Newbie help - Roughing green platter blanks

[Jim Brigman]

I have a couple green platter blanks(12x2) to rough out (wanut/maple). As a new turner, I somewhat understand roughing out bowl blanks, but not sure how to translate that to platters. What is your procedure for roughing out green platters?

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Rough turn the platter make it thicker by a 1/4 to 1/2 inch and larger than you want it to be when finished (or as large as your blank is ;-)).
Place the roughout on a couple of stickers an place a couple more on top (perpendicular to the grain) load some heavy weights on it and let it dry, when dry return it, it should stay fairly flat this way.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Just curious, wouldn't you want the blank to warp when drying, so it won't warp after you finish turn? Same as a bowl blank. Have not tried a platter yet.....

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Kyle when drying wood, planks and boards, we stack them on top of each other (stickered) and often load weights on them to try to have these boards etc. dry flat and straight, when the wood has dried, it will stay like that, normally. HTH

[Barbara Gill]

Another technique for trying to keep wood flat when drying is to make a clamping jig from 2x4's, all thread and large wing nuts or something similar. For individual or a couple of boards you can set them up with stickers and use clamps to keep the pressure on. Check the wood often to make sure everything stays tight. The use of stickers and the 2x4's is as Leo said, to keep equal pressure over all the wood.

[Prashun Patel]

If yr question is how to ROUGH OUT the platter, it's about the same as with bowls. You can either turn to 10%, then let it dry using yr favorite method (mine is anchorseal and patience), or turn it complete, and let it sit in a double paperbag.

I'm no platterologist, but I will say that the several I've done tend to be thinner and less supported around the rims than bowls. It is my perception that this can cause more movement.

[Jack Gaskins]

Rough turn the platter make it thicker by a 1/4 to 1/2 inch and larger than you want it to be when finished (or as large as your blank is ;-)).
Place the roughout on a couple of stickers an place a couple more on top (perpendicular to the grain) load some heavy weights on it and let it dry, when dry return it, it should stay fairly flat this way.

i'm glad this question came up as I have been pondering the same thing. An additional question I have is, What shape can you make you rough out platter? Is there a generic shape that dries the best and flattest? Do you rough out the middle as well like you do a bowl? Can you put some shapes to your roughout. I have not made any platters yet so my questions might be a little odd...


Thanks, Jack.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Another technique for trying to keep wood flat when drying is to make a clamping jig from 2x4's, all thread and large wing nuts or something similar. For individual or a couple of boards you can set them up with stickers and use clamps to keep the pressure on.The use of stickers and the 2x4's is as Leo said, to keep equal pressure over all the wood.

Check the wood often to make sure everything stays tight.

That is the reason I like to use weights, as it will keep it flat and tight without me checking all the time.

I would probably forget to keep turning the wing-nuts, and then the wood would be able to start cupping or whatever it likes to do

But yes it is another way to do it for less forgetful persons

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Jack like I said before, make the platter a bit thicker and larger than what you want to end up with, depending the wood you use, something like 10% thicker and wider would be about right.
And yes you can roughly shape it already, the lesser amount of wood removal later when finish turning, the lesser you will change the equilibrium of the wood

[Jack Gaskins]

Thanks Leo.

[Reed Gray]

The thing with green platter blanks, how much they can move can differ a lot depending on where they are cut out of the log blank. Personally, I like platter blanks to be cut from air dried planks, not over about 2 1/2 inch thick. This means plank has sat outside for a year, and inside the shop for another 2 years. The most stable blanks will be quarter sawn, which means cut directly in towards the center of the log, not flat sawn as in when you start at the top of the log, and cut boards all the way down. Only the center 2 or 3 planks will be quarter sawn. A flat sawn plank from about 1/3 the way down a 30 inch log can warp more than 1/2 inch up and down, which can drastically change what your final piece will look like. Weighing down, or drying clamped in a form can help greatly reduce warping.

robo hippy