# Turning green to finish



## Vern Tator (May 25, 2012)

:dash2::dash2::dash2: Well I bought some Big leaf Maple Burl last week. Planned to turn some large salad bowls with some interesting figure. Now normally I rough, dry and re-turn. I started into the pile of Burl, 6 pieces big enough to make 16" bowls and what a mess. The figure was thin, by the time I had a shape, the figure was gone, or so spotty that I would have a hard time calling it burl. I have about 50 real nice bottle stopper blanks. Damn!!! Today after recutting and sorting the pile I got to the best looking one.[attachment=5886] The picture is the #2 bowl out of 4 from this piece. What a dream, figure to spare and it cut pretty clean. I decided to go green to finish to get more out of the piece. I got a 15 1/2", a 13", an 11 1/2 " and a 9 3/4". I don't turn green to finish often because it is such a mess, wet sanding on the lathe and all. The only redeeming part is that when they dry they will be pretty near done. I would do it more often if I could get more of this great figure. [attachment=5887]


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## bench1holio (May 25, 2012)

wow!.. thats a great looking bowl vern  i dont know about green turning and finishing 16" bowls from north american species, but ive turned a few from aussie hardwoods and they just about turn them selves inside out while drying!  consequently all my stuff gets roughed out, left on the shelf for at least 12 months then re-turned and finished


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## Vern Tator (May 25, 2012)

In my experience, if I turn thin enough , the biggest bowl is 7/16 thick and the smallest is 5/16, they won't crack or check. They do distort some and that usually just adds interest to the shape. I bag them in paper grocery bags and change the bags every few days. I rotate bags, dry them and replace them. It takes a couple of weeks to get down to a dry bag and a dry bowl. Then just a fine sand, and oil them up.at tone time I was starting he oiling process while they were still green and wet. I worked, but I don't think it was worth the extra effort.


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## DKMD (May 25, 2012)

That's a beauty, Vern! I turn a fair number of hollowforms green to final thickness, but I haven't done a bowl that way yet. I just got a coring system, so I'll probably give it a try at some point... I like a bowl with a little warp!


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## Vern Tator (May 25, 2012)

DKMD said:


> That's a beauty, Vern! I turn a fair number of hollowforms green to final thickness, but I haven't done a bowl that way yet. I just got a forum system, so I'll probably give it a try at some point... I like a bowl with a little warp!


What is a "Forum System"? I don't have one of those yet.


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## DKMD (May 25, 2012)

Vern Tator said:


> DKMD said:
> 
> 
> > That's a beauty, Vern! I turn a fair number of hollowforms green to final thickness, but I haven't done a bowl that way yet. I just got a forum system, so I'll probably give it a try at some point... I like a bowl with a little warp!
> ...



Damn autocorrect! :dash2: I fixed it!


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## Vern Tator (May 25, 2012)

I bought the Oneway coring system first and use it most of the time. I got a Mac Naughton for about 1/2 price a few years ago, but it scares me a little. I need to spend some time with a competent user of that system. I know that guys who are good with the Mac can do some really amazing coring. Hollow forms green to finish are fun, but I have had quite a few move so much that they ended up being pretty ugly. That was with some Madrone burl, so now most of the time I rough and re-turn hollowforms.


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## Vern Tator (May 26, 2012)

rbaccus said:


> Turning madrone anything is pretty tough on the warp scale. try some of Kevin's christmas wood or that soft bigleaf maple again. it behaves much better. Down here we have Sweetgum which has gymnastic tendices? as well. if you have a piece of really, really neat wood i rough out and wax immediately. if i hafta leave the lathe for anything it gets the water spray and plastic bag treatment yeah. i've seen grown men cry-------------.


Yah, Madrone will do the same thing. It wanders all over the place and finally comes to rest in a shape I had never thought of. Some times I will rough, dry and re-turn, but I have to boil it for an hour per inch after roughing. When it is boiled, it hardly moves. If I were a man of great faith, I'd rough Madrone out thinner than an inch per 12" diameter, but there is faith and blind stupid, and stupid I aint. I really like turning Madrone because it is so hard and holds detail well.


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## NYWoodturner (May 26, 2012)

Nice job Vern !
It takes a lot of courage to go green to finish on a piece with figure like that !
Scott


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## Vern Tator (May 26, 2012)

NYWoodturner said:


> Nice job Vern !
> It takes a lot of courage to go green to finish on a piece with figure like that !
> Scott


Thanks Scott, I've done a lot of it with Madrone and it is far more mobile than Maple.


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## DKMD (May 26, 2012)

Vern Tator said:


> ...Hollow forms green to finish are fun, but I have had quite a few move so much that they ended up being pretty ugly. That was with some Madrone burl, so now most of the time I rough and re-turn hollowforms.



I love the warped and wrinkled look of thin madrone burl turned thin and microwaved... It's one of my favorite things to turn. I love to hold the pieces up to my ear when they come out of the microwave... It sounds like a freshly opened can of soda with all the crackling and popping!


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## Vern Tator (Jun 5, 2012)

Got a commission last week for a Mushroom shaped box. I decided to use some of the really great burl for the cap and some fiddleback from the same tree for the stem. The tricky part was they needed it ASAP. It is a prayer box for a fellow who is really sick. So I decided to turn green to finish and real thin and deliver it in a week start to finish.[attachment=6451] As you can see, when I turn green to finish, I use a squirt bottle to keep the piece wet till it come off the lathe and a jar of water to use wetsanding. I rough hollowed to 1/2"[attachment=6452] and then went back and hollowed to < 1/8". The foot came out at < 5/16". The same was true of the top. Both parts passed light[attachment=6453] before they dried. I spent most of last week microwaving the pieces. About 30 seconds once an hour. Friday I re-sanded both pieces and put them in the kiln for the weekend. Monday I finished sanding the pieces and started finishing. A coat of Shellac as a sanding sealer, and then as many coats of lacquer as I could get in 10 hours. This morning I sanded back the lacquer and finished with 0000 steel wool. Pictures of the finished piece are in the Completed project section.


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## NYWoodturner (Jun 16, 2012)

Vern;
Really nice work ! 
I think for giggles I am going to bring some wood in from the shop and throw it in the microwave tonight !!! I should try some I like though because it's probably what I will get fed for dinner :rofl2:


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