the blade to make it cut, it is time to change the blade or sharpen it.

A word here about selecting bowl blank locations in the log. I have found that it makes little difference whether I mount the face plate on the heartwood side of the blank or on the sapwood or new growth side of the blank.

At least it does not matter to me. The rocking foot can be cured quickly and efficiently with a belt sander. The oval shape to which a bowl dries makes a good story as to how you were able to turn the bowl that way. There is plenty of room here for distortions of the truth, and it can really be fun; some of that hocus pocus mentioned before.

Layout For 4 Natural Edged Bowls. That is where the brightest colors are located, and the subsequent movement during the drying process really adds mystery to the piece. Now that you have cut your turning blanks, it is probably a good idea to find a place where they can be stored until you have time to turn them.

The best location is on the side of a building that is constantly in the shade. If you do not have such a location, an open shed or a tarp will suffice. You want to minimize contact with direct sunlight as much as possible. It also helps to keep the area moist. There are several products you can use to help seal the ends of the turning blanks, as well as all surface areas.

A product called green wood sealer, which is a wax and oil emulsion, works really well. If you do not have access to this, old oil paints or canning wax work reasonably well. Whatever you do, do not wrap the blanks in plastic bags. This traps moisture in without allowing the wood to breathe, and sets up the perfect brewery for bacteria and fungi. If you are unlucky enough to open the bag a couple of weeks later, especially if the weather has been hot, I guarantee that you will never use plastic bags again.

The odor permeates the wood and it never goes away. There is one exception to this rule. If you live in the desert, using plastic bags for short periods of time is perhaps one of the only ways you can prevent checking. Now if you want the wood to spalt, ie have bacteria work wonderful color changes in the wood, set one end of the log on soil.

Different species react to different molds and the resulting colors are different. It usually takes a couple of months, but the wait is usually well worth it. If you forget that you have done this and leave the log too long the spalting process is also called dry rot , the end result will be dry rot and a useless piece of wood.

Leave the logs whole and work off one end. Keep the ends of the log sealed as described above. Cutting as you need to will extend the life of the log until you are ready to start turning, within reason, that is.

Weather conditions play a crucial role here. Hot dry conditions will cause logs to check more rapidly than wet or moist conditions. When cutting logs to length so that they are more manageable, make sure that you cut them at least 6 inches longer than the diameter. This is to ensure that if checking occurs, there is still enough wood left to utilize the full diameter of the log.

Now that we have our bowl blank cut Best Green Wood For Turning Down and ready for turning, it is time to mount it onto the lathe. There are many methods available to accomplish this.

The first is that there has to be a tenon turned for the jaws to grab onto. The size of this tenon is in proportion to the size of the bowl you want to turn. This requires turning the blank between centers first. Now depending on the size of the blank and the speed of your lathe, this can be done, however it is an extra step, and can be a bit intimidating because most spindle lathes run fast and have a short swing.

The other problem is that most green wood is fairly soft, and the tenon will most likely become severely crushed when the jaws are tightened. This is a safety limitation because a crushed tenon cannot hold the turning blank securely. The same limitations apply to expansion chucks. A fastening recess has to be turned or drilled into the bottom of the blank before it can be mounted on the chuck. The softness of green wood makes it susceptible to crushing when the jaws are expanded.

This crushing severely limits the holding effectiveness of the expansion chuck. Additionally, since most chucks have the same jaw set up, bowl bottoms are all the same, disproportional sizes for larger and smaller bowls. Fastening points should be in proportion to the size of the bowl. Screw chucks offer a viable alternative to the use of the above devices. Jerry Glaser manufactures a screw chuck as well as the finest wood turning gouges in the world , with a sharp threaded screw that bites into the wood holding it securely.

It also allows you to take the wood off the chuck, and put it back on, chasing the same threads. One requirement of this chuck is that the blank must have a flat surface so that the blank can snug up against the flanges of the chuck. Remember also that green wood is much weaker than dried wood, and the blank can pull out of the threads if aggressively turned.

The best and safest attachment device, at least in my opinion, is the face plate. Photo 11 Face Plate Attachment.

There should be at least 6 screw holes large enough to accommodate 10 screws. Most of mine are about 2. This allows the screws to apply pressure evenly against the wood, and prevents the work piece from wobbling on the face plate. It is not in the purview of this article to discuss in depth turning techniques. What we will discuss are the parameters required to successfully turn green wood.

Mount the bowl blank onto the lathe. I always slide the tailstock up against the bowl blank in the preliminary roughing steps. This gives more security and assures that when the hardest cuts are being made, the blank is trapped between the headstock and tailstocks.

Some of the prettiest turned objects are made from branches and small logs of Laburnum, yew or similar trees. These can be turned green or part seasoned.

If they are well sealed after turning, perhaps with three or four coats of sanding sealer, they will be O. It is worth trying the following home grown timbers. Using green or part seasoned wood from hedges, woodland, gardens etc for your woodturning projects. Stable Wood Does not exist! Seasoned wood 4" thick or more is virtually unobtainable The reason is purely economic.

It takes many years to fully air dry a 4" plank of wood or several expensive weeks in a kiln. The high wastage and the cost of the overheads are so high that most sawmills are reluctant to cut anything thicker than 2" for stock.

Thicker timber is available but it is usually sold as "part seasoned" before it has a chance to dry fully. It is a sad fact that many sawmills, even reputable ones, will sell thick wood as "kiln dried" which is only dry on the outside skin. If you turn something out of it - say a bowl - you are asking for trouble.

The stresses inside the timber are released when it is turned and it will soon warp or split. You might be lucky and find some timber which has been stored for years for some reason, but normally you can be sure that wood more than 3" thick will be only "part seasoned" and will not be suitable for turning immediately into a finished object.

Using part seasoned wood One of the big advantages of being a woodturner is that you can use green or part seasoned wood without waiting years for it to dry - provided you know what you are doing. Useful sources of supply. Friends with large gardens or woodlands.

Firewood merchants Tree surgeons, estate maintenance contractors, farmers etc. Timber auctions Old furniture Sawmills Offcuts from furniture makers Specialist woodturning shop Green Turning of Bowls A hundred years ago, the woodturner was an important member of the village community - every bit as busy as the village blacksmith and employed to make furniture and household "treen", including lots of wooden bowls for the kitchen and dairy.

The process of making a bowl from green or part seasoned wood is very straightforward. The advantages of this process are many. You can buy the wood cheaper and have a much better choice of material. You can get material as thick as you like for nice deep bowls. Wastage from the log due to end splits etc is eliminated.

You can use pieces with wild grain which would not dry properly if left in the plank. Wet wood cuts easier and quicker Less dust is generated so that is healthier for your lungs The disadvantage is you have to look some weeks ahead - you cannot buy wood as you need it, you have to maintain a stock.

Storing rough turned bowls Once the bowl is roughed out it has to be stored in such a way that it dries out as quickly as possible without splitting. Drying can be accelerated by warmth but moisture has to be prevented from evaporating from the surface too fast or the bowl will surely split. With coarse grained quick drying wood such as elm and walnut you can dry a large bowl from green in about 6 weeks.

Simply wrap it well in twenty or thirty layers of newspaper open up a whole newspaper and use it to wrap the blank to make a parcel and keep it in a warm room. Tape it up so that no gaps show. Write on what it is and date it. My father Peter Child use to rough turn hundreds of elm bowls and protect them with "paste wax" before drying them in the airing cupboard.

Paste wax is a kind of cheap floor polish used commercially in factories, hospitals etc. End seal coating such as Mobil "C" would do just as well. The Seasoning Process There is no such thing as a dry piece of wood.

Every wood blank or finished turning will lose or absorb moisture from the air until it eventually reaches an equilibrium point with its surroundings.

The equilibrium point in, for example, your living room depends mostly on the average value of the relative humidity from month to month. If the atmosphere is very dry due to the central heating, then all the furniture and wooden objects in the room will lose water to the air until the percentage of water inside the wood drops to the value corresponding to the conditions.

I can prove this by using an electronic moisture meter to measure the water content of the oak beams which Best Green Wood For Turning On have been "seasoning" there for years, maybe more. Wood warps if its water content changes.

It shrinks if it loses, and expands if it gains. Commercial logging is wasteful The commercial method of processing wood is as follows. Any lumps and bumps together with the top and bottom planks are thrown away.

Even though all reasonable precautions are taken during seasoning, there is a great deal of wastage due to splits. Planks especially thick ones always split at the ends so a percentage is lost there. Planks with any thickness suffer from surface splits and split open around any features in the grain such as knots, crotches, wild or swirly grain - all the prettiest bits.

This is because these parts of the trunk will simply refuse to dry evenly. All kinds of stresses will inevitable build up inside the wood until it splits open. What is left to sell is boring straight grained stuff ideal for furniture but of little interest to the turner. Discolouration due to fungus can cause a lot of waste - blue stain in sycamore can affect a percentage of the available material even though special precautions are taken. If you look at the costs all along the line including the cost of transport, sawing, storage and distribution you will find that the initial cost of the raw material - trees - makes up a tiny, almost negligable percentage of the cost of the finished material.

Wood is expensive principally because of the wastage - so much of it is destroyed by the pressures of the commercial world which oblige large sawmills to operate this way. The situation is much worse in the tropical rain forests where millions of "non-commercial" species of trees are cut and wasted just to provide access to the loggers.

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