Part turning green then season?

[Richard_C]

I have a modest sized (c. 14" diameter widest part) field maple with a diseased trunk, a proper tree surgeon spent half an hour prodding and poking and said sorry, fungal infection, it's got to come down soon. I will go with that, particularly as if it did come down in a prevailing SW wind it would be in my bedroom. I will keep any decent stuff, down to say 9" diameter branches, he is happy to cut trunk slices to a size I can manage.

I'm a bit short of space for long term storage so one possible plan would be to rough out some bowls while it's green and then season them, hopefully in months not years, before finishing. Not done that before, have done some very small stuff and microwaved with success.

Any hints or thoughts welcome - maybe wait a month or two first, what wall thickness should I aim for, how should I seal/store the roughed out blanks, any problems with keeping them in a garden shed .....

 

[J-G]

I have a modest sized (c. 14" diameter widest part) field maple with a diseased trunk, a proper tree surgeon spent half an hour prodding and poking and said sorry, fungal infection, it's got to come down soon. I will go with that, particularly as if it did come down in a prevailing SW wind it would be in my bedroom. I will keep any decent stuff, down to say 9" diameter branches, he is happy to cut trunk slices to a size I can manage.

There is an adage stating "Keep it as long as you can for as long as you can" - ie. don't cut the bole into short 'slices', cut it lengthwise and store it 'in stick'.

 

[Dalboy]

Yes you can rough turn blanks the advantage is that you can turn to final dimensions in as little as 6 months. Remember to make the tenon slightly larger than you would for dry wood and put a small dimple in the centre of the tenon as that will come in handy when remounting and touching up the tenon for final turning. The disadvantage is that once rough turned you are committed to that shape of the bowl.

They will need roughing out to about 10% of the diameter. personally I turn to a minimum of 1" and a little thicker for larger bowls. then seal the outside and store in a plastic bag in the wet shavings this will need removing and the bag turning inside out at least once a week as it will get very wet. Store this in a cool dry place undercover and out of direct sunlight.

If you do not want to have all of it for bowls then as J-G said, keep it as long as possible but cut down the centre of the log seal both ends and store in stick so that air can circulate and in a cool place as I stated above

 

[Richard_C]

Thanks. Keep it long noted, tree surgeon will slice but not dice, I will tackle that myself with my electric chainsaw. So the slices will have to be movable, branches fine but for trunk will think carefully. This is a one off so don't want to buy new kit.

If when it's down its more than I can use I will post here and offer it for free collection, but can't visualise it until it is down.

 

[leisurefix]

As has already been mentioned, cut the long log in half through the centre. This is effectively putting 2 massive splits right through the round log, so reducing additional splitting a little. If you are going to be storing for any length of time paint the ends with pva to slow moisture loss, and so reduce splitting.

 

[marcros]

How big is your lathe? Less usual but I have seen some cool end grain bowls.

 

[Richard_C]

305, 12 inch in old money.

I have done as you suggest on some green fruit wood c. 9" diameter but it wasn't fun to deal with the middle. Left it on the lathe overnight under a towel, next morning the splits were immense. The result kept me warm (on the woodburner) for a few minutes one evening. Might give it another go one day.

 

[Dalboy]

305, 12 inch in old money.

I have done as you suggest on some green fruit wood c. 9" diameter but it wasn't fun to deal with the middle. Left it on the lathe overnight under a towel, next morning the splits were immense. The result kept me warm (on the woodburner) for a few minutes one evening. Might give it another go one day.

you will find that some woods will split very easy compared to others and it will not matter how you process them. All you can do is prepare them and seal them to see what happens. Other than that part turn them and again hope the move rather than split

 

[woodbloke66]

you will find that some woods will split very easy compared to others and it will not matter how you process them. All you can do is prepare them and seal them to see what happens. Other than that part turn them and again hope the move rather than split

I found that some will split easily and others are quite difficult. I bought a froe to use for splitting and then I also use a brick bolster as well as an engineering chisel to aid the process. When I turn green wood bowls, I generally take a 'core' from them (if possible) and then turn to wall thickness of around 25mm leaving a very generous 'foot' on the bottom. The exterior is then sealed with a couple of coats of cheap PVA and then they're stored somewhere in the shade for about a year. After that they seem 'good to go' - Rob

 

[KimG]

I rough mine to about 3/4 of an inch for Ash, Maple is reasonable stable I would guess (similar to sycamore) so should do OK at that or an inch for extra caution, leave a little extra on the base (1/4") and as Derek said, make the tenon over size to allow for resizing later, in a dry environment (I dry mine in the attic) they can be ready in as little as 3 months, though longer is probably better.

 

[Richard_C]

Well its down, came down last Wednesday. Field Maple - the native English one very similar to sycamore.

Just finished sorting it out, clearly more than I will use or can reasonably deal with. I have 3 or 4 sections of trunk surplus to requirements - 20 inches or so long maybe 12-14 diameter, hefty things to lift. Hardly anything that looks like pith. Also a 3 or 4 smaller branches maybe 7-9 inch diameter in longer lengths. I don't want anything in return.

I'm about 2 miles from the M11 junction 11 (A10) - just south of Cambridge - if anybody is nearby and wants it. PM me if you are interested.