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using wet wood

alisboy

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Hi all
Again some help needed.
If i use wet wood i have been told that i should leave it thicker than the wanted finished item, but by how much?

Thanks
Thicky Ernie

Sure i have read it some where. :thinks:
 

Jim

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Oct 19, 2011
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But isn't that method used for remounting the piece when it has dried out? Woody ..... Woody .... Woody

He will be along shortly ... Oh i forgot he will be at his stall today and here i am shouting him ... :whistling:
 

Shaver

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The general advice is 10% of the diameter, I say that with tongue in cheek as it really depends on the tree.

If from the trunk 10% is OK, if from branch wood you may find it better to err on the side of caution and leave the wall a bit thicker. This is because of the numerous stresses in branch timber. Then you go to the other side of the spectrum say Eucalyptus, no matter what you do with it it moves all over the place.

If me I would go for 10% - 15% on a bowl 12 inch and above, less than that you can go thinner as the diameter gets smaller.

Good luck, it beats trying to dry 4 or 5 inch timber, and if stored properly will save a lot of splitting.

PS, Just standing in for Woody as he seems to be earning a crust.
 

Grump

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Suck it and see, turning wet wood is an experiment not a practice and you can only guess with a world of experience which way it will go.
There is no science to it, it depends how wet, what wood, how big /thick / long, to start and when finished, where and how will it be kept once turned what age are you, how impatient are you, what did you have for breakfast, what colour socks are you wearing????
Answer at least all of these questions and even the great and almighty Woody will struggle to predict exactly the behaviour of the piece.
 

alisboy

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Thanks for the reply's and yes have been trying google it, seems to know something about everything and was just looking for a general idea. i will post some pictures when i rough it out tomorrow and then when i think it is dry (several weeks time)

Ernie
 

Grump

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It is great fun though and some real interesting shapes can come from it, enjoy the experience but don't expect miracles and have a towel handy?
 

bluntchisel

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A couple of weeks time, Ernie? Errr... I would suspect that a wet bowl will take rather longer than that, matey. Only my opinion!

Another useful tip is to save your initial shavings and place them in a paper bag, along with the bowl. The idea (I think) is to stop the wood drying out too quickly.

What ever happens, please let us know the result, Ern.

Bob.
 

Woody

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This is one wopping great question with a million answers there are two main stream methods of turning wet wood but it is and always will be a minefield sometimes it will work but another time it wont wet turning depends on so many factors but I will attempt to explain some of them as already mentioned how wet is your wood, what type of wood, were will it be stored, in dry conditions, humid, damp, worm, cold I'm getting a headache
Two methods of wet turning method 1. for (remounting) most bowls turn to an average of 1" thick with a spigot on the inside and outside when you have finished turning it needs to be weighed and recorded then stored in a bag with some of the shavings then after a month or so weigh it again and keep weighing it till the weight stabilises the time it takes will depend on the wood type, storage conditions, weather and size when dry remount using the inside spigot to redefine the outside then remount on the outside to redefine the inside dose that make sense I hope so
Method 2. thin turning many woods will benefit from this type of turning like Sycamore there are two ways this can be done 1. turn paper thin say a small vase using a light on the inside and you will see dark areas were the wood is thicker when finished turn a disk to plug the top inside of the vase to retain its shape when dry sand and finish
2. turn thin about 1/4" will do put it to one side to dry and watch it change shape how much depends on the wood some will move quite a lot some just a little when dry sand and finish
Or just take your chances I do this quite often in hact the last two vases I showed on the forum were done this way and they didn't split if the wood isn't to wet turn sand and Oil lots of oil to displace the water if it dose splits then drill holes along each side of the split and use a boot lase to decorate it quite effective
I think that about covers it but at the end of the day it is a journey of exploration in your own environment because your environment will be different to mine also there is no exact science to this good luck and happy turning

Wow that has given me a headache so I dont know what it will do to you :thumbs::thumbs::noway1::noway1:
 

Penpal

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In our country the rules differ because of the tremendous differences in climate. There are so many ways to hasten the drying, take advantage of the movement and fully turn thin items. For example a visiting guy came to Canberra where I live from the great USA and we gave him a 40 kg block of wood, he turned a cowboy hat around mm,s thick all over knowing what can be acheived, my mate still has that hat and can turn them as well. The timber given was Silky Oak and the bloke got a severe reaction and broke out in welts all over his arms chest and back. Reactions vary with people.

As Woody said and I believe with unknown timber it is suck it and see but most are predictable the worst sections to move all over the place is the sapwood sometimes, the famous Richard Raffan wet turns the majority of his famous stuff beware there needs to be a technique to recovering when dry to as Woody said have an external and internal shape to hold on the lathe believe me that shape can get out of control. Richard Raffan had a big sale here in Canberra a while back of wet turned and dry now bowls etc a lot were beyond redemption to rechuck.

I personally am most grateful Woody is on this forum he is my Guru in bowls.

Kind regards Peter.:goesred:
 

alisboy

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Hi all

Woody thanks very much for the time it took you to answer and info will give it a try over the weekend. I will rough turn it and fill it with shavings and see how it turns out over the weeks and will show the result when and if it works. I have several other bits of wood that are wet and will try a few over the next few weeks. it will work or not we will see. Again thanks for the advice.

Ernie:pray:
 

Woody

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Good luck one thing I forgot to warn you about is water you may get sprayed depending on how wet it in so it will be a good idea to wear goggles and keep your mouth shut LOL also you may bump into the od bug but they dont taste to bad :funny::funny::funny: and I'm not kidding I turned a wet Cherry log once and I kept getting sprayed it wasn't till I stopped for tea I see what I was getting sprayed with Grubs and lots of the big fat tasty mortals :vomit::vomit:
 
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