Questions re: turning wet wood in one sitting

[JIM HERNANDEZ]

I read a post by John Lucas ( I believe ) about turning wet wood to final dimension at one sitting rather than rough turn, dry, then finish turn. I have a few questions about the procedure. I would have sent a message directly to John but didn't know how.
1. When do you sand ? At the same time ? If so, how do you deal with the sandpaper clogging up ?
2. Do you remove the tenon used for the chuck at the same time ?
3. How long do you wait before applying a finish ?

Sorry for what are probably simplistic questions, but I'm a novice at this.
Thanks in advance for your help !!

Jim

[David E Keller]

I'll often wet sand if paper clogging is an issue, but sometimes the surface dries enough during turning to allow for dry sanding. I would remove the tenon at the same time... If you waited, the piece will warp making the process more difficult. You can apply a wax finish right away(I've used paste wax with no problems on a few pieces), but moisture would likely not be good for most penetrating or surface finishes. I generally wait before applying a finish.

[Thomas Bennett]

Ditto to David's remarks. The paper seems to clog for a while and then the peice begins to dry and sands better. Here are photos of some very green turnings I posted yesterday.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...10050#poststop

Both were turned in one setting, tenon removed and sanded to 600.
(I hope the link works, I haven't tried this before)

[JIM HERNANDEZ]

Thanks guys !! Great advice !!

Jim

[Nathan Hawkes]

Jim, you've gotten some good advice so far. I'd add that with some woods, red maple is one, you really have to be careful when sanding not to create too much heat and add stress cracks in the end grain. Walnut is another. I turn to final thickness and generally wait at least a couple weeks, sometimes a month or more before sanding. I turn a lot of bowls, so I try and stay as efficient as possible. It lets me spend a whole session turning, or a whole session sanding. I don't like wet sanding, so I don't do it. I turn almost only natural edge bowls though, so wet sanding doesn't work very well. I can't sand with the lathe spinning because of the irregular edge, and electric drills and water don't work well together.

[Reed Gray]

I green turn to final thickness (1/4 to 1/2 inch thick) as standard, let them dry and warp, then remount to sand and finish. This is for utility bowls.

I used to wet sand, but it takes so much more time to sand green wood, I just let them dry while turning more bowls. For drying, make sure to round over your rims (no sharp/square edges to cut you while the wood spins, and they are more prone to starting checking/cracking), I soak in LDD (mix of 1/2 hand dishwashing soap, 1/2 water) for 24 hours, rinse off excess, then air dry for an hour or two. Then, take some of the 6 inch stretch plastic film, and stretch out a couple of wraps around the rim, with about 1 inch over into the inside of the bowl, and the rest on the outside. I start them out on the floor for a few days, then up on a wire rack. Dry in 10 to 14 days.

I use a recess. I remount for sanding by using a narrow set of extended jaws on my Vicmark chuck, and wiggle the oval shaped recess around till all 4 jaws are in contact. You don't need the firm grip on the bowl for sanding that you do for turning. I also sand at very slow speeds, about 20 or less rpm. My lathe had the inverter adjusted to run that slow. At 50 rpm, you can't keep your hand or the abrasives on the wood. Power sanding is a must here. If you can't slow your lathe down that much, and can't get it adjusted, you can use the spindle lock.

I don't bother to turn the recess off my utility pieces. If metal stains are a problem, some concentrated lemon juice will get rid of it. It is much faster if you do this while the wood is still wet.

If you want to turn the recess off, a vacuum chuck is easiest, and a jam chuck of some sort is good as well. Some bowls warp so bad that it is impossible to turn off the recess. When I explain to customers why the bowls are not round, the usual comment is "oh, it is sooooo organic!"

robo hippy