Redwood??

[ashes]

A friend of mine has some chunks of redwood that he would like to turn into bowls.

I know nothing of the drying and working of material so I thought I would ask here.
Should he shape the bowls first then dry, or the other way round.

If redwood dries naturally will it split on the rays or would it be fine? Should a coat be applied to the tops of the wood (he is working with cookies) to prevent fast drying?

What says the folks in the know, and as always, thanks.

[Okrafarmer]

First of all, are you familiar with the process of turning bowls, in general? For most types of wood, you can turn them either dry or green. There are pros and cons to both. Have you ever turned any wooden bowls, or will this be your first time? Or is it your friend who is doing it, and has he ever turned bowls before?

I took a wood lathe class from my local woodworkers' guild a few years back, and I learned a lot of really great info and techniques.

As to redwood specifically, I can't say much about the species, having never dealt with it before. I do know it's beautiful.

[Ianab]

"Cookies" may be a problem if they are just whole slices from a log. They are likely to split no matter what you do to them.

You want short "D" logs to turn bowls from. If the log is 12" dia, then you slice it into 12" sections, then slit those in 1/2 removing the pith. Then you have a flat top blank that's 12x12 that will form the rim of the bowl, and the other side is 1/2 way U shaped already, this becomes the bottom of the bowl.

It's probably best to rough turn the bowl to approx shape, then put them away to dry fully. Because most of the wood has been removed the bowl now dries faster and more evenly, and is less likely to split. It may deform sightly as the wood shrinks, but the thinner sides of the bowl should take that movement without splitting, and you take this oval effect out when you do the final turning.

Ian

[Okrafarmer]

Well put, Ian. I did not catch the fact that he was planning to use cookies. That is generally not a good idea, you are right.

[ashes]

Ok, thanks guys for the feedback.

My friend (one of my roommates) brought home some chunks of a large cookie that he came across in the forest. He was hoping to make them into bowls. We don't have a lathe so turning them wouldn't be and option. His plan was to use hand tools to remove the wood. I didn't think that it was likely that that would work, but I didn't know so I figured that I would ask.

That is really unfortunate because the pieces he has are really pretty heartwood, but they definitely are cookie sections. Not to mention that he carried them home in a backpack green. His back has to be hurting after that walk.

That is an interesting idea Ian using the "d" shaped half log sections, but it would be highly unlikely that something like that would be left behind. This is a logging operation that is close to here in the community forest in Arcata. I haven't gone out to look at what they are doing, but typically they do a small harvest/sale from time to time to cover the community cost of the tract.

Again thanks.

[Okrafarmer]

You would cut a piece to make it D-shaped. Basically half a cookie, but it needs to be a thick enough (long enough?) cookie to work properly.

I did make one bowl from a cookie-like piece. You may certainly try it. Results are usually not the best, but it is usually more fun to play around with a piece of wood than to throw it away.  ;) Your mileage may vary.  ;D

[Left Coast Chris]

Hi Ashes,

Suggest Googling the Humboldt Woodworkers Society.  They have some really nice and helpful members that would be happy to give you advice.    I have worked with a bit of redwood in bowl turning but I live in Anderson just south of Redding and the heat is much more difficult to handle over here.  I often wait till winter to handle green wood since it will almost instantly split.  You will have much less problem living in the fog of Humboldt County.   That said, redwood is a fragile wood regarding spliting but it does not distort or go out of round too much when drying.  The tricky part is that you would be turning the end grain which would make it even more fragile.  Personally I would avoid that situation since the finished piece would be quite fragile.   A local wood turner would be able to give you any hints on drying it though.  One master wood turner I looked up last time I was over was Charles at Charle's Woodcraft.  He mostly turns burls but has turned hundreds if not thousands.  He was good to talk to.  His web site is www.CharliesWoodcraft.com

[ashes]

Chris, thanks for the good information. I will pass that along to my friend.
Ian, I told him about your suggestion, and he was pretty excited because he said there were some smaller rounds that he thought he could get.

He is just doing this for fun, but after living with this guy for a year, I know that once he gets an idea in his head, he tends to go all out.

[Ianab]

If you don't have a lathe it's possible to make bowls with a router. They can be square, rectangular or any odd shape you want. You will want to slit out "planks" and plane them smooth. You can work the outside with normal plane, rasp, sander etc, and hollow out the bowl part with a "bowl" router bit and a template.  Works good for shallow trays etc

Just throwing some ideas out there for what he can do with the wood.

Ian

[Okrafarmer]

Imagination is the key. Far better to try new things even if you have to experiment to do it, than to not try at all. Just be safe.  ;D