Shopsmith Forums

I have turned many Walnut pens and usually have great luck with them. On occasion one will frustrate me. Seldom do I give up as I truly love the finished project. Jim

Wood from limbs, as well as wood from trees growing at an angle or on a hillside, contain reaction wood in order to counter the effects of gravity. On branches or the upper side of hard wood trees growing at an angle, the reaction wood is on the upper side and is called compression wood. On softwood, reaction wood is opposite to that of hardwood; it is on the lower side and is called tension wood. Both compression and tension wood exhibit the same characteristics and will twist and warp on cutting.

Better to cut reaction wood on the bandsaw than on the tablesaw where it could bind and cause a kickback. And, you really shouldn't have any problems with the stuff for small projects, but I'd avoid it for furniture making.

As far as turning crotch wood, it all depends on the piece of wood you have. Some end up with lots of checks and cracking and lots of tension, while other pieces remain solid, perhaps the result of how the wood was dried. I wouldn't give up on turning crotch wood because of a single failure, as it exhibits some beautiful figure when completed. If you have green or semi-green wood, you might want to turn it oversize and then let it dry slowly to stabilize before finish turning.

If you google "walnut crotch wood turning" you'll find lots of images of items successfully turned from this wood.

You asked if the limb wood would dry consistently. I can tell you from experience, the answer is a resounding NO.

Limb wood can be used for small projects though. Remove all existing checking with a chain saw or pruning saw before processing. Rough cut the reactive wood with a band saw but cut your blanks over size to account for warping, shrinkage, further checking, etc. seal the ends of the wood to reduce checking, reduce not eliminate, some checking may occur no matter what your do. Also making sure the pith is removed from the blanks will help reduce checking.

Let the the blanks dry for quite a while figure 1 year per inch thickness, small pieces can be dried quicker using several methods. Food dehydrators, microwaves (Not the one in your kitchen), toaster ovens (again, not the one in your kitchen), Denatured Alcohol (DNA) immersion. Google wood drying methods. If you have the covered, dry space and the time, air drying is always an option.

Once the blanks have reached equilibrium moisture content (they stop losing weight) or the percent of moisture in the wood changes very little from week to week. then you can finish processing the blanks.

Green wood can be turned to finished dimensions and thickness as long as you understand that the finished item may warp some. Think elliptical bowls rather than concentric circles. Leave the bottom thick and a tenon on it and these can be flattened once they finish drying.