Bowl turning from Green wood

[pineywoods]

Patty that bowl is beautiful. How did that persimon turn? Would it do for bowls? Remember there's a big persimon log in my log pile that has Patty's name on it. Do you have china berry available? I have a 2 ft long but cut that might be ok for bowls, probably be too coarse for pens.
FWIW guys, Patty gave me some samples of her pens. The lady is an artist.

[Patty]

Piney, you are so nice.     

The persimmon is HARD but I love the streaks of black through it. You send me two blocks and I will make us each a bowl...how does that sound?       My mini lathe will do a 7" diameter bowl, the bad boy lathe will do bigger ones...you decide. 

[WDH]

The black streaks!  Good old Ebony family ;D.

[Tom]

I was taught to cut the pith and heart crack out of the blank when it was being sawed out on the sawmill.  My old-timer turner refuses to turn a blank that contains pith.  If there is one there, he turns the edge down until it disappears.

[Patty]

I agree totally Tom. The reason the heartcrack was in the boxelder is because I purchased it sight unseen instead of cutting it ourselves. The wood was just too beautiful to pass up.   I am hoping it won't cause further problems since I tried to eliminate it during the turning process. Time will tell....

I ended up using the wax/shellac stuff we use on the pens. IT turned out very pretty, however my new question is: How do I deal with the wax/shellac that got down into the cracks?

[SwampDonkey]

I totally agree with the old timer Tom. But, all I have is 6 x 6 cherry boxed heart and I'm going ahead with it for pedestal on my table. It's been drying for several years. Of well, will make nice shavings anyway if it busts apart.  :


Just picked up my walnut today and some cherry. I'll soon have to get to work. ;D

[treenail]

Patty, My all time favorite wood for tuning bowls is cherry. Will usually turn them pretty green from the sawmill. For the most part I will rough turn the blank and then microwave very slowly till I have them down to six or seven percent moisture content before I finish turn and sand. Works pretty well for me.

[CHARLIE]

Patty, that is an exceptionally beautiful piece of box elder with a lot of red color in it. Very nice bowl.  One thing to keep in mind about the red color in box elder.....It will turn brown from Ultraviolet rays (UV).   When I turn box elder that has red color in it I use a UV resistant Marine grade Spar Varnish to finish it and then tell the person I give it to to try and keep it out of the sunlight as much as possible. 

[Burlkraft]

I got my 5 gallon bucket of Pentacryl yesterday. I've been holding out for a long time trying to come up with something as effective and cheaper  :  :  :

I can't wait to try it. I got a bunch of green maple burls to experiment with   ;D  ;D  ;D

[SwampDonkey]

Does freezing hurt Pentacryl?

I've always been the type to just go ahead and turn it, what ever happens happens.  ;D ;) :D

I know!  :

[Burlkraft]

I really don't know cuz I was home when the UPS guy dropped it off. It went right in the shop  ;D  ;D  ;D

[Patty]

Thanks Charlie.


I have the bowl still wrapped up in a box ready to give away. My friend and I have not had our Christmas yet. Maybe I will just save it for next year's gift!  ;D