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southern red oak
- Thread starter Charlie Knighton
- Start date
john lucas
AAW Forum Expert
Charlie, explain your barrel comment. I haven't heard of that method. I've turned spalted red oak. It turned well but it wasn't punky anywhere. If yours isn't you shouldn't have any trouble.
barrels
i bought some cardboard barrels with the metal locking lids, split some southern red oak and put it in the barrels with no anchoseal just some dry shavings the middle of last november. i took a piece out, turned it round early july, i plan to make hollow form. the oak has spalted in the time it was in the barrel, i was planning to ebonized the oak for the summer contest, but not sure i will use that piece now or not. i have not turned that much oak and have not seen many turnings with oak, none with spalted oak. the outside of blank is much dryer than the inside of blank. i did have one crack in the pie shaped blank that was split and cut off before rounding. the blank was 9 inches tall and i have made it 7 inches tall , will probably have 4 to 5 inch wide turning. the spalting is mostly in the sapwood i believe.
if i put oak in wood turning pile with anchoseal it cracks and splits
i bought some cardboard barrels with the metal locking lids, split some southern red oak and put it in the barrels with no anchoseal just some dry shavings the middle of last november. i took a piece out, turned it round early july, i plan to make hollow form. the oak has spalted in the time it was in the barrel, i was planning to ebonized the oak for the summer contest, but not sure i will use that piece now or not. i have not turned that much oak and have not seen many turnings with oak, none with spalted oak. the outside of blank is much dryer than the inside of blank. i did have one crack in the pie shaped blank that was split and cut off before rounding. the blank was 9 inches tall and i have made it 7 inches tall , will probably have 4 to 5 inch wide turning. the spalting is mostly in the sapwood i believe.
if i put oak in wood turning pile with anchoseal it cracks and splits
john lucas
AAW Forum Expert
I like oak but I don't turn it much. It rusts everything in the shop. I think most people shy away from it because it can be kind of bland. The the summer forms contest it shouldn't matter what wood you use. I would use the ones you have on hand unless the shape you are choosing requires a certain type of wood.
Thanks for the info on the barrels. I'm always looking for a better way to save wood. I have much to much go bad but it's mostly because I have really lousy storage conditions for both fresh logs and rough turned bowls. Still it's all free except for the time involved and I guess roughing out a bowl is still good practice even if it goes bad on you.
Thanks for the info on the barrels. I'm always looking for a better way to save wood. I have much to much go bad but it's mostly because I have really lousy storage conditions for both fresh logs and rough turned bowls. Still it's all free except for the time involved and I guess roughing out a bowl is still good practice even if it goes bad on you.
John,
you are welcome
i was going to ebonize the oak because it has a high tanin content.
the barrels i have have metal tops and bottoms, so i glued some cardboard to the insides of the top and bottom.
you are welcome
i was going to ebonize the oak because it has a high tanin content.
Oak in cardboard boxes
Charlie, I quite like turning oak. I’ve worked with many kinds - cork oak, tan oak, black oak, valley oak, live oak – While their cell structure varies a bit they are all very similar in how they respond to turning. We have quite a lot available in California due to the sudden oak death problem. There is a lot of movement (shrinkage) in the green wood. I find it is best to let is sit in a cool and shaded place for a couple months before milling into turning blanks; but then that is what I prefer with almost all the green wood I acquire. By green turning to finish you can get some wonderful surface textures as the wood dries.
John, have you used the cardboard box drying method? I’ve had good success the last few years by placing my rough turned forms in heavy cardboard boxes for the first six months or so. A box of about 3 – 5 cu ft works great for a pile of forms and you can easily control the air exchange by how much you open the top flaps (or add holes with flaps). I keep the box closed fairly tight for the first month (at least during the summer when our humidity drops) and open the boxes every couple days and rotate/reposition the forms inside. Then I start leaving the flaps partly opened after that, checking the contents weekly. I will swap bowls form one box to another depending on what I see going on, or add fresh green forms to a box that seems to be drying to fast. This might sound fussy but it’s pretty easy to do. Charlie’s barrels sounds OK if you want to trap humidity but may be more difficult to actually control the daily air exchange.
- Scott
Charlie, I quite like turning oak. I’ve worked with many kinds - cork oak, tan oak, black oak, valley oak, live oak – While their cell structure varies a bit they are all very similar in how they respond to turning. We have quite a lot available in California due to the sudden oak death problem. There is a lot of movement (shrinkage) in the green wood. I find it is best to let is sit in a cool and shaded place for a couple months before milling into turning blanks; but then that is what I prefer with almost all the green wood I acquire. By green turning to finish you can get some wonderful surface textures as the wood dries.
John, have you used the cardboard box drying method? I’ve had good success the last few years by placing my rough turned forms in heavy cardboard boxes for the first six months or so. A box of about 3 – 5 cu ft works great for a pile of forms and you can easily control the air exchange by how much you open the top flaps (or add holes with flaps). I keep the box closed fairly tight for the first month (at least during the summer when our humidity drops) and open the boxes every couple days and rotate/reposition the forms inside. Then I start leaving the flaps partly opened after that, checking the contents weekly. I will swap bowls form one box to another depending on what I see going on, or add fresh green forms to a box that seems to be drying to fast. This might sound fussy but it’s pretty easy to do. Charlie’s barrels sounds OK if you want to trap humidity but may be more difficult to actually control the daily air exchange.
- Scott
Scott,
you do have some very nice oak turnings in your gallery, i liked the 2 peas, intrigued by the cork oak, and liked the inclusion in another oak turning. your embellishments show how far up the learning curve you have attained. oak to you!
no air exchange, except open to add more wood, then closed back up
you do have some very nice oak turnings in your gallery, i liked the 2 peas, intrigued by the cork oak, and liked the inclusion in another oak turning. your embellishments show how far up the learning curve you have attained. oak to you!
no air exchange, except open to add more wood, then closed back up
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Our local red has too much tannin to spalt anywhere but the sapwood. Not sure it would even in extreme conditions like the ones you created. Pretty much the same as with the local cherry, yet people claim to have spalted the stuff elsewhere.
That right-hand piece is going to be a challenge, because it looks like you went all the way to punky white. The Forest products folks distinguish between cellulose-eating and lignin-eating fungi. Yours has suffered a lot of delignification.
I have a lot of things to say about oak, but ordinary-looking is not one of them. The drama of the ring-porous structure needs only a little oil to show big differences. I like the way it turns, but it can be tough on the cast iron. I clean mine up thoroughly, though I suppose it might be a manufacturing defect. Perhaps I should write to the company about that.
That right-hand piece is going to be a challenge, because it looks like you went all the way to punky white. The Forest products folks distinguish between cellulose-eating and lignin-eating fungi. Yours has suffered a lot of delignification.
I have a lot of things to say about oak, but ordinary-looking is not one of them. The drama of the ring-porous structure needs only a little oil to show big differences. I like the way it turns, but it can be tough on the cast iron. I clean mine up thoroughly, though I suppose it might be a manufacturing defect. Perhaps I should write to the company about that.
MM
thanks for the comments and hints, i am never quite sure when i start something exactly where i end up, but i kind of enjoy that aspect
thanks for the comments and hints, i am never quite sure when i start something exactly where i end up, but i kind of enjoy that aspect
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Looks like fungus in the sapwood, leaching and bleaching in the heart. Distinct borders are pretty characteristic of spalt. The heart stuff sort of blends.
Any significance to the band-aid box? I only ask because I just got done watching Roy who had two band-aids and one active bleeder today.
Any significance to the band-aid box? I only ask because I just got done watching Roy who had two band-aids and one active bleeder today.
who is Roy?
who is Roy?
i always keep bandaids out, Dad needed them and John Redd across the street will ocassionally need one, guess we have had band aids in the living room for over ten years
the spalting is in the sapwood again in this blank
who is Roy?
i always keep bandaids out, Dad needed them and John Redd across the street will ocassionally need one, guess we have had band aids in the living room for over ten years
the spalting is in the sapwood again in this blank
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WHAT? You don't know Roy Underhill?
Carpenter, turner, joiner and raconteur, he's worshiped by hand-tool lovers everywhere. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Underhill Though his books on hand methods are legend, his Khrushchev's Shoe and Other Ways to Captivate an Audience of 1 to 1,000. is a wonderfully well-written and humorous book I have gifted on several occasions to those who are facing the public.
Noticeably absent, as those who know Roy and his show would expect, are any works on finishing. Only one I've seen him employ regularly is hemoglobin. I can even recall his mentioning that blood turned black on high-tannin white oak.
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thanks for the tip, i reconozie the face, but am not a regular viewer, i could not find this blood finish at Craft Supplies, is it marketed under
Roy's Secret Blood Finish or another such name?
how long does it keep?? any problem gelling?????
Roy's Secret Blood Finish or another such name?
how long does it keep?? any problem gelling?????
the largest piece of oak cracked, i was hoping to make salad bowl out of it, oh well, it is cracked on both ends and were not receipical cracks
finished another hf today, and will try to get one more hf out of the blank on left
now i need to refill the barrels with oak
finished another hf today, and will try to get one more hf out of the blank on left
now i need to refill the barrels with oak
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reload, lets see... august, september, october, november....might have to try a piece in november
it was like i was at a all u can eat thing, i could only get 1 split up section in my 2 barrels, the other piece is firewood unless you can get up here before it starts cracking and splitting on its on
it was like i was at a all u can eat thing, i could only get 1 split up section in my 2 barrels, the other piece is firewood unless you can get up here before it starts cracking and splitting on its on
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....... how long does it keep?? any problem gelling?????
He keeps it warm and circulating -- and only parses it out a bit at a time. Refrigerating it would be bad news and we might be reading about him in the paper if that happens.
I wonder how many people he has scared away from woodworking with all of his nicks and cuts? It is probably a good thing that he doesn't use power tools.
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None with sense, of course. They realize that when your hands are the "power tool," they take all the bumps, not the machine.
My hands are bloody after machining a mess of hard maple. Death by a thousand cuts, because my machines make crisp edges.
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I was considering my wife's perspective (not that she would have gotten into woodworking anyway), but it always gave her the willies every time that I came into the house needing first aid from either woodworking or working on the car. Anyway, I suppose that we can't quantify what never happened especially considering that those who were afraid of a little blood probably would not have watched Mr. Underhill.
BTW, your reference to Khrushchev's Shoe led me to preview it online and it seems to be a well written treatise on public speaking and instructing. The reviews that I saw were all very favorable. I might have to cough up the $14.95 to buy a copy.