woodturnas interruptus

[Jason Ledbetter]

If I'm in the middle of turning a bowl blank for drying and I get interrupted (2 kids, 1 wife expecting twins - believe me it happens), should I try and seal the blank and come back later (couple of days) and finish the roughing out, or should I absolutely not start roughing one out unless I know I can finish?

I started a Bradford Pear bowl. I got the outside roughed out and about 1/5 of the inside hollowed out when I had to stop. Two days later when I returned to the shop it had cracked so badly that it can't be salvaged. Just wondering what I should have done.

 

[dkulze]

Just throw it in a plastic grocery bag/garbage bag and tie it tight. You can even leave it on the chuck, if it's mounted (although rust may occur).

Dietrich

 

[john lucas]

Plastic bags work great. I cover it if I'm just going to stop for dinner. Wax your chuck jaws if you think your going to leave it on the piece for more than a few hours. Some woods will rust it badly and quickly.

 

[Bill Grumbine]

Hi Jason

Plastic bags are great, as has already been mentioned. Whether I am working for myself or teaching, if we stop for any length of time, the blank gets bagged. One time almost two years ago I was turning a commissioned piece. It was to go straight from wet to finished as it was an art bowl and had to be done in time for Christmas. I got as far as the outside being done, and had to stop to go do something with the family. Before I got back to the bowl, I suffered a back injury and was out of the shop for three weeks. When I got back, the blank was still in good shape. I had to retighten the jaws to get a good grip again, and there was a little surface rust on the chuck, but other than that, it was like I was only gone for 30 minutes.

Bill

 

[Mark Mandell]

My child-baring days are long past so I don't run your risk from that direction, however I have been forced to leave a turning before its time. Add one more for the Plastic Bag Platoon.

However I have found that tightly sealing some woods, namely maple and hackberry, tends to promote mold growth and the staining that can actually penetrate rather deeply into the wood. Since the wood is wet anyway, I sponge on a chlorine bleach solution before sealing in the bag and that seems to prevent just about all of the problem without changing the wood color.

Mark

PS; Right, that was "just about" meaning "not all"

 

[Steve Worcester]

I plastic bag as well, and if it is long, or I want to leave the tailstock intact, plastic wrap like the use for shipping or in restaurant use. Several layers and then tape the ends up. Definitely keeping the moisture inside will rust the chuck though.

 

[hockenbery]

Freezing is just about a sure thing. It also involves plastic bags.

I have been having students freeze their bowls for years in classes that meet once a week. I have them wrap the bowls in several plastic bags to circumvent the anti-frost mechaninism. The frozen wood can be turned wiithout thawing but it will be slightly harder. Generally beginning students would get the outside shape on their first bowl in one class and do the hollowing the following week. That meant storing a bowl for a week at the worst stage. Freezing works as close to a 100% as anything in woodturing possibly can.

For years, I had used been freezing to save a special blank that I didn't have time to turn like a stash of madrone burl that I lucked into. One day, Duh!, it occured to me that freezing should work for half turned wood too. It does.

For a day or two I would reccomend plastic bags but if it is longer the plastic environment is likely to cause the wood to mold and degrade in color qulaity.

P.S. several students have reported having to eat a container of icecream to free real estate in the freezer.

-happy turning,
Al

 

[DennisM]

Maybe the babies come first

My memories (though somewhat faded) are that when a family is young, hobby time is on a catch as catch can basis - ie unpredictable and in short periods of time. I have memories have being forced out of the workshop because the table saw noise would wake the young ones.

If these memories fit your family, I would suggest that you only attempt to turn fully dry and stable chunks of wood. Any other approach will lead to clashes with the priorities of being a father.

You might consider using this period of life as a time to build your supply of rough turned bowels. My the time your family is old enough to again allow you time in the workshop, you can have a VERY LARGE supply of seasoned blanks.

Did I read Twins?

 

[woodwish]

If I am taking a dinner break or something else short I will place a plastic bag loosely around the green wood while still on the lathe. If I know it will be a few days, or sometimes just overnight, I will remove it from the lathe and put in a plastic bag. For some reason I have never really had a mold or mildew problem, which is odd since this part of the world is so prone to mold and mildew anyway.

If you remove if from your chuck be sure to mark it's alignment carefully. Seems that all chucks are slighty imperfect so marking the alignment makes a lot of difference sometimes, although after a few days it seems all green bowls will warp some regardless of how well sealed it was in the bag.

 

[devonpalmer]

Stretch Wrap

I use the large stretch wrap rolls that shipping companies use to wrap pallets. I put roll on the toolrest and give the piece a spin and its a tight seal. Its inexpensive and a roll has lasted me a year or so easy...