I have a number of sycamore blanks that I cut from the downed tree about 6 months ago. I cut them into rounds and coated them with end grain sealer as soon as I could. Recently I checked them - and discovered that half had some open splits in a number of places, some that I could probe with a thin knife blade to as much as 4 inches! Needless to say, I was less than pleased... 
I separated the problem blanks and started turning them to see if I could salvage anything. Out of the 22 I went through in the past week, I have gotten 5 useable bowls - that have warped in some very interesting shapes. The rest were not useable for turning, so I gave them to a friend who does carving - hopefully she can get some use out of them. Many that looked like small splits at the surface actually opened up inside to large holes...not the best thing to spot when almost done with turning the shape.
It's not the cost of the bowls - I paid about $30 for what amounted to 50 blanks. Even the work I put in getting them set up was a lesson. But I really would like to save the rest of the bowls - preferably to dry wood so I can turn something that will keep it's shape. They range from 6" to 12" rounds, and 3" to 6" deep. They are coated on all sides.
I tried turning one and drying it in the microwave - instant splits and cracking sounds. I am willing to rough them into shapes for later - which should make them dry faster - but would like to be sure it has a chance of being worth the effort. If I do that, then recoat them, can I expect a reasonable survival rate?
It's really interesting wood, strange color but some great red vanes running counter to the grain (and that's what the splits seem to run on, the red vanes, not the grain!).
I separated the problem blanks and started turning them to see if I could salvage anything. Out of the 22 I went through in the past week, I have gotten 5 useable bowls - that have warped in some very interesting shapes. The rest were not useable for turning, so I gave them to a friend who does carving - hopefully she can get some use out of them. Many that looked like small splits at the surface actually opened up inside to large holes...not the best thing to spot when almost done with turning the shape.
It's not the cost of the bowls - I paid about $30 for what amounted to 50 blanks. Even the work I put in getting them set up was a lesson. But I really would like to save the rest of the bowls - preferably to dry wood so I can turn something that will keep it's shape. They range from 6" to 12" rounds, and 3" to 6" deep. They are coated on all sides.
I tried turning one and drying it in the microwave - instant splits and cracking sounds. I am willing to rough them into shapes for later - which should make them dry faster - but would like to be sure it has a chance of being worth the effort. If I do that, then recoat them, can I expect a reasonable survival rate?
It's really interesting wood, strange color but some great red vanes running counter to the grain (and that's what the splits seem to run on, the red vanes, not the grain!).
