Turning Urban Lumber
Notes
- You can find the wall thickness chart mentioned in the video here. This chart is in PDF format, so that you can easily print it out and keep it by your lathe.
- If, as I did when I started turning green wood, you do not have the patients to wait six months for your rough turnings to dry, check out this fine article by Dave Smith on alcohol drying. I have used this method with the same success as Dave. In most cases, the rough bowl blank will be ready within three weeks. Dave's article is also where I got the idea to cover only the bottom of a bowl blank with brown paper bag for drying.
- I hesitate to make negative recommendations, but in this case it is significant enough, and I do not want to see fellow woodworkers get burned like I did. The recommendation is this: Do not buy a McCulloch chainsaw online. Mine went kaput about a month after I bought it, but that is not the problem. The problem is that their warranty process is not at all setup to deal with online purchases. I got the run around for over a year, trying to get it replaced or repaired, before giving up in exasperation.
Recommendations
(click on image for more information)
Turning Green Wood
In this video I show just one way, albeit my most common way, to cut up a log into two bowl blanks (plus the two quarter-sawn boards), but there are many other ways to cut up a log, depending on the shape of the log and on what kind of turning blanks you are after. The first section of this book covers, in much greater detail, the many ways that you can cut up the parts of a tree into turning blanks. As you learn additional, new ways to cut up logs into blanks, one thing that you will notice is that the issue of tangental shrinkage and the instability of the pith are ever present.
Metal Detector
I have ruined a chainsaw chain or two by running into a nail or screw, so it is nice to have a metal detector on hand to find them before the chainsaw does. This is the detector I have. It is a little expensive, but I also reclaim lumber for flat wood projects, and it is good insurance against damaging my table saw, jointer, and planer.
Mini Metal Detector
I have not tried this mini version by the same manufacturer, but perhaps it is adequate for checking green wood, since most nails and screws will be near the surface, where people drive them into trees. It is certainly more cost effective.
Moisture Meter
Although I find my moisture meter quite convenient, I am reluctant to recommend it because if its steep price tag. There are other methods for determining that a blank is dry, such as using a scale and keeping a record of the weight of the blank. When the blank stops losing weight, it is ready for final turning. If you eventually get pretty serious about using green wood for turning, the price tag may them be worth the convenience.
Anchor Seal
This is indispensable. Although the product name "AnchorSeal" is commonly used to refer to end grain sealer in general, there are other products for the same purpose, and they work just as well.
Bowl Turning
In this video I assume that you have at least a little experience turning bowls, but if you are completely new to turning bowls, check out Mike Mahoney's video on basic bowl turning.
Tree Identification
Not all species wood you find from trees that have been cut down will be worth reclaiming, so you will want to identify the species before dragging a load of logs home. You may get lucky and find someone from the tree service that cut down the tree who will know what kind of tree it was, but more often than not you will have to figure it out on your own. I keep my tree identification books in my truck just in case I find a score. Although I have not found a comprehensive book on identifying trees, there are some decent books. Indigenous trees are usually strait forward to identify, but many of the trees planted in urban areas are imported and hybrid. This makes identifying them somewhat of a guessing game. Nonetheless, a decent tree id book is a good place to start.
Audubon Society Tree Identification
I also had this book, which I found decent. I lost the book at some point, and have been meaning to re-purchase it. NOTE: This is the Western version. Be sure to purchase the version appropriate to your area.