How to prepare green blanks
Hello! I'm just starting--havng fun with little projects like pens and pepper mills. I turned a pepper mill from a green piece of osage--the mill turned out nice, but now that it's been sitting for a few weeks, it's developing cracks. So now I'm worried about a piece of claro walnut that I'd like to turn. Both were covered in wax. I've turned the walnut to a cylinder but left the wax on the ends. It's been sitting a week or so. Is there a rule of thumb about how long the wood needs to dry or something I can do to prevent it from cracking. I thought the osage would be ok since the center was drilled out and the walls were relatively thin in most places. Both pieces were 3 inch square turning blanks.
Patience and don't give up!
Dale, If you are in a hurry to finish a project then I reccomend you get some dry stock to turn. If you have plenty of time use it to season the wood be it in the whole blank or roughed out. What most woodworkers go by is that it takes 1 year to dry one inch of timber. This will take a little longer for each inch of thickness you add. Like say a 4" block might be dry to 3 to 3.5 inches in 4 years, and that is effected by where you live and the type of wood. That leaves the best way is the way that works the best for you, but I would rough turn your pieces and seal them and let them dry as slow as you can. The Claro walnut, Osage, fruit woods and many other woods with high figure will crack much easier than straight grained woods. So be patient and take your time on green/wet wood and you will be rewarded in the end.
Jeff