# ready for a turning workshop



## duncsuss (Oct 23, 2016)

In a couple of weeks, my turning club is hosting Stuart Batty for a weekend. The plan is for him to give a day of demonstrations on the Saturday, and lead a hands-on workshop on the Sunday. I'm signed up for both (of course )

Stuart sent a note of materials needed for the workshop -- he wants every student to have 4 or more bowl blanks and 4 or more spindle blanks. "Lots of practice, and very importantly repeat practice of every cut."

Today one of the members helped me out -- he knew of an ash that was recently felled, and he very kindly cut several 11" pieces from the trunk with his chainsaw. I got them home and spent the rest of the day pushing them through my bandsaw to make turning blanks. (He also cut in half a piece of elm I got from another club member, which was too big for me to cut -- the max I can put through it is 12" tall.)

Here are a dozen bowl blanks and a dozen spindle blanks, all wrapped up to (hopefully) keep them from checking. And the pile of trimmings -- not sure what I'm going to do with this!

p.s. off to the right in this first picture are 4 decent sized bowl blanks -- 11" or so -- a couple of pieces of ash crotch, and a couple of elm crotch. They don't go to the class, I plan to attack them after I learned some more skills from Stuart

Reactions: Like 5 | Way Cool 6


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## Karl_TN (Oct 26, 2016)

If those blanks are green wood then wouldn't you expect to get some mold problems if kept in plastic for more than a few days? Have you any luck using AnchorSeal instead of plastic?

I'm keeping some of my blanks in water barrels until I have time to rough turn them because cardboard boxes and paper bags allows mold to grow. Last night I picked up a upright freezer (not working) in order to build a kiln to help bring the moisture down below 20% on my blanks to stop the mold.

_I wish could be there, but it cost too much to travel to Boston. For now I'll continue to watch _Stuart's Vimeo channel which doesn't cost anything. He shares a lot of really good information in his videos. 

_https://vimeo.com/woodturning
_


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## duncsuss (Oct 26, 2016)

Karl_TN said:


> If those blanks are green wood then wouldn't you expect to get some mold problems if kept in plastic for more than a few days? Have you any luck using AnchorSeal instead of plastic?



Yes and yes. In the notes he sent for all workshop participants, he said to keep them in plastic, "if they get a little mold on them that's fine, it won't do any harm" -- compared to them cracking.

I do have (and use) Anchorseal, but I didn't have the energy or space to paint 20 bowl blanks and nearly as many turning squares. I find it works well most of the time.


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## barry richardson (Oct 26, 2016)

Sounds like a fun weekend, enjoy!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## DKMD (Oct 26, 2016)

That's cool! I hung out with him a little one evening at SWAT, and he seems like a nice enough guy. He's very particular about technique in his demos... Although I don't subscribe to the idea that there's just one right way to do something, it's hard to argue with his results.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## duncsuss (Oct 26, 2016)

DKMD said:


> That's cool! I hung out with him a little one evening at SWAT, and he seems like a nice enough guy. He's very particular about technique in his demos... Although I don't subscribe to the idea that there's just one right way to do something, it's hard to argue with his results.


Exactly my thinking -- and he's certainly getting better results than me (or if I'm doing really well, maybe he gets the same results but with less effort).

It's his analytical approach to technique which makes me think he'll be a great teacher. I need to go back and re-learn the fundamentals every now and then.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Spinartist (Nov 2, 2016)

Dudes : DO NOT, I REPEAT - DO NOT PUT SOLID BOWL OR END GRAIN BLANKS IN A KILN!! They WILL CRACK!
ONLY evenly walled roughed out blanks should go into the kiln for drying. & I'd try for softer wood than Ash to learn on. Elm would be good or maple.


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## duncsuss (Nov 2, 2016)

Spinartist said:


> I'd try for softer wood than Ash to learn on. Elm would be good or maple.


There wasn't an option -- it was Ash or nothing. I don't have enough Elm to meet my own needs, let alone two other members, so it's going to be Ash and we'll learn the hard way.


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## Steve Walker (Nov 9, 2016)

Fresh cut ash shouldn't be a problem to learn with. Any green wood, even oak cuts fairly easy. The "hardness" doesn't kick in until it is dry. I turn a lot of ash, thanks to the emerald ash borer, and when wet, or green, whatever you want to call it, it cuts pretty easily.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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