# Suggestions from the experienced turners please...



## Terry Summerville (Mar 10, 2014)

I am wanting to make a 3 layered vessel bowl out of black walnut, around 9" at the widest point and 7" deep, and would like to have a contrasting band in the middle. I have been looking at using cucumber for the contrasting wood between 2 pieces of the black walnut. Does anyone have any experience combining these 2 types of wood or suggestions? 

Also....how in the heck do you stop black walnut from checking? I have been using DNA then wrapping the pieces in paper bags, seal them in plastic for a month and still when taken out they develop small cracks....it's getting frustrating!

Any advice helps!
Terry


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## Mike Mills (Mar 10, 2014)

Terry Summerville said:


> Also....how in the heck do you stop black walnut from checking? I have been using DNA then wrapping the pieces in paper bags, seal them in plastic for a month and still when taken out they develop small cracks....it's getting frustrating!


 
I have not had a lot of problems with walnut, for me it is cherry and holly. I do use DNA often, if you wrap in plastic how can it dry? It seems it should be almost as wet when you take it out as when you wrapped it.
It may not be the correct way but..
When I remove from the DNA bath I give it about 30 minutes or so for the DNA to flash off. Then I coat the end grain with anchor seal as with any green turning (coating looks about like an hour glass). I then place in a paper bag and seal. Some people only wrap the outside in paper and leave the inside open with the open side stored down. I have done this and stored open end flat on the floor to lessen air flow.

Maybe some segmenters can address the wood choices and methods of gluing.

Reactions: Like 1


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## DKMD (Mar 10, 2014)

I had to look up cucumber wood, so I don't have any experience with it. 

Are you seeing cracks as soon as you take the pieces out of the bags or while sanding? If it's the latter, it may be heat checks that develop while sanding. 

If it's the former, the pieces are drying too fast. In a nutshell, mold signifies the wood is not drying fast enough, and cracks suggest it's drying too quickly. I quit using DNA soaks because I was getting cracks in some species(cherry and pear). I've started coating the endgrain with anchorseal and placing the roughouts in cardboard boxes for several months then allowing them to air dry out of the boxes for several more... It's not as fast, but I don't lose as many pieces.

I have friends who use DNA almost exclusively with great success, so I know it works for some... I just never had much luck with it.

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## Terry Summerville (Mar 10, 2014)

Mike Mills said:


> I have not had a lot of problems with walnut, for me it is cherry and holly. I do use DNA often, if you wrap in plastic how can it dry? It seems it should be almost as wet when you take it out as when you wrapped it.
> It may not be the correct way but..
> When I remove from the DNA bath I give it about 30 minutes or so for the DNA to flash off. Then I coat the end grain with anchor seal as with any green turning (coating looks about like an hour glass). I then place in a paper bag and seal. Some people only wrap the outside in paper and leave the inside open with the open side stored down. I have done this and stored open end flat on the floor to lessen air flow.
> 
> Maybe some segmenters can address the wood choices and methods of gluing.



I read somewhere putting them into plastic bags slows down the drying process and prevents it from drying too fast to cause cracks. Usually a couple days after taking the bags off the cracks start appearing.


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## lonewolf (Mar 10, 2014)

suggestion for contrasting walnut i have used butternut often called white walnut .it gives a different color but has exactly the same grain structure. usually walnut dries easy i coat ends only with a/ s and putin a paper bag a few months .

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## NYWoodturner (Mar 10, 2014)

Terry - I don't think I can add anything to what has already been said, but will address the other part of your question - joining the two.
I have done a few pieces in similar style. I use a basically a friction fit tenon, like you would use on a lidded box. Make sure the inside fit is tight and glue it, then turn the outside of the two woods at the same time to get a smooth seamless match up. 
The only thing that will spoil that is if the two woods are not completely dry. They will inherently dry at different rates and are guaranteed to split.


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## Terry Summerville (Mar 10, 2014)

NYWoodturner said:


> Terry - I don't think I can add anything to what has already been said, but will address the other part of your question - joining the two.
> I have done a few pieces in similar style. I use a basically a friction fit tenon, like you would use on a lidded box. Make sure the inside fit is tight and glue it, then turn the outside of the two woods at the same time to get a smooth seamless match up.
> The only thing that will spoil that is if the two woods are not completely dry. They will inherently dry at different rates and are guaranteed to split.



Scott....thanks for your input about the joining of the wood. In your experiences, do you use wood glue or something else when gluing the pieces together? I am planning to get the wood for this soon to give it several months to dry. I have a few touch walnut candle stick lamps to make for Christmas presents that will keep me busy for a while.


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## NYWoodturner (Mar 10, 2014)

I have used both wood glue and CA. As I get older I seem to get more and more inpatient and almost exclusively use CA for this now. Dry fit as many times as need to make sure the glue line is smooth with no tear out. I'm not familiar with cucumber wood, but Walnut's open grain can sometimes be problematic on a superfine glue line like that. Make a deeper tenon to allow for more fine tuning if you see the wood being course and or problematic.

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