I've been stocking up!

[Argee]

Had a great morning in the shop today, marking out and cutting blanks out of a load of timber I collected on Thursday from my supplier in Dormansland.

The blanks are mostly around 300mm diameter. The large stack is Alder, Cedar of Lebanon alongside and Sycamore in the front (with a spalted Beech on the top). Time I've finished cutting blanks, they'll work out at around £3.00 per blank - seems like the way to do it! My supplier has just started cutting up a huge tulip tree - he was cutting it into boards, but I've persuaded him to slab some for me - going to be great with the colour and figure in it, by the looks of things.

Looking forward to turning some of these soon.

Ray.

 

[Chris Knight]

Ray,

Looks like a week or two's supply for some interesting turnings there!

 

[wizer]

*jelous*

 

[Alf]

Ah, I forsee a lot of spindles in your future then...?

Cheers, Alf

 

[jasonB]

Ray, is your supplier Treespanner, Are the boards green of air/kiln dried.

Jason

 

[Anonymous]

Ray

how do you cut them up?

I mean how is the actual wood cut? in half?

 

[Argee]

Jason, yes - I get on quite well with Charles, like his outlook on life in general. The stock is mostly air dried, although a piece of yew needs a little more time!

Tony, not sure what you're asking. The blanks are marked and cut from the slabs I brought home, which were as deep as you see them. My 20" Jet did all the work once I'd got the slabs down to manageable lengths with a reciprocating saw. The exception was the spalted beech, which was in a 250mm x 250mm x 400mm block. Need to change the blade to deal with that!

Ray.

 

[UKTony]

Ray

Can you expand on your blank forming method, im about ready to upgrade my bandsaw primamrily to cope with resawing logs and doing exactly what you have not sure about my budget yet

many thanks T

 

[Argee]

Ray

Can you expand on your blank forming method, I'm about ready to upgrade my bandsaw, primarily to cope with resawing logs and doing exactly what you have. Not sure about my budget yet.

Many thanks T

I've always felt that prepared bowl blanks were over-priced, although I accept that someone had to cut them out, seal them, dry them, stock them until sold and so on - and that needs paying for. However, if you can do it cheaper, why on Earth not?

The major difficulty is finding a supplier who has slabs of suitable wood - that is, wood that has been cut thick enough for the bowls you want to turn. After that, once I get the stock home I carefully examine both sides, looking for knots, bark, etc. - anything that might blow out when turning. A pair of compasses is then brought into play (sometimes a quick sanding is required to make sure the circles are clearly defined), in an attempt to get the most out of the wood. The slabs are then cut to a suitable size for the bandsaw's throat. I'm fortunate enough to have a 20" Jet, so I can handle quite large pieces.

With a good blade mounted, I next cut between the circles, separating each bowl. This means I'll now have rough squares of stock. A few cuts inwards to the cut line are next, as this prevents any binding up when following the circumference. After that, follow the line to produce a blank. The off-cuts go into a sack and a friend collects them for his wood-burning stove. Nothing goes into the sack unless I'm certain I can't get anything else out of it, though - no point in wasting wood! HTH. If you need any more info, or just a natter about this, drop me a PM.

Ray.