Preparing small logs

[Michael Beswick]

Mostly I have to buy prepared dry wood for turning but I’ve just been given a few small logs- probably branches to those of you who get complete trees!

I bandsawed a flat for stability and then as seems to be correct cut out the pith- see attached. As the pith is vertical-and in this case neatly down the middle- what criteria should I consider for removing it. I simply cut the flat which determined the position of the cuts but obviously I could have cut the flat anywhere round the long side

What should I do with them now? At present they are in the outside drying store (with no sealant -yet).

Previous attempts at keeping them as logs and painting pva on the ends still resulted in splits when I came to work it.

 

[Michael Beswick]

Oh and apparently it’s Walnut…….?

 

[Sam Fleisher]

If it was me I would put a flat to mount a faceplate on the opposite side of the pith then you could either turn a natural edge bowl and let it dry or rough turn a regular bowl, let it dry then finish turn it after a few months.

I see you're in the UK, doesn't look like walnut I'm used to. English walnut different?

 

[Isaac Fisher]

If they’re going to be bowls you can rough turn them before storing them away to dry. Drying will go much faster with greatly reduced chance of cracks. Removing the bark is a good idea too. Bugs are often found directly under the bark, so removing it and assessing the wood can help prevent transferring them to other blanks or into the structure of your shop.

 

[Michael Beswick]

I agree. To me Walnut is brown! But it was from a tree surgeon so I thought it best not to argue- it was free!

 

[Isaac Fisher]

Also, take them off your saw table ASAP, and brush away the wet dust. Cast iron will rust quickly in contact with wet wood, and many woods will stain too, although it’s pretty superficial.

 

[Richard Coers]

Color and bark all wrong for walnut. Maybe aspen?

 

[Lyle Jamieson]

Mostly I have to buy prepared dry wood for turning but I’ve just been given a few small logs- probably branches to those of you who get complete trees!

I bandsawed a flat for stability and then as seems to be correct cut out the pith- see attached. As the pith is vertical-and in this case neatly down the middle- what criteria should I consider for removing it. I simply cut the flat which determined the position of the cuts but obviously I could have cut the flat anywhere round the long side

What should I do with them now? At present they are in the outside drying store (with no sealant -yet).

Previous attempts at keeping them as logs and painting pva on the ends still resulted in splits when I came to work it. View attachment 56792

I love and always use green wood. I don’t cut it up until I am ready to use it. I turn wet to finished product and cherish the character of the drying process. Using half the tree with the first cut down the middle as you did is correct. Now just put it on the lathe and have fun. If you can not turn it now put it in a plastic bag for a few days til you can find time to turn it. My YouTube channel has many videos of me working with green wood. It’s a lot more fun than turning dry wood.

 

[robo hippy]

I prefer to keep the log whole, and cut off chunks as I need them. This is more simple if you have a chainsaw. Now days there are a number of good electric ones out there. You can lay them flat and cut down the pith. I would then cut the ends square by laying them flat on your bandsaw table. If you are making a NE bowl, then leave it as is. If you are making a standard bowl, I stand the blank vertical, and use plywood strips to mark out a parallel side and cut the bark side off. If you plan to turn it in a month or so, some of the stretch film works. I have kept some round blanks crack free for up to 6 months. That kind of depends on the wood. I wrap only the outside of the rounded blank.

robo hippy

 

[Rusty Nesmith]

I wax the ends to keep it from splitting.

 

[Michael Beswick]

Well it’s the oddest looking walnut I’ve ever seen!! I doubt it’s Aspen as it’s apparently from a domestic garden (?back yard) and Aspen would be an unusual choice.

So I put it on the lathe and turned it. Workshop now covered in long wet string!
It’s about 6” diameter and wall thickness about 1/2” and it’s in a poly bag with shavings and another part turned bowl to let it dry out a bit.

 

[Michael Beswick]

Might it be sapwood? I suspect the small “logs” were branches

 

[Gabriel Hoff]

It's a remote possibility, I do see some yellow rings where the sapwood starts near the bark edge at the bottom of your bowl, which you usually see with walnut when the doing live edge work?-but it sure is not any walnut I have ever seen!

 

[Brian Gustin]

Definitely ain't walnut, but could it be its "kissing cousin" Butternut? (Sometimes known as "White Walnut")

Also looking at your pictures of the roughed bowl, I spy that you already have a crack forming that may require some work to salvage it as turnable by the time it dries out So you may wish to let it go a bit longer than "a bit" of drying time - I find often enough that re-turning a bowl that has not yet reached equilibrium with the environment around it (I.E. it is no longer losing moisture as it is at the same MC% as the surrounding air) can make such fine "hairline" cracks much worse than they would be otherwise... and even then depending on the individual wood (and the individual tree or branch) it could extend that cracking to the point of being unsafe to put back on the lathe... so bear that in mind as you keep an eye on the drying process..

 

[Michael Beswick]

you already have a crack forming

Yup! I have a few other “logs” so I thought I’d just have a go with this bit. Time will tell!
But I also want the tree guy to “remember “ me for future!

 

[Patrick Moran]

Could it possibly be butternut ?

 

[Michael Beswick]

My Wood Directory suggests Butternut is from Eastern US -no mention of Europe so I would doubt it. One of my local club has posted photos of a felled walnut. The heartwood is brown- the sapwood pale.

 

[Ron Solfest]

Another “lightest colored walnut I’ve ever seen” here.

Regarding twice turning, first turning down to 1/2” might not leave enough for you to cut the warping out after it dries. On a 10” blank I usually leave a little more than an inch thickness, even on a 6” blank I’d probably leave 3/4”. Good luck

 

[robo hippy]

That bark does not look like any walnut I have seen, including butternut. Some times the Persian/English walnut can be very plain on the inside, with grafted trees tending to have more color.

robo hippy

 

[Richard Coers]

My Wood Directory suggests Butternut is from Eastern US -no mention of Europe so I would doubt it. One of my local club has posted photos of a felled walnut. The heartwood is brown- the sapwood pale.

Butternut is ring porous, that doesn't appear at all in your blanks.

 

[hockenbery]

Butternut and walnut are the only trees native to North America with chambered piths.
Not sure how useful that characteristic is in UK, but google says every variety of walnut has a chambered pith.
If google says - it must be so.

Here is an example I clipped from a nice walnut platter in the forum gallery where the pith was left as a feature in the rim.

 

[Gabriel Hoff]

Butternut and walnut are the only trees native to North America with chambered piths.
Not sure how useful that characteristic is in UK, but google say every variety of walnut has a chambered pith.
If google says - it must be so.

Here is an example I clipped from a nice platter in the forum gallery where the pith was left as a feature in the rim.
View attachment 56971

Hey, that's mine! I was wondering that that was!!

 

[Rick Urban]

Mostly I have to buy prepared dry wood for turning but I’ve just been given a few small logs- probably branches to those of you who get complete trees!

I bandsawed a flat for stability and then as seems to be correct cut out the pith- see attached. As the pith is vertical-and in this case neatly down the middle- what criteria should I consider for removing it. I simply cut the flat which determined the position of the cuts but obviously I could have cut the flat anywhere round the long side

What should I do with them now? At present they are in the outside drying store (with no sealant -yet).

Previous attempts at keeping them as logs and painting pva on the ends still resulted in splits when I came to work it. View attachment 56792

Michael,
There is a lot of good advice in this thread to which I'll add my 2 cents. I didn't notice anone mentioning logs with the pith off center as it often is in branches due to gravity. In this case I always suggest cutting throug or generously removing the pith so that there will be symmetry available in the remaining "halves." (I have different suggestions if your interest is in vessels.) This will allow you to plan the blank orientation for traditional (largest possible) bowls as well as natural edge. Also cutting in the manner of the picture allows for flat sawn grain orientation, which makes for better figure in most species. Note the log in the picture is not likely to yield satisfactory blanks because of the cracks, but it does allow me to illustrate my points.

 

[Michael Beswick]

In my case the pith was pretty much dead centre- I cut about a 3/4” slice out of the middle Clearly if it’s well off centre it gives more clues as to where to cut it but I’m still at the early learning stage of how to process a log by “seeing” the potential turned items

 

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Well it’s the oddest looking walnut I’ve ever seen!! I doubt it’s Aspen as it’s apparently from a domestic garden (?back yard) and Aspen would be an unusual choice.

So I put it on the lathe and turned it. Workshop now covered in long wet string!
It’s about 6” diameter and wall thickness about 1/2” and it’s in a poly bag with shavings and another part turned bowl to let it dry out a bit. View attachment 56826View attachment 56826View attachment 56827View attachment 56828

This looks more like Ash to me or small Sycamore (Platanus)