Best practices for turning trees into blanks?

[justinpeer]

I'm lucky enough to own a small patch of woodland and managing it is part of my winter work. This year has been pretty tough on the wood with several trees brought down by the storms and the continued progress of ash die back necessitating more trees taking down.

Since taking up turning recently, I now have a fairly large amount of timber to turn into blanks and I'm looking for advice on how best to approach this. I've found a couple of videos on YouTube but if anyone has either advice or videos to suggest, I'd appreciate the help.

Below are a few photos of what I'm starting on. Some of the bigger pieces will be attacked with my small chainsaw mill to produce some planks and others will become blanks for bowls and vases etc. There's some birch and some ash plus, not shown, some red willow as well.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Get the ends painted with something asap. Anything will do, old paint, varnish, PVA ... you can buy purpose made stuff as well.

 

[justinpeer]

Thanks Phil, I've got some PVA in the barn, I'll get down this week and paint the ends with that, Do you just use it neat or water it down a bit?

Next week I'll take the saw down and cut into smaller sections for blanks. I'm also planning perhaps this year to make a solar drying kiln to speed things up a bit.

 

[Stigmorgan]

Thanks Phil, I've got some PVA in the barn, I'll get down this week and paint the ends with that, Do you just use it neat or water it down a bit?

Next week I'll take the saw down and cut into smaller sections for blanks. I'm also planning perhaps this year to make a solar drying kiln to speed things up a bit.

You can use it neat but it tends to soak into the grain better if you water it down 50/50, I tend to do 2 coats just to be sure, you're best off having some mixed with you all the time whilst there as ideally you want to seal the ends as quickly as possible after cutting, i use a 2" brush to apply it, another method I've tried with some birch we felled last May was to immediately half them lengthways as well as sealing the edges then loosely wrapped in plastic to keep the moisture in and the weather out, haven't checked on them in a while so should probably have a look soon and see how they've fared over the winter.

 

[justinpeer]

You can use it neat but it tends to soak into the grain better if you water it down 50/50, I tend to do 2 coats just to be sure, you're best off having some mixed with you all the time whilst there as ideally you want to seal the ends as quickly as possible after cutting, i use a 2" brush to apply it, another method I've tried with some birch we felled last May was to immediately half them lengthways as well as sealing the edges then loosely wrapped in plastic to keep the moisture in and the weather out, haven't checked on them in a while so should probably have a look soon and see how they've fared over the winter.

That's really helpful, thanks very much.

Any suggestions on how to approach actually cutting them up to use for various things?

 

[Richard_C]

Once you have sealed the ends don't hurry to cut them up until you have a plan. Fresh timber dries and splits from the end, so leave it long and if it does start to "go" at least you have the middle bits.

Things happen quickly so ideally next time you are cutting, seal the ends the same day. With some things, like plum, the same hour is advisable.

 

[Stigmorgan]

That's really helpful, thanks very much.

Any suggestions on how to approach actually cutting them up to use for various things?

Leave them as long (length) as you can for as long as you can and keep the bark on too. As for how to process them that will depend on what your intended use will be. Whilst they are in log form I'd also get some bearers or pallets under them, decayed will set in quickly if left on the ground, especially out on site in the dirt.

 

[justinpeer]

Thank you both, I'll get down next week and set them up as best I can.

 

[Katomi woodsmith]

I use pva to seal mine, I use brown or grease or proof paper to stand them on when treated, saves sticking to the bench

 

[Paul Hannaby]

A few tips -
Fell the tree in winter when there is less sap in it. It is less likely to crack as it dries if felled at the right time of year. It's probably already too late for this winter.
Keep the wood in as long sections as you can manage and if you need to cut it, cut lengthways rather than crossways.
Seal the ends to reduce splitting on the ends. You can use proper end seal, wax, pva, old emulsion paint and probably a few other things to seal the end grain.
Keep the wood under cover and out of direct sunlight but allow air circulation. It's probably best to keep it off the ground if possible.
You can rough turn bowls and some other things to reduce the volume of wood you need to dry.

 

[Sangy]

Cracking happens when drying happens un evenly, you are best to paint ends quickly but then get the logs milled and stickered quickly and held in place with ratchet straps, the whole stack wants storing somewhere undercover but where the wind can get into it or at least where there is air movement, this air between each layer will help the dry more evenly. Different species dry at different rate but as a general rule it takes one year per inch of board thickness, so a 6 inch bowl black board would take 6 years to air dry. Hope this helps

 

[William2020]

I’ve always split my felled timber lengthways with the chainsaw. Both reduces drying time and makes things easier to handle. As others have said, worth sealing the ends as soon as possible.
Hope you enjoy your turning.
If you don’t already have a copy, I can thoroughly recommend Keith Rowley’s book: Woodturning A Foundation Course

 

[Owd Jockey]

Hi Justin, in addition to some of the excellent advice given by others, I would add that i usually seal the ends with ordinary candle wax (salvaged from all those candles that don't burn evenly. I should say depending on the wood, sealing does not always work.
Anyway, for my full take on things, you could check out a staggered post i did starting on page 64 on the "last thing you turned forum". Because I was doing the process of cutting/prepping/turning/drying/finishing in 'real-time' the posts were spread out, so you would have to follow them through to the conclusion...
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/post-a-photo-of-the-last-thing-you-turned.143439/page-64