Hi JW, I am now interested in supplying a limited amount “turning rounds” for lathe work. I’ve heard two schools of thought: 5″ or 6″ rounds are best because you can turn to the heartwood, the other is to split a larger round in the center and work with two halves. The wood I’ll be cutting is maple, cherry and oak mostly, and then air-drying in a shed. Thanks for any advice, jrmdog
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A round that includes the heart of the log is much more likely to split, generally the core area of a log is almost always cut away and discarded when cutting up a log for any purpose other than firewood.
Get rid of the pith...
As John said, the pith (very center of the log) will split. Can't tell from your post if you're turning bowls, hollow vessels or doing spindle work, but if you're doing bowls and you're turning green wood, you can cut the blank and mount it such that the pit is where the rim will be, and turn away the wood to just below the pith when you fact it off before hollowing. Take away the pitch and a little more.
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