Friends,
I may not use all of the right words here. I believe you will know what I am talking about. I need some help from folks who are experience in making bowl blanks from a section of a tree which has recently been felled. (I don’t know exactly how recently)
I was given a section of an oak tree that is 30″ long and about 15″ in diameter. As soon as I got it, I put a wax coating on both cut ends. It is the product sold at Woodcraft for that purpose.
I examined both ends and found only one fairly small split in one end, but there were three splits in the other end. All were radial. None is more than “half a radius”.
I want to make two bowl blanks out of this section. How much could I cut off each end? I could cut off a disk which is a few inches thick, and see if I can still see any cracks or splits. When I reach a point in which I do not see any more splits, how much more should I cut off, just to be safe?
I thought about splitting the section along two of the cracks on one end, and then just “seeing what happens”. Of course, the split could happen in such a way that I don’t get anything out of the section.
So I’d appreciate any advice you have.
Thank you.
Mel
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Replies
Mel ,
I'd probably cut it in the middle then slice off the ends and work my way back to un checked wood . It's a crap shoot at best without PEG or some other chemical preservative .
dusty
Dusty,
I would be very happy to get two blanks out of this. I was thinking that I might have to cut off a number of inches at either and to get to unchecked wood. I'd like to end up with two blanks that are around 20" long and 12" wide. That is the size of a good doughbowl. Even a little smaller would do. For that reason, I don't want to cut it down the middle. This isn't for turning, but for making hand hewn bowls with an adze (possibly starting off with a lancelot or other power carver to remove much of the interior of the bowl. So should I stop slicing off the ends when I don't see any more splits, or should I go even further?Thanks,
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel,
O.K, then what if you slice it with the grain in half , take a look from the innards and hew away .
You should be able to see the checks when split lengthwise and decide where each blank will be taken from the 30" .
is this more what you were thinking , not sure ?
dusty
Dusty,
Since this stuff is new to me, it doesn't matter much what I was thinking. I am trying to get my bearings. Yup, I could slice it down the middle with a chain saw. That would be a nice clean cut. Or I could put a couple of wedges in two of the radial checks, and drive them with a mallet and see what happens. I guess the good part of this would be that it would split along fault lines. The bad part is it might just be a lousy split that ruins the entire section of the tree. I am guessing that the best answer is just to cut it down the middle with a chain saw. Am I guessing right?
Thanks,
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel, I would like for you to try to find larger diameter trees to work with. For the amount of work that I know that you will be putting into these treasures, you need to stay farther out from the heart than you can get with this size.
When you split that 15 in half, you are down to 7.5, and I like to stay about 2" away from the pith, when I can, which leaves 5.5, then you probably have at least 1.5" of sapwood, which leaves you with 4".
You need to put more work into finding trees in the 30" range, then splitting them in half, before you deal with waxing etc.
I don't know if you have a chain-saw, but you should be able to find plenty of large diameter wood in your area. I know when I vacationed there, I was lusting after trees everywhere. You can usually get the wood free if you find out where they are dumping them. Around here, they are usually trying to fill in a pit somewhere. Offer them a stocking stuffer for the wife next year.
Sometimes, when I see a tree that I know will really will have some great wood in someone's yard. I will stop and knock on the door, and leave a card. Sometime home-owners will call and offer trees that they are having taken down. I know I am living right when the tree service drives up and puts the legs down, then reaches into the bed, and sets out a cherry log about 4' through. Sure beats having to go cut and load / haul them myself.
Anyway, Split it in half down the end with the single split, if it lines up with any two on the other end. You can usually see spiral growth in the bark if you look closely. You didn't say how wide these splits are, so it is a hard call without seeing, but sometime they will close up once the ends are sealed, but it is still best to waste some when it comes time to start the project.
Now you didn't ask, but leaving the bark on, attracts insects, which will lay eggs that will infest the sapwood. If you take the bark off, the sapwood will split if you don't seal it also, because it is more absorbent, and de-sorbent than heartwood.
Tim,
Great answer. I have been looking for bigger trees. I just happened to see this piece and asked, and got it. This is four times as big as the past two sections of trees that I have used, so I am going in the right direction. Also, I have that nice piece of air dried cherry that is 4.5" thick, five feet long and between 20 and 24" wide along its length. That is a monster slab of wood, and I am expecting to get three or four big bowls out of it. But before I tear into it, I wouldn't mind getting a bit more experience with "cheap wood". I am working on making contacts for green wood, and made a good one today.I will take the bark off, as you suggested, put wax on the rest of it.You asked how big the splits are and none are more than an eighth of an inch wide, maybe a sixteenth. I don't know if the split on one side lines up with the splits on the other side. I take it your are suggesting splitting the piece, and not using a chainsaw to saw it down the middle???How should I determine how much to take off the ends? Stop when I dont see any more splits, or go even farther??Thank you.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel,
Oak is inherently "cracky" and is always going to give you problems of that kind. The green woodworkers I know generally avoid it for bowl carving or any other object that will be spoilt by likely cracks. There is also that high wastage (over-lively centre, large proportion of sapwood) with oak that Keith mentions.
I've made some ladderback chairs from oak and wasted probably half the timber (and effort) because rungs or posts developed splits, no matter how carefully I dried them. Ash, by contrast, seems immune to such splits, even when dried rapidly.
Funnily enough those green woodworkers I know do turn oak bowls on their pole lathes, once they have cut their blanks from the trunk. These tend to be small eating-style bowls with thin walls. Perhaps this thinness helps prevent the cracking, as the bowls merely warp? (And all those I've seen are very mis-shapen things).
I have a handsome oak bowl turned (not by me) from the burr taken from the parent-in-law's oak that was felled before it subsided their hoosey. Despite having quite thick walls, this bowl has gone very mis-shapen in drying but has no cracks at all. Maybe grain that is not too straight will help absorb the forces generated by drying?
Lataxe
Lataxe,
Yup, I know about oak and splitting. But as they say, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." It was free. I want some practice, and the exercise will be good. If the bowls split, I'll fill the splits with a turquoise filler and call it a design feature!!! I HAVE NEVER MADE A WOODWORKING MISTAKE. I HAVE ONLY MADE DESIGN MODIFICATIONS FOR THE SAKE OF OPTIMAL USAGE OF AVAILABLE MATERIALS!!!I made two other bowls from green wood. One was oak. It is about 5/8" thick and it did not split. I used Rip Mann's recommended method of reducing the risk of splitting by dousing it with mineral oil daily for a while. I don't know if that is what worked, or if it was a miracle. I also made a bowl out of sweet gum. It developed three tiny cracks which I doused with CA glue, and the cracks, which are almost invisible, did not continue, so far. The oak bowl did not warp. The sweet gum bowl did warp so that it now rocks a bit, but no one would notice by looking at it. If I were buying wood or selecting it from a number of alternatives, I would not have chosen gum or red oak. But both came from my yard, and cost nothing. I wanted a few bowls from the trees in the yard, which are not large. I wanted the practice, and I got some exercise. I am now much more competent in the use of an adze, and in the knowledge of which tools do what in bowl-making. I have that big honkin slab of beautiful cherry to make into bowls (4.5" thick by 5 feet long by about 2 feet wide), but want more practice on cheap wood before attacking the big slab. I also want to do some more testing of different ways of reducing the chances of splitting while drying. Thanks,
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
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