Need HELP

[Syd Lorandeau]

A friend gave me a large chunk of weeping willow to turn that he lost in a storm. It is really wet, need a wiper on my visor. At any rate I can not get a good cut I have tried high and slow speed, slow seems to work the best. I have tried ever cut I know with different size gouges, big roughing tool, C1I, Elsworth cuts all with no luck. Long grain is about okey but end grain looks like a freshly mowed field. Constainly pulling torn fiber off the end of the tool to get it cutting again.
Have I got a good looking piece of fire wood or could I try freezing it and then maybe it will cut??
Thanks, Syd
P.S. I have been to the grinder about three times more than usual.

[David E Keller]

I haven't turned green willow, but I've turned wet cottonwood which I would imagine is similarly frustrating... I had my best luck for finishing cuts with a 3/8 detail gouge or a skew.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Syd - I have not turned Willow yet but your description seems to fit right in with the same results everyone has had with it! Only way to turn it is sharp tools, light cuts and maybe - dryer wood. Good luck with it!

[Kathy Marshall]

Ditto on the cottonwood. I roughed out the piece (and I do mean rough), then soaked in DNA for a few days, put it in a bag of shavings for a couple more days to let the DNA evaporate and that helped a bunch. It was still very wet, but it had dried it enough that I could get decent cuts with sharp tools.

[Jeff Nicol]

Rough turn the outside and then let it set for a day or so in a bag. I will start on a peice in the morning and work on it throughout the day turning away the drying portions as I go too, this works well to get it to a roughed out to whatever form I have chosen to do. Then let it finish drying like any other wood, the willow is very soft and fiberous and as it drys the fibers strengthen and basically become more "Wood" like and will turn easier. I use a very sharp small gouge for finishing cuts and then a thinned shellac to stiffen up the fibers for the last cut or shear scrape before sanding. So that being said the willows are some of the more difficult woods to turn, and patience is the key to sucess.

Have fun,

Jeff