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Managing wet burl turning

Joined
Jun 10, 2021
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Greetings all, i have some of what I was told is Siberian Black Elm, and I picked up a few small scrap while I was at it. This one was a small wedge and still has a flat spot on the side. I was mainly do it for practice, but now that is bowl shaped I’m wondering what sort of finish I should put on it. It started at 50% moisture, I had to do it over several days so I coated it with endsealer between each session.
i slapped some friction polish on it.
Best, Spike
 

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Joined
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If you put friction polish on it, you've already got a finish on. If I understand correctly, friction polish has some wax in it, so you won't be able to put another finish on top of it. Are you planning to remove the friction polish somehow and replace it with something else?
 
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My thinking was to try and slow moisture loss, I’m wondering what this is going to do as it dries. I left the walls thickish out of fear of it exploding, but not thick enough for twice turning. It is really dense and heavy.
 
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Leaving walls thick gives it a better chance of exploding as there will be more stress in the drying. Get it thinner and the wood can move with less cracking. I really dislike shiny finish on bark and very organic turnings. Reminds me of wonderful burls, with epoxy poured on it, and plastic Roman Numeral number clocks stuck on it. The look of nature dipped in plastic is a horrible conflict. A very smoothly sanded burl with a flat finish on it is what I prefer. Usually I let it dry and then spray on artist fixative.
 
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Thanks Richard, the shiny on the bark is from the large amount of super glue that kept it from flying off!
I did some thin wall with another chunk of this stuff…
 

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Joined
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Yep, when you turn thin, you can go through the side. It's something we've all done. You can use a bright light to help you detect when you're getting too thin.

So, thin is still the way to go, as is a uniform wall thickness. Your idea of putting some finish on to slow the drying is a good one. I would suggest a coat of whatever finish you plan to use as a final one. You can also wrap or bag to slow the drying down further. I don't know if you're on the wet or the dry side of Oregon, but that would affect how hard you need to work at slowing the drying. Shooting for a uniform thickness of less than 1/4" is the way to go with once turned bowls and you had a pretty good one going on that second bowl. Too bad. Maybe you need a playdate with Reed (Robo Hippy) in Eugene. He keeps asking people to come visit him.
 
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Thanks Dean! I live on the wet side, Oregon City to be exact. I just put my little turning into a ziplock bag, I want to see what sort of condensation happens. I have never watched someone turn live, just videos and books. I have Richard Raffan cued up in my laptop!
 
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I just put my little turning into a ziplock bag, I want to see what sort of condensation happens.
Me, too. Keep me posted. I just tried stashing away a pretty wet apple wood roughed out bowl (planning on twice turning) to try and see if a ziplock bag would have enough air in it to allow the wood to slowly release moisture and I fully expected to see condensation on mine, but after a month, I find none yet, so I got a curious result, but it is only one result.
I also have a couple of blanks that I wrapped all around with saran wrap plastic wrap (just that) in another bowl-drying experiment.

I've already tried fresh wood chips packing with what seems to me, limited success (out of the woods I have had to work with so far, cherry, ash, and apple, all three species have developed crazy warp and cracking on random bowls of different sizes and thicknesses - more than I'd really have liked, so I am still looking for just the right drying method for my zone, north central P.A. mountains - out in the boondocks). I eventually hope to come up with a way to dry both once turned and twice turned green wood items to minimize or eliminate cracking (warp would be expected of course) at a more consistent rate.. I have had to throw out some really gorgeous pieces (grain patterns, etc) because I could not finish them due to cracking, and some once turned for the same reason...(learned my lesson after the second one I tried to rescue blew apart on the lathe! the first one just fell apart bit by bit, ended up turning a 4 inch platter which then cracked while sanding) - the ash and cherry would seem to crack willy-nilly wherever it wanted, the apple had a tendency to crack and separate at its growth rings (ring shake, which any tree can get) So I am still experimenting with various drying methods I read about (or happen to think of - control air flow and/or temperature, rather than humidity level, might work out.. I'm still debating sacrificing precious shop space to build a DIY light bulb kiln)
 
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I would expect the plastic bag to get moist inside as the wood releases moisture, but soon reach equilibrium--long before the wood is dry. The goal is to slow, not stop moisture loss. If the once turned bowl is thin enough, I put it in a paper bag and that allows moisture loss at a slightly reduced rate. Our climate is arid and it works fairly well except for fruitwood. My good friend would put on a coat of wipe on poly, and that slowed things well for him.
 
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Well, I don't use the wet chips as mold can happen. One technique from Christian Burshard, who loves madrone burl, is to put the piece in a paper bag, than put that inside a plastic bag. Change the paper bag daily. The paper bags can be reused once they dry out. If it works for madrone, it should work for just about anything else.

robo hippy
 
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