Gluing Walnut?

[Jeff Raymond]

There was a thread somewhere which I can't find where a guy was asking about gluing up walnut. He got a bunch of fancy glue answers.

Of course, I went ahead and glued up two 2 x 8 " blocks with a 1/2" center for some experimental bowls.

The ol' Elmer's woodglue worked just fine.

Smeared all surfaces last Monday night, clamped, in a dry place and ready to rock on Thursday with no glue seams or adhesion problems.

Still haven't hurt myself badly yet, but have two more bowls to go.

So there ya go.

[Curt Fuller]

Pretty hard to beat white glue for most woods. I like Titebond II but if the truth were known, there's probably not much difference in the various brands. Flat surfaces and good clamps probably make the most difference.

[Paul Engle]

Since there are no pics ..... when I started doing walnut trophy plaques about 15 yrs ago, titebond or Elmers had a brown glue out for darker woods, I got some but if the joints are good you cannot tell , some of my earlier on ones I had to recut and glue, as the brown glue made the seam look bigger if it wasn't snug up. I have not used it since ('95) just learned how to get the jointer to produce what I wanted.Here's to your sucess Jeffery !!!

[Jeff Raymond]

Paul Engle is the guy who got me started with all of this. There are no PICTURES because they don't look 1/10th as good as what else is shown here. Paul has emailed, PM'd and called me on the phone.

He is a great man and deserves credit for so much in wood turning.

If Paul comments on your work, it means everything.

Thank you Paul!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Hey Jeff go ahead and post the pictures. We all had to start somewhere. My first bowl was a mess but I learned from all the comments on what to improve.

[Jeff Raymond]

Bernie: Lemme see if I can do this later on; (Gotta get all those splinters out of my hands first...^&*()&&^).

Thanks.

[Jeff Raymond]

This is a walnut chamber pot bowl.

[Jeff Raymond]

This is the laminated walnut/maple bowl

[Jeff Raymond]

This is from some butternut I would have thrown away...

[Tom Sherman]

Jeff these are some nice bowls, I think I like the 'Thunder bowl' best.

[Jeff Raymond]

Thanks Tom. These bowls are # 3, 4, 5 of all the bowls I have ever turned. One of the things I found out very quickly is that when you go deeper than say, about an inch from the tool rest, it gets testy. So I have ordered an inside bowl tool rest thingie. The Thunder Bowl bottom is about 4" from the tool rest and with walnut it talks to you while turning.

The other thing I've learned is to drill a 2 1/4 Forstner in the center about 3/16" deep (which will be the bottom of the bowl), use the tail stock to hold during roughing to round. That sucker really holds the piece nicely.

Lastly, here in north, I have discovered that if you leave the piece on the lathe overnight, there are enough changes in humidity and temperature that the work in progress gets a tad out of round; so you need to make frog hair to get back to round and work again. The lesson is to finish what you have started that day and get it off the machine for finishing, I guess.

Of course, none of the above mentions the first bowl I turned in oak, which resulted in a 4" chunk going down the gouge, into the side of my hand and then out through the palm. (Wear gloves now).

The nifty videos all show these great round blanks. I use left over butt chunks of wood from making furniture and funny how they are hard to get 'round' prior to lathe. Figured that was what the lathe was for?

Anyway, doubt that I will be making the translucent fancy-dancy bowls very soon with exposed bark. Me make Man Bowls. Ugh.

[Tom Sherman]

Jeff I can relate to extending to far over the tool rest when I first started I launched a few because of that catches were real shorts ruiners. Try to get ahold of some green wood to work with much more forgiving and easier to work. Turn them down to about 10 percent of finish diameter and either let them dry or DNA them before finish turning. Turning thin is quite the experience not for all (so far me encluded) but getting down to 3/8" or 1/4" is not to difficult, and still functional. Main thing is have fun.

[Jeff Raymond]

Tom:

I have some green Cherry burl and was thinking about trying that. I did an Apple burl but it pretty much blew up on me. I guess you have to soak it in magic juice. What is "DNA them?"

You can bet I'd wreck the thin stuff. Like you, it seems that 3/8" or 1/4" is good stuff and let the fancy-dancy guys do the thin stuff, huh? After all, we're going to be using these bowls for stuff. The Boss says that a bowl is only useful if you can put 4 apples in it.

She pays the bills; big thick bowls. (She bought the lathe)...if you know what I mean here...?

[Tom Sherman]

DNA is denatured alcohol, after you rough turn your bowls, you soak them for about 12 to 24 hours then you put them in a paper bag and set them on a shelf till they quit losing moisture. You can check the moisture with a moisture meter or weigh them. Hope this helps Jeff.

[David Peno]

Not that I have a ton of turning experience, just having started to turn things other than straight bushing to bushing pens. The Christmas ornaments I did were made with 3 blocks of alternating walnut and maple which were glued end grain to end grain with Titebond III. They turned fine and the glue held up great. I tried to pull one apart but was unable to. Anyway just my experience and 2 cents.

Dave