Bowl gouge discussion

[Mike Heinen]

Ok Changing to a new thread. Something that I caught watching a Richard Raffin bowl gouge video (which was a very good source of information. He was using a blank of ash.. Do I need a different wood to practice? I am using a almost 10yr walnut (witch is hard as heck) I think I might need something softer? I know for spindle practice you can use 2x4 to turn. Is there an alternative to use for bowl blanks?

 

[Don Stephan]

For demonstrations at a local craft fair I used squars of 2x6. Turns and sands well. If not thick enough could surface on a jointer, cut squares, and face glue to make blanks 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 3

Poplar is great for practice and developing skills, but thicker boards can be pricey.

 

[Bob Brown]

Hackberry

 

[Kent Jaffrey]

Green wood is much more pleasant to turn. When I was learning to control a gouge I had a large branch 12” diameter that I turned into a lot of “bowl blanks” with the intent to just make a lot of shavings and maybe a bowl blank or two. Getting practice is the big thing so use what you have.

 

[Brian Gustin]

Do I need a different wood to practice? I am using a almost 10yr walnut (witch is hard as heck) I think I might need something softer?

IMHO Walnut is among one of the worst to get started with for a newbie , especially one that hasn't mastered the difference in feel between "almost sharp", "sharp". and "Sharp-Sharp" - Walnut is one of the more abrasive woods that dulls tool edges more quickly - It isn't the hardness (Walnut relatively soft compared to ash, oak, etc.) , but the silicate content (I.E. Sand) that dulls edges more quickly , so it is a lot harder to judge and get the feel of how your freshly sharpened tool is cutting (Plus if you were lucky enough someone sends you a properly sharpened "sharp-sharp" tool) that you could get in some real practice (developing muscle memory) before having to sharpen again - It is doubly difficult to get good practice when your tools are not as sharp as they could be... and walnut just makes it harder..

Maple is a nice one, green wood also (Do you have your own property with just some shrubs or branches that you have to prune?) Ash is harder than Walnut but less abrasive... However if you wanted just turn away some cheap wood, if you can't find "FOG" wood (Found On Ground), construction lumber does pretty well - if you want bowl blank stuff, perhaps a 2x6 or 2x8 and cut squared off pieces, glue up a stack and have a 4x6x6 or 4x8x8 bowl blank (just need glue and clamps) would give you plenty of cheap practice wood (and if you can achieve a nice clean tearout-free cut without leaving toolmarks/bruising, then you'll likely find your results in hardwood to be even better!)

 

[hockenbery]

Do I need a different wood to practice?

There are many advantages to turning bowls from recently cut trees.
Wood that is still wet with water.
most any native hardwoods a suitable for bowls.
maple, sweet gum, sycamore, cherry, are all beginner freindly.

Oaks can be good too. Live oak and laurel oaks are good beginner woods.

some folks turn bowls from dry wood.
However most bowl turner turn green wood. There are two general paths to a bowl
1. Turn it to finish while green with a 1/4” or less wall thickness let it dry a few days san$cand apply finish
2. Turn a rough out with thick walls dry (6-12 months) then return

You might be interested in a demo I have done quite a few times
I show some slides on green wood, rough turn a bowl to dry, mount a finish turn a dried warped bowl.

Thread 'Working with green wood'

Aug 8, 2015

The August 2015 AAW JOURNAL has great article by David Ellsworth on working with green wood.
This is followed by 11 marvelous ways turners turned cracks into features.

One of David's themes is that the deck is stacked against newer woodturners successfully working with wet wood.
Might be a nice time to get the experienced wet wood turners exchanging information with those who are having problems.

I had lots of bowls and a few hollow forms crack when I started. Now it almost never happens.

I use the deck is stacked theme in a demo I do on working with wet wood.
I show these...

• hockenbery
• Replies: 76
• Forum: Tutorials and Tips

• 

 

[Don Stephan]

My experience drying once turned green wood bowls is different. I place the just turned bowls in paper grocery bags on the concrete floor and weigh them once a week. When the weekly weight loss is 2% or less I continue drying in the bag but move them to a table top. When the weekly weight loss again is 2% or less I remove them from the bag and continue weighing once a week. When the weekly weight loss again is less than 2% I consider them dry enough to sand and apply finish. On average, six to eight weeks for a bowl to stop losing water weight, for me in Cincinnati.

 

[robo hippy]

Well, if you are pretty much a beginner, I would say go with whatever is cheapest. Ash, poor man's oak, is generally not particularly hard. I have used a lot of poplar and alder with my adventures in learning how to use hand planes. Fairly cheap and they cut easily. Walnut dulls ALL tools faster than most other woods. It also makes me sneeze and itch, so I don't turn it any more. FOG wood, found on ground, is usually available for the taking, and as others have said, green wood just cuts so easily. If you know of any fire wood yards, ask them for some wood, and/or buy some. Since I am mostly a bowl turner, I go for whole logs. There is a lot of cherry back there. Hackberry is not really a good fire wood. Black locust and osage are both very hard, even when green. Poplar/cottonwood can be pretty stinky and not good for firewood either. Fresh walnut can be nice to turn. Redbud can be kind of stringy and difficult to get to turn clean, but it works. Just depends on what you can find. Check with local arborists, they usually have to dump a lot of wood. You will eventually need to get a chainsaw too. Depends on what you want to turn. For spindles, southern yellow pine is nice. Once you start looking for wood, it is everywhere....

robo hippy

 

[Kent Reisdorph]

It isn't the hardness (Walnut relatively soft compared to ash, oak, etc.) , but the silicate content (I.E. Sand) that dulls edges more quickly , so it is a lot harder to judge and get the feel of how your freshly sharpened tool is cutting...

Ash is harder than Walnut but less abrasive...

I have turned the hard domestic woods: Osage orange, black locust, dogwood, mulberry, etc. For whatever reason, the worst stuff I have turned in terms of dulling tools is ash. It might be something local, although we don't get much silica here.