I got into woodturning a couple months ago on whim, more than anything just as a good way to make use of my shop scrap. To that end it has worked quite well, maybe too well. I am finding that I enjoy it more than I expected to, and also that turning a wood block into a finished bowl isn't taking nearly as long as I expected it to. Being that I am using my scrap faster than I am producing it, I first turned to my firewood pile. It's a firewood pile of unknown age or origin so the useful wood available there is limited. Last week my neighbor was doing some clearing, by the time I got around to asking him about the wood all that was left was a couple Sweetgum trunks. I know nothing about Sweetgum, have never worked the stuff so i'm hoping it makes at least a half decent turning wood. I cut out a piece, put it on the lathe and turned out a rough bowl blank. I don't want to do that again. The firewood I turned was damp, but not water running down the wall behind the lathe wet. Might be different if I were viewing this as a career, but i'm not. So, I have a dozen trunk sections of wet wood and am not sure what to do with them. Let them season as logs? Saw them into blocks and let them dry? How long is this going to take? If I were to saw them into 4" thick blocks and let them dry enough so that I could turn rough blanks without the need of a raincoat, how long would that take? They would be stored in my shop which is air conditioned. It's either that or outdoors in the S Alabama heat and humidity.
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Dealing with green logs
- Thread starter David Martin
- Start date
Best to turn now. Yes you could wear a raincoat but the best way is to stand out of the line of fire. Sweet gum splats nicely. Wrap in plastic bag and wait a few weeks and see what you get. You can cut into blanks but will take a while if you want to turn dry wood. The thing about waiting is there will be cracks to deal with even with sealed wood
MC is seasonal. This time of year, trees have sucked up a lot of water in anticipation of their prime growth period. Any wood I cut this time of year is going to sit for a couple months, off the ground on plastic pallets until I am willing to try it. I have worn a bunch of water, but don't enjoy the experience. If you haven't already, split your logs in half or more, eliminating the pith, coat the ends to minimize checking and let the logs sit for a while...........or wear a raincoat. I am in NC so familiar with the heat/humidity thing, I think the AC environment pulls too much water too quickly and causes checking. I choose to let mine sit outside.
If you stack green wood in your shop, it will mold. It needs air movement. Leave it in a log, and it will crack up like firewood. Preparation of green wood is asked over and over and over. Use the search button and you'll have days of reading. There is also a getting started forum here.
You can immediately know if they are green wood turners when you walk into their workshops by the spatter band running up the wall and across the ceiling...
If that isn't for you, buying seasoned or 1st turned blanks might be the way to go. Sources for 1st turned or pre-turned or cored blanks has been discussed on the forum, eg.
Cored Bowl Blanks
Im interested in purchasing a few large cored and dried bowl blanks from US hardwoods. I know Mike Mahoney occasionally sells these and Alexander Designs too, neither have anything available at the moment. Nice walnut, maple, cherry, koa would all be a treat to turn. Large, like big salad...
Time to hook up with your local woodturning club and learn where and how to get more wood. Azalea Woodturners might be the closest one.
Azalea is the Mobile AAW chapter, the Pensacola FL chapter is actually closer to me. They meet on the second saturday of every month. I've been swamped in the shop so haven't been able to make it to one but things are finally clearing out so next Saturday is on the schedule.
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Wet wood will throw water. It’s part of the process. Turning you can do with dry wood includes Platters, boxes, pens, napkin rings, seed jars, all sorts of spindles, segmented work……
I like turning wet wood. I stand out of the spray line and I hang a shower curtain behind the lathe.
You can rip logs through the pith and turn them after a couple weeks there will be less water.
Fresh sweet gum will have the most vibrant colors. Let it sit and you might get spalting or ugly grey wood.
This is a thread on turning green wood. It has 3 parts of a demo I do.
Working with green wood
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...