crackpot seeks advise

[mrs. sliver]

I just turned my first 'home dried' wood into and end grain pot,. all was looking good but it is cracking up!!! can it be saved or will it just self destruct? and any ideas what I did wrong for next time?



I think it is Sycamore and it dried natural in the workshop over about a year.

 

[NickWelford]

Make a feature of it - drill holes down each side and lace it.

There's no saving it as a whole bowl.

 

[Bodrighy]

I've had a couple go like this on me. Wait and see if it opens up fully. If it does you could stitch it like this, or fill it with a contrasting material, dark sawdust, coffee grinds etc work well.

 

[TEP]

Nice looking pot Mrs S. shame it split.

You say it was drying inside for 12 months, not long enough in my experience. Should have been left longer to dry. Also if you had turned the sides to a even thickness it may have survived.

The reason the top edge has split is that top and bottom of the rim bead is end grain and has dried out twice as fast as the rest of the bowl. As you have found, that grain orientation was guaranteed to split if not fully dried before turning.

 

[mrs. sliver]

Thanks chaps, the lacing looks good, may try that if it splits more. The log was given to us long before I started turning and has just sat in the corner of the workshop in a full log I only cut it up a few weeks ago and sealed the ends. While I was turning it did seem a bit moist in the centre
and ripped a lot, but as this was my first end grain I thought that could just be the reason.

I have wrapped the pot and put it away to see how it settles. :?:

 

[Bob Chapman]

I agree with Tam about why it split and that an even thickness wall would help to prevent it. Wall thickness (not just evenness) is also important. It looks like a fairly chunky vessel and I'm guessing the walls are quite thick. The exposed surfaces of the wall then dry much quicker than the middle, setting up the stresses that result in cracking. A thinner wall (say, 6mm or so) would allow more even drying and would be less likely to crack, although it might still distort. You couldn't have got that shape with a thin wall though.

Bob

 

[CHJ]

Mrs S, next time you think a piece may be at risk from cracking during drying, try wrapping the outside in several layers of newspaper for a week or so so that inner surface dries quicker than the outer, this may offset the problem Bob refers to somewhat by encouraging the piece to contract as it shrinks instead of splitting open.

 

[mrs. sliver]

I must be getting the hang of it because I DID wrap it in newspaper!! BUT, I then thought I would experiment with microwave drying, and it worked! :shock: the pot is just about full down to dry and the crack has stayed as it was!

 

[CHJ]

I must be getting the hang of it because I DID wrap it in newspaper!! BUT,

Patience Girl patience, isn't experience wonderful, if a little frustrating at times.

 

[mrs. sliver]

nowt wrong with patience, I had just read that micro drying causes steam and inhibits cracking and thought it worth a go. coudln't use this method all the time if you make a lot. it would cost a bomb in electric and you have to keep weighig it after it cools and it takes up a fair bit of time hanging around.

 

[CHJ]

nowt wrong with patience,

Certainly not the one I went to school with :wink:

I had just read that micro drying causes steam and inhibits cracking and thought it worth a go.

Unless the part is very thin, dependant on the wood type, you will find that you still get a lot of small 'micro :roll: ' cracks appearing, similar to those you get if you heat wood with 'poor' sanding friction unless you do it very slowly.

 

[mrs. sliver]

okay dokey Chas. ..... I hope all this input won't cause my brain to crash!!! :shock: