What to do with this big Sapele board?

[Matt Meadows]

So I have obtained this gorgeous 12/4 Sapele board, 10" wide. Kiln dried.

I have three bowl blanks I needed to cut out of it but still have a 3x10x90" board remaining.

I'd love to resaw it and make some platters but our bandsaw doesn't have the capacity for it.

I'm looking for some ideas. It's not burning a hole I my pocket to cut it up so I have time to dwell on it. I'm waiting on my new grinder and cbn wheels to arrive from woodturnerswonders anyhow, looking forward to this upgrade.

I'm going to go browse the gallery for some sapele for a little inspiration.

 

[hockenbery]

I'd love to resaw it and make some platters but our bandsaw doesn't have the capacity for it.

Easy to cut 3” thick round into two 1 3/8” thick rounds on the lathe.
Turn it round. I would just friction drive it against the chuck jaws.
A couple of methods - part in using the parting tool about an inch or so and then cut the rest of the way with a handsaw.
I put a hacksaw blade in backwards the run the lathe about 30 rpm and put the blade on the cut line this can cut 2-3” deep then finish with a handsaw. Some folk use a Japanese saw with reverse teeth to cut using lathe power - always saw the last inch with lathe off.

You could make a 9” diameter. Seed jar. These are split hollow forms. Sort of like a box glued shut.
Turn two thin bowls with a box joint glue them together.
Then you have this hollow form with a teeny tiny opening

These were made from Sapele scrap
.

This one is red gum eucalyptus

This thread in tips has a video from a demo that shows all the steps

Turning a seed jar - split hollow form

I turned one of these for after dinner entertainment at SWAT-2017 along with Trent Bosch. Trent turned a traditional hollow form in an informal race and finished first. A fun time. Since then I have done several of these in club demos and also did a club workshop where students turned them...

www.aawforum.org

 

[Richard Coers]

Just don't set it back with the idea of turning it latter. It will unused and covered in dust as time flies by.

 

[Brian Gustin]

Can also do some resawing on table saw as long as you have one flat face squared to two jointed edges , just cut about an inch at a time on each jointed edge, raising blade to max lift an inch at a time , then you can just use a rip cut handsaw to cut through the rest using the sawn kerf as a guide , if you want a couple pieces... that way you can also have flatwork boards if desired (I also do flatwork besides turning, so, I have done that a time or two, especially with a very nicely figured piece of a "Cut-Off" I got in an "exotic assortment" box - made a nice jewelry box lid out of it, rather than turning away a lot of nice wood due to an end check that would have given me a 7 inch bowl out of that 12 x 9 x 3 blank...

 

[Brent@TurnRobust]

If you resaw the remaining board to 4/4 or 6/6, you'll need to let the moisture content of the new boards normalize. That's because the inside of a thick board is a different moisture content than the outside. After you resaw, you now have boards with different moisture contents on each side. If you turn them right away, the finish product will probably warp. I have a stack of 8 curly maple plates that were turned by a well known turner from 8/4 that I provided. He resawed them to 4/4 and turned them right away. I now have eight warped plates - a couple of them quite bad. If you want to be real thorough and end up with flat plates or platters, let them normalize after resawing, rough turn and let them normalize again. Then finish turn.

 

[Matt Meadows]

If you resaw the remaining board to 4/4 or 6/6, you'll need to let the moisture content of the new boards normalize. ...... If you want to be real thorough and end up with flat plates or platters, let them normalize after resawing, rough turn and let them normalize again. Then finish turn.

That's actually a good reminder, thank you. The main board will not be stored in climate control so that's a good point to keep in mind. I live in a humid climate.