Dead Plum tree removed

terrydowning · Post by **terrydowning** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 11:24 am

Forgot the Photo
[ATTACH]20515[/ATTACH]

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 6:59 pm

Lookin' good, Terry!:D

BuckeyeDennis · Post by **BuckeyeDennis** » Fri Mar 22, 2013 10:03 pm

How's the plum rootball coming? I've never seen a rootball turning before, and am eager to see what you create!

reible · Post by **reible** » Fri Mar 22, 2013 11:43 pm

I've got a plum tree in the backyard. The information we got was it was a self pollinator, in the 20 years we have had it, zero plums. It does have really nice flowers in the spring.

I'm thinking of taking some of the pictures from this thread and hanging them around the tree this spring. Maybe the added motivation will make a difference.

Anyway I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Ed

terrydowning · Post by **terrydowning** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 11:04 am

It may never get completed!
I pulled it off of the lathe 3 weeks ago as I had some other projects that needed attention. That may have been a mistake. I can see where it has started cracking as I did not get it hollowed out and it still had the pith in it.

I may try to save it but its future is uncertain at this point. I was also running into rocks in the root structure. I thought glue from laminated wood was hard on tool edges. The next time you hear some say. "This wood is hard as a rock" ask them when the last time they tried cutting rock was. Turning a root ball is not for the faint of heart. The good news is that the other timber harvested and processed is seasoning nicely with minimal checking so far. It will be quite some time before anything gets done with that wood though, it will need several more months at least before I can attempt anything with it. I'll try to post some pics of the cracking tomorrow.

Those of you wanting to turn green wood. Please note that you must commit to the turning completely or risk losing the blank.

What can I say, SWMBO wanted those drawers in her kitchen more than "Another stupid bowl", Drawers are done waiting for install (maybe this week), I even reconfigured my shop to make it easier to work in and clean. Spring yard projects are taking precedence as well.

mountainbreeze · Post by **mountainbreeze** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 4:33 pm

I have a question. First though, realize I have not done any turning on my ShopSmith other than a quick "try it out" session.

I thought I saw somewhere that if you turn a bowl with wood that was not first dried, the bowl will crack when it does dry out. Am I remembering that incorrectly? Just curious.

terrydowning · Post by **terrydowning** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 5:26 pm

Bowls are often turned green. And yes you do run the risk of them cracking.

There 2 basic schools of thought when it comes to green wood bowls

Green wood cuts much easier on the lathe than dry wood.

Method 1 Turn the bowl to a wall thickness approximately 10% of the bowls diameter and let it dry out. Typically as long as the pith is removed it won't crack too badly. It will warp some but the exaggerated wall thickness gives you enough to true it up once it's all dry. Once it's dry do the finish turning and final finishing.

Method 2: turn to final dimension and let the bowl warp and crack. It will dry faster than method 1. Once it's dry, do the finishing by hand, warts, bends, cracks and all, very artistic.

I've done both methods.