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Thread: Hollow Forms - Green wood or dried wood?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
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    Hollow Forms - Green wood or dried wood?

    Are most of your Hollow Form turnings done with wet wood or dry wood?

    Thanks.


    Context: Anything I have done in the past is with dry wood. Is it worth a try to do a hollow form with fresh-cut wood?
    Veni Vidi Vendi Vente! I came, I saw, I bought a large coffee!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
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    Greater Hendersonville NC
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    I do mine from green. Just be aware of the usual rules of the road regarding warping during drying. Check out David Ellsworth's hollow forms. Many of them started from green wood.
    Last edited by Bruce Pratt; 08-01-2015 at 4:57 PM. Reason: grammer

  3. #3
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    Bruce, I assume you turn to final thickness, or can you rough turn a hollow form?
    Veni Vidi Vendi Vente! I came, I saw, I bought a large coffee!

  4. #4
    I do both turned to finish while wet and twice turned hollow forms but all start with green wood. Unless you plan to make small hollow forms, don't really have they choice of dry wood anyway.
    _______________________________________
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  5. #5
    Join Date
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    Brian - all of my hollow forms have been twice turned. Don't have local access to kiln dried HF blanks, so have always turned green wood.
    Last edited by Steve Schlumpf; 08-01-2015 at 8:51 PM. Reason: spellling
    Steve

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  6. #6
    Most all of mine are from dry wood. I have only rough turned three and microwaved two of them dry so I could finish turn them that day.

  7. #7
    single turn green, just let it finish drying where no drafts will touch it, like in drawer in a chest(tip from JJ)........I like it to be dry before any finish is put on.....usually does not take a week
    Last edited by charlie knighton; 08-01-2015 at 8:28 PM.

  8. #8
    Join Date
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    I really resent having to hollow dry wood but have to on most purchased wood. Twice turned is so much more pleasant to work and like Ford says large wood is almost unobtainable. I find it is easier to avoid cracks drying roughed out and waxed wood than large wood.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    Flower mound, Tx
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    Hollow green, boil, controlled drying for months, re-turn, sand, pore-fill, spray pre-cat lacquer, rub out, done.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
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    turn to final, double or triple bag in brown paper bags, some times with shavings. I'm not patient enough to do twice turned.

  11. #11
    I don't have much experience in turning green hollow's, but while we are on subject, I can share this with you Brian, and others.
    The other night I'm turning a hunk of Persimmon (green, green, wet green) to test the Homemade Brute hollower. The form finished roughly 10" tall X 6" wide with a 1.25" opening at top. Before I finished hollowing the bottom, it had developed a small crack in the opening about an inch long. Panicked, I CA'ed the crack and wet the form with a wash cloth. I had turned this roughly 1/4 inch thickness, and more like 3/16" or thinner near the top opening. I have it triple wrapped in paper, but I don't think I'll like what I see when I open it later on. Maybe it's the nature of the wood, or maybe it should have been roughed out thicker and re-turned thinner later on. Once I had the outside shaped, it took roughly 1.5 hrs on the hollowing at least. If the wood is drying out to quickly, hit it with a spray bottle of water every 15 min????
    It was heart breaking to be moving along on a sweet looking project and have it crack before it comes of the lathe.

    Please can the experts chime in here on the cracking. Persimmon is a dense fruit wood type.

    BTW, the hollower worked fantastic, but will be going to a 1" boring bar before I attempt the deeper hollow forms.

    Thanks a bunch!
    Steve

  12. #12
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    Steve,
    just my opinion here, I think you went way too thin for it being so wet. On large HF's, I have been taught to turn to an inch to 1 1/4" for the rough turning. Boiling it afterwards will "de-stress" the wood. I then put my HF's in cardboard boxes and let them dry for months. I meter my vessels for MC and wait till <10%. Then, I re-turn to final wall thickness.
    You will most likely have to re-turn (re-true) the tenon before you can do your final turning. End grain turnings require less re-turning opposed to face grain which will really go oval. The other critical thing is your final "rough" turning should be uniform.
    One last thing, it is very common for there to be some cracks. I wouldn't panic. Deal with them as the vessel dries.

  13. #13
    Steve, check out the latest copy of American Woodturner. Great article regarding cracked work and suggestions about how to use cracks to your advantage.
    Pete


    * It's better to be a lion for a day than a sheep for life - Sister Elizabeth Kenny *
    I think this equates nicely to wood turning as well . . . . .

  14. #14
    On hollowing green, I would form the outside and immediately seal it with a heavy dose of Anchorseal before hollowing. I did that on the couple that I microwaved dry and did not have any cracks. They were not persimmon, however, and while I think the method is sound, it may not be as effective on persimmon.

  15. I've been doing HFs for about six months with a home grown articulating arm set up. All of my pieces thus far have been turned green. After shaping the outside, unless it is sloppy wet, I sand with wet/dry sandpaper. I hollow to finished wall thickness of about 3/16". I let it dry off the lathe for about two weeks, leaving the tenon on. That way I can remount and do my finishing on the lathe. If it's a face grain piece, I may get checking at the pith, but that becomes part of art of the piece. The only time I had a crack on an end grain piece (thus far) is when the bar/cutter was six inches in and I had a catch. The bar whacked against the opening, resulting in the crack. I used CA and saw dust to secure it, but I can't say that it looks like part of the art.

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