Wasting Wood

[Dave Fritz]

I'm finding some blanks are so pretty that I hate to cut away parts. The wood I remove is so beautiful and interesting. Specifically I'm talking about some cherry burls I have. After you've produced a bowl many times you've removed over 50 % of the wood.

Does anyone else think about that or am I a loner on this? If you do how do you deal with it?

Thanks,

Dave F.

 

[David Wilkins]

A bowl saver helps.
My approach is, the wood should look better when I'm done than when I started. I can feel good about what I've done at that point. The bonus is, our working material grows on trees, to we have lots to work with.

 

[Mark Warden]

Your not alone i have the same problem I haven't had any burl other than pen blanks but even that small it's tough to dig in.My suggestion would be as soon as you can get a bowl saver and until then don't stop the lathe till you get to your final shape and you won't see whats going in the shavings pile.

 

[Nate Hawkes]

Dave, I feel your pain. I'd also second the advice for getting some sort of coring system. I personally have a McNaughton, which I have a love hate relationship with. I didn't love it as much when I got it as I do now. I've cored probably a couple hundred bowls on, and need to expand to the "jumbo" cutter or get a OneWay easy core for large blanks. I'm also a packrat for scraps. I cut all my own wood from arborists & friends blow-downs, etc, so I make my own blanks, then round them on a bandsaw. The corners are usually saved if there is any burl or interesting figure; otherwise, I have a chicken wire bin, 4x4x8' behind the shed which ends up being firewood during the winter....
There is a point though, where one realizes that sometimes its just not always worth it to finish turn the cores you remove. I don't know who said it, but there is an often repeated phrase: "life is too short to turn crappy wood", which is applicable here. Sometimes, I throw the whole core in the firewood bin if its going to be really shallow, or just not interesting. Then again, sometimes I get a wild hair and get a 4 or 5 bowl nested set, which is as many as I've removed from a blank before. Maybe I'll get into a 7 or 8 bowl set like the Mahoney BoxElder burls that he is so great at!!

Just know that any coring system has a learning curve. Don't put on any blanks that you're really fond of until you've practiced with several "junky" pieces first, or you'll make a really nice lampshade or funnel....

 

[KurtB]

That little saying about crappy wood is one of John Jordan's. If you see one of his demos in person, I'm sure you'll hear it said.

 

[Richard Baker]

Presumably that famous quote is taken out of the context in which John says it. Much of the wood that many of us have available to turn would probably be considered "crappy wood". Surely Mr. Jordan is not suggesting that those who lack the resources to acquire "good" wood should simply give up turning and find another hobby. Guess it depends a lot on one's definition of "crappy wood".

 

[john lucas]

I just purchased the McNaughton system after researching all the possibilities. I use it all day today to try and get past the learning curve. If you read all the posts from the different forums and do some google searches you can find a lot of info on how to use it. That really payed off today as my first experiences were pretty fair. Only a few catches and out of 10 bowls only one funnel was created. I have a good ways to go to feel really comfortable with the system and will probably create some more funnels but there are a lot less shavings on the floor today they there would have been if I didn't core out the bowls.
I've know John Jordan for a long time and the reason he uses the saying about crappy wood ( and it is paraphrased) is that simply, if you can start with good wood you will waste less time and have a better final product. Let's face it. We all try to save that piece that has some sort of defect, and sometimes we pull it off. I did that today. Or rather I'm still doing it. I had a piece I just couldn't throw away. I've patched 1 crack that will be on the bottom and sort of looks like spalting anyway, and I've filled 3 voids with colored epoxy. It will probably be OK but I could have turned 2 other good bowls out of good wood ( which I have plenty of right now) in the time it has taken to patch and fight my way through this piece.

 

[Dave W]

Dave,

I opted to go with the Woodcut Bowl saver. Out of the three main systems this one also happens to be the least expensive. They all have their pro's and con's. I have cored about 40 bowls so far using mine. Being that I only have a 1hp Jet 1442, this one seemed to be the best way to go. The McNaughton is pretty versitile in that you can conform the basic shapes that you want, but as many have said it has a huge learning curve. OneWay was out of consideration due mainly to price, however it pretty much works the same way as the Woodcut's. With either of these two you are limited to the shape it cuts out, however, the ease of use can really pay off here. When I want to get a look different from the basic shape, I just core my blank a bit thicker than the recomended 10% wall thickness to diameter. This allows for more play in design. If you're going to let the blanks dry, don't forget to coat them with some end grain sealer.

You really can't go wrong with any system. Just make sure you get one that your lathe can handle. A lot of people recommend a minimal 1.5 hp for the McNauton, unless you are using the mini cutters. If your at 1 hp like me, just take your time going through the cut, and clear the chips often.

This is one of a few places that carries the Woodcut: http://www.packardwoodworks.com/Mer...Code=packard&Category_Code=lathes-acc-bowlsav

 

[Mark Warden]

Heres a piece of bark I thought was too nice to chuck.

 

[Kefferpl]

wasteing wood ?

Design ! Like Marks piece of Bark. Once you’ve made a few funnels and some bowls out of whatever wood you could grab. That really nice piece of wood is made special by the design you see in it Or - from it. Design that optimizes the piece you have with size , grain orientation, and form then nothing is really wasted, because YOUR design used it. That is the kind of turning we all reach for.