How best to section a live oak crotch with 5 limbs?

[Jay Shields]

We recently had a live oak tree in our yard that died. Since it had to come down, I've saved anything that was larger than about 12-14" in diameter, so I now have several decent sized half-logs that been end grain sealed and I will turn them as I get the chance. The sapwood looks to have some great figure in it (see last pic below), so I'm looking forward to turning it ... although I'm NOT looking forward to LIFTING it: that wood is HEAVY!

One section I haven't yet split, however. About 6 feet off the ground, the tree divided into 5 branches. I've used anchor seal on all the end grain, but have not yet cut it into sections because I have no idea how best to split it. With a "regular" crotch, I'd split it along a line between the pith of each limb. But with 5???? Needless to say, they are NOT in the same plane. I'll post some pictures below. Two of the limbs were cut off together - in the photos, the cut on top of the log shows two piths. The crotch section is 32" long by 32" wide (widest point). The base is 19" across, and each limb was between 9 and 12 inches wide. If anyone has suggestions on approaches to splitting it to best show off the crotch grain, I'd be very appreciative!





Thanks in advance!

 

[Dave Landers]

These are difficult sorts of crotches to figure out. But if you don't worry about it and do "something" it'll probably work out. Especially looking at the lace in that sapwood, I'm not sure how you could go wrong in any case.
I do find it helpful to predict what I'm going to get, then cut it and turn it, and see what I get. Do that enough and you'll start to develop your own "feel" for what's going on inside the log.

With a "regular" crotch, I'd split it along a line between the pith of each limb.

Yep, that's the usual/normal.
Although note that when you do that, you are cutting right straight thru the best crotch figure (that line between the 2 piths). And you have to then decide if that figure is going to be in the bottom of your bowls (meaning a natural edge piece or a smaller bowl) or it's going to be mostly cut away and end up on the rim of a bowl.

Sometimes you can try making 2 cuts, one thru each of the piths, perpendicular to how you describe, and end up with basically a "triangle" containing all the best crotch figure in one piece. Especially if you have a larger crotch, this can be a nice thing to try.

 

[hockenbery]

this is fun one some of the leaders were cut too short for a heart shaped bowl the two that are near perfect for a heart shaped bowl probably have a bark inclusion.

I do a demo on turning a natural edge bowl from a crotch.
this thread had a link tto some slides that talk about crotches, bark inclusions, and how to get a heart shaped bowl

Naural edge bowl from a crotch

Turning a crotch is fun and produces a heart shaped bowl with a highly figured bottom. I put a video from a demo I did in may on YouTube. These are nice bowls for turners who have done 4-5 natural edge bowls without getting a catch. While best suited for intermediate and advanced beginners...

www.aawforum.org

your Crotch has the signs of a bark inclusion Between the two leaders I point out in the photo.
It may not be a bad one but it looks bad To me only way to find out is make the cut.
if it were me I’d skip this one unless I really wanted a NE heart shaped crotch bowl - worst thing is you get 2 small NE bowls

You might consider getting the two blanks below an see what’s left
the NE drawn will have 3 high peaks - almost like a bowl turned from a cube but so much better with the flow from the rims. This will be a tough to impossible piece to turn if you have no experience with NE bowls and an easy fun turn if you have turned a lot of NE bowls.
the platter blank I would seal the endgrain abhor seal and dry it for a couple off years.

 

[Jay Shields]

Thanks for both replies! A lot to think about ... I'm not in a rush to cut it, especially since we had a second live [now dead] oak near this one. It's going to come down soon, so I'll have even more material to work with. The second one has a crotch with 3 or 4 limbs (one was taken off years ago), so I'll probably end up doing that one first. I've turned a couple of NE bowls, but they were both smaller so I'm not going to get too aggressive to start. Probably will begin with one or two "easier" ones, even if they're not optimal for catching the best grain patterns. Depending on how those go, I may attempt something harder on the second crotch.

Thanks for the link to the video, Al. I've watched it once already and will likely do so again later.

BTW, the dark heartwood that was shown in the picture has now faded to the same basic tone as the sapwood. I haven't worked with live oak before ... is that usual? I know a number of species change color upon exposure to air, but that was quick (happened within a couple of days of being cut, I believe).

I'm including a couple of pics of the second tree; if there are any suggestions for how to section it, I can make a request when it's cut down later this week.

Looking NW:



SW view:

 

[hockenbery]

Thanks for the link to the video, Al. I've watched it once already and will likely do so again later.

this is the same demo at the Sarasota club. Laurel oak crotch.
might give you a different perspective. The audience got to see the slides on the big screen.

the blank is a little bit punky. Sarasota brought me a cherry crotch but it was cracked. I brought two old blanks that I had plastic wrapped. a really nice camphor blank that had cracked and the laurel oak that was a bit beyond its shelf life.
I like turning live oak and laurel Oak.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6XccQl_0BY