# Do I want any of this?



## tocws2002 (Aug 5, 2015)

A friend of mine called and said he had a cherry tree cut down and asked if I wanted any of the wood. It has already been cut to 18"-24" lengths and there are pieces 15"-18" in diameter. Some with small branches on the side so there may be some crotch figure.

Seeing as how I've got a Oneway lathe that I've not turned anything on, should I pick up more than the one piece I've already hauled back home? 

Any advice on how to process for bowls, including a live edge (which I've never turned)?

Are the smaller pieces (~6" diameter) usable?

Thanks, 

- jason

Reactions: Like 2


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## ripjack13 (Aug 5, 2015)

Take it! Don't forget to seal that sucker up good....

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## justallan (Aug 5, 2015)

My thinking says that if it's not to much out of the way and it's free, bring it home. You may find some neat stuff, you may sell some or you may have firewood.

Reactions: Like 1


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## David Hill (Aug 5, 2015)

What's the dilemma?
The size of what you turn or want to turn is limited only by your imagination or skills. You need to wear out that lathe--or at least try. 
Me? I'd say get'em all---Cherry does not exist around here & you should be able to get some nice blanks for bowls or boxes from what I see in the pics.


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## tocws2002 (Aug 5, 2015)

@ripjack13 I don't have any AS, but will try to get some latex paint or something on it to at least help a little, thanks for the advice.

@justallan I did grab one piece of it and brought home, but I am a rookie turner when it comes to bowls and such so I am looking for advice. I will head back this weekend and pick up a few more pieces, it is fairly close to me and easy to get to.

@David Hill I'll be picking some additional pieces this weekend, will try to "wear out the lathe", just haven't had much shop time lately.

Any advice on how to process for bowls, including a live edge (which I've never turned)?

Are the smaller pieces (~6" diameter) usable?

Thanks,

-jason


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## David Hill (Aug 5, 2015)

@tocws2002 --wasn't trying to come off as a [email protected]$$--
1. I haven't done natural edge, but have been told that unless you want to use lots of CA that winter cut wood is best to use for that....others will weigh in on that.
2. 6 inch stuff---will make for good practice, will be mostly sap wood so it will likely check/crack some. You can make endgrain boxes, vases, small bowls,candleholders, etc. with that.
3. I make my bowl blanks by cutting slabs-- using lengthwise cuts (not across the middle). Then I use the chain or bandsaw to cut them into whatever size rounds or near rounds before putting them on the lathe.


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## tocws2002 (Aug 5, 2015)

Thanks for the tips, David. And, I didn't think you came across as a [email protected]$$. I want to throw something on the lathe and turn it, but just never seem to have the time. I've had the lathe for 3 months or so and I haven't even put the belt on it yet. Maybe this cherry will get me the time needed to actually spin something.

Thanks again,

-jason


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## duncsuss (Aug 5, 2015)

My approach is to cut a log into 3 parts, the intention is to remove the pith from the pieces which are meant to become bowls. The pith is where a lot of checking (cracks) begins, and removing it reduces the chances that your wood will break up before you get it on the lathe.

_(You can see this is already happening in the logs in some of your pix.)_

Here's my standard picture showing how I slice things ... if the tree diameter is large, the center slice can be made big enough to use for peppermills (about 3" square), otherwise it can be used for bottle stoppers, pen blanks, etc.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 2


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## norman vandyke (Aug 5, 2015)

I'm going to preface this by saying I've never turned a bowl before but I have watched many videos and read up on the subject. Looks like most people start by firing the bowl into your basic shape and leaving it thick(around 3/4"-1"), then they put them in a paper bag full of the wood shavings you got from the turning. Leave it in the bag for a month, then finish it up. I've seen one guy after reaching that thickness, microwave the bowl and then finishing it right after. And make sure your carving off wood with the grain(push toward the middle when carving the inside and toward the edge on the outside). Please correct me if I'm wrong bowl turners.  I've seen guys just use a passion bowl gouge or use a gouge that is slightly different shaped(can't remember the name right now) but it sure looks cool seeing all those shaving flying off the gouge. Anyway, I recommend watching a few videos and reading up. Also, pick up those darn logs.


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## JR Parks (Aug 5, 2015)

Jason,
You may seal the end grain with normal white wood (PVA) glue. Coat one side -let it dry then coat the other. This will slow down any moisture loss.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## duncsuss (Aug 5, 2015)

Live edge bowls ...

In my experience, the longer you wait before turning them, the greater the likelihood that the bark will separate from the wood at the cambium layer. CA can sometimes fix it, but sometimes the piece tears off and vanishes into thin air, leaving you with nothing to glue back on 

As David said, there's a general consensus that wood felled in the winter (when the tree is dormant) is more likely to hold its bark than wood felled when the sap is running. I don't know if it's true or not.

There are 2 approaches to turning green wood.

First, you can go hell-for-leather and turn it as thin as you dare in one swift operation, then let it warp and twist (and hopefully not crack) as it dries. If I'm remembering it correctly, natural edge bowls tend to shrink in such a way that the high-points pull together, making them even higher, and making the low points look like they've swelled out sideways.

The other approach is to do the turning in two steps. First rough-turn, leaving the wall thickness about 10% of the bowl diameter (between 3/4 and 1 inch is typical, since bowls with diameter 8 to 10 inches is typical) then let it dry. Brown paper bags work well -- with or without shavings (one turner whose opinion I respect -- John Lucas -- says not to use shavings, as they can encourage mold growth.) It can take several months to dry to equilibrium.

After it's dried, remount the bowl on the lathe and turn away the out-of-round portions, leaving behind a nice round bowl.

Note that the "10% rule" is a guesstimate, and some wood which moves a lot as it dries could end up being so out-of-round that you can't create a round bowl from it after it's dried. (For those types of wood, you might have to rough turn to 15% or more.)

I've had a couple of successes doing the twice-turned approach with live edge bowls, and a couple of spectacular failures. Even before they distort, there's a lot of "turning air" -- at the peaks of the wings the gouge will be cutting a little wood, then a lot of air, then a little wood ... I've found this is the time that the bark is most likely to say "adios amigo".


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## TimR (Aug 6, 2015)

I think Duncan nailed this topic well. My preference is to not twice turn a natural edge piece, and to deal with warpage at the foot area, I typically turn a ring on the base that I can easily carve away into 3 legs (or 'nubs') to sit on.


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## duncsuss (Aug 6, 2015)

Drying between rough turning and finish turning (if you go for the "twice-turned" method) ... how do you know when it's dry enough to turn again?

By definition, for wood that isn't sealed by varnish or similar, this is when the moisture content of the wood is the same (or very close to) the relative humidity of the atmosphere where the wood is sitting. That's a moving target, of course, but you can get close enough that any little changes won't cause the wood to change shape while you're turning it.

My normal method of drying, as I wrote earlier, is to put the rough-turned item into a brown paper shopping bag and set it aside for a while. Actually, what I do first is put it on my digital scale (about $12 from Harbor Freight when it's on sale) set to "grams" and with a Sharpie I write the date and weight on the outside of the bag.

Then when I come back in a couple of weeks, I take it out of the bag and weigh it again, writing the new date and weight on the bag.

Lather, rinse, repeat ... until it goes three consecutive measurements without losing weight. That means it isn't losing water. Which means it's at equilibrium.


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## HomeBody (Aug 7, 2015)

Cherry is wonderful tight grained wood. It's kinda plain though. I dug a cherry stump last fall and milled it. Even the cherry stump was pretty plain which surprised me. I'd go for those crotch pieces. It should have some figure in there. Gary


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## duncsuss (Aug 7, 2015)

Accelerating the drying process for "twice-turned" bowls ...

After rough-turning so the wall thickness is about 10% of the rim diameter, you might not want to wait months for the wood to dry out and reach equilibrium moisture content. There are a couple of ways to accelerate the drying process, I've only used one of them -- the microwave.

What I did was weigh the blank and write down the weight. I use grams simply because my digital scale only goes to 1/8 oz in Imperial units -- that's about 3.5 grams.

Then I put the blank into the microwave and nuked it for a minute, then opened the door _*while standing way back*_ ... you don't have to do this, but the first time you try it you'll wish you had. Take the bowl out, taking care not to burn yourself.

(By the way, if you didn't already have a spare/junk microwave, you do now. Don't use the one in the kitchen.)

Allow the blank to let off steam for a minute or so, then weight it again and note the reading.

Back into the microwave, give it a blast, let it off-gas, and weigh it again.

As you go along, you should notice the amount of weight loss gets smaller. When it gets down to below 10 grams, I reduce the duration of nuking. It is possible to set the wood on fire, especially if it has pockets of resin. (Correct, you don't need to ask me how I know this.)

Eventually, there won't be any weight lost from one blast to the next. This is a good time to stop nuking it.

Leave it out in the open for a day or two, because at this point it's most likely drier than the ambient air, and it will need to stabilize by taking in a little moisture.

This technique worked for me on a bowl made of apple and another (I forgot what wood that was). YMMV.


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## Aurora North (Aug 13, 2015)

Turning cherry to pop your cherry?! Must be a sign. 

I would think with them having bark you would want to bandsaw or chainsaw that off. Maybe in a hexagonal shape? Then throw it on the lathe so there is less hogging work to do. And also to lessen the beating on your gouges.

I'm in the same boat man. Just picked up my very first lathe and haven't turned anything on it due to time/baby. And believe it or not, 10 minutes away someone just cut down a cherry and walnut tree and has the log sections just sitting out... I was thinking of asking to take a couple, but the bark issue had me rethink it. I would need to get a ripping blade for the chainsaw because I sadly don't own a bandsaw yet.


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## DKMD (Aug 14, 2015)

Good advice so far...

For processing, cut away all checks, cracks, and pith before sealing... Leaving any cracking defeats the purpose of removing the pith and sealing the end grain. 

The 6" logs can be turned for hollowform or small bowls. They're also good for generating spindle stock. I've found little use for green spindle blanks, so cutting and stacking some 2x2 and/or 3x3" spindle blanks will allow you to have dry stock in the future.

Green wood is a lot of fun to turn, so I'd recommend turning to final thickness for your first several pieces. Try to get the wall thickness even throughout. Don't bother sanding them. Flip them over on the bandsaw, and cut them in half to gauge your consistency. It's free wood, so why not use some of it to get the bowl basics down.


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