Walnut Issues

[Simoli]

So I'm at the lathe roughing out a piece of wet walnut into a bowl-like shape. As I'm trying to turn the bottom I just can't seem to get the cuts/surface smooth. I started using my fingernail grind 5/8" bowl gouge in a cutting position, then smae gouge in a scraping position then finally to a large scraper. Still have a surface that looks like the wood was pulled apart. Even sharpened the gouge just to cover that possibility. I normally don't use wet wood and this is my first walnut. Until now Ive always finished my bowl right away, even with the wet pieces. Am I missing something about this walnut or am I still suffering from the big learning curve? Do I need to just rough it out and then dry it? Maybe its something else that I am doing wrong.

 

[Bob Hadley]

It has been my experience walnut behaves nicely, wet or dry -- most of the time.

But occasionally a piece will have some tear-out exactly as you describe. On such occasions I may "fix it" with some 80 grit or, more recently, I disguised the tear-out in a large English walnut bowl by texturing the interior surface with ball-shaped burr and die-grinder. The prospect of sanding that much surface was, well... uug.

 

[MichaelMouse]

Soft/wet fibers are more likely to contort and bend than firm and dry. Though it's possibly a sign of bad tool presentation, it's nothing I'd worry about until the wood was dry, and more likely to cooperate. Though you don't say it directly, you do imply you're fairly new. New folks tend to try to maximize their wood by making flat bottoms. Is that what you're trying to do? If so, you sacrifice the best aid to smooth cuts, slicing across the fibers in a fair curve. That pick-up is why I leave a button to sand at the very bottom rather than twist out a chunk.

 

[Bill Grumbine]

My experience with walnut is that it either cuts so well that it hardly needs sanding, or it cuts so poorly that it is hardly worth turning. The bad news is, I just had to finish two bowls of the latter for a customer, and I say bad because it is customer provided wood. This stuff was so ragged it looked like I had used the Rabid Beaver Tool to hollow the bowls out. The good news is, it sanded up fairly easily. :cool2:

In most cases when I get walnut that cuts this poorly, it usually goes into the furnace. But then, I literally have tons of the stuff on hand, and most of it is the good variety. Good luck with yours. Once it is dry it may respond a little better to the tools, but that is sometimes wishful thinking.

Bob's comment reminds me of two English walnut trees I had last year. One cut real nice, and one cut real fuzzy, no matter what. I used up the nice stuff for myself, and saved the fuzzy stuff for students. I told them up front what they were in for, and with the proper cutting techniques they were able to get a good finish most of the time. A couple complained, but I reminded them that it would do them no good. First, I have a heart of stone, and second, they needed to learn how to deal with difficult specimens.

Bill

 

[Simoli]

Thanks guys, this helps. I now am confident that the piece of walnut is difficult to turn. I guess I'll get it roughed out and dry it, then have another go at it.

MM, I've turned bowls already (of course not as many as most of the people on this board) just never turned a piece of walnut. You would figure that with walnut being so popular here I would have worked with it before.

 

[Steve Worcester]

FWIW (for what it's worth) if you are going to turn it wet, then dry and re-turn, the surface doesn't have to look that great. Consistent wall thickness (and enough wall thickness) is what matters at this juncture.

 

[MichaelMouse]

MM, I've turned bowls already (of course not as many as most of the people on this board) just never turned a piece of walnut. You would figure that with walnut being so popular here I would have worked with it before.

It's in what you like, I suppose. Walnut makes me sneeze, so I work other wood that's friendlier to my sinuses unless someone's pressuring me to "make something out of my tree." BTDT

If you are turning a faired curve into the very bottom you have less chance of picking up climbing grain. It's those flat bottoms that get you. Only place I really play that game anymore is with platters, and even there I try to get a shallow curve so I can cut across rather than peel up grain. If you think walnut's fun, try it with something strongly ring-porous like elm or oak. I suppose you could call it cowardice, but here's betting there's something everyone avoids because they just don't do it well. Perhaps a new thread?

 

[Simoli]

Walnut makes me sneeze

I think that's happening to me too.

 

[Andy Hoyt]

I love spinning walnut. And one reason is because it provides an instant trip down memory lane. I grew up on a dairy farm. ewwwwww.

 

[MichaelMouse]

Get a dust mask. I presume you're sanding? Get your dust collector and your mask on your side. I used a dampened doubled T-shirt, worn like a western bank robber last time I was obliged to do flat work walnut. Dust collection was lacking. It did the job for me, holding the nasty stuff in the fibers, though I fear it was fatally stained by the process. Turned a thanks for the wood bowl today, and you can see how effective the DC is for me.

Dryer duct with magnetic attachment. hardly anything escapes. Good thing, because oak irritates a lot of people with its tannins.