To Turn or Store?

[Stan Smith]

I just bought a walnut bowl blank that I want to turn for a popcorn bowl. It's 10" x 10" x 5" thick. I did a moisture check and it's around 33%. Right now it's covered in wax. It is a nice blank so I don't want to mess it up by rushing the "curing" process. My question is should I rough turn it now and re-coat it with sealer and store it away? Should I wait for 3-6 months before doing anything at all? Should I remove some of the wax from the middle section but leave the ends sealed? Except for a chalice, I've never turned any large bowls before. The small stuff that was really wet (like weed pots and small boxes), I dried out in the microwave. I realize that there's a bigger risk for the wood to go cattywompus if I turn it too soon. I live in a high desert climate. The humidity today is 45%, but it can get down to 10% or less in the summer. I store all my wood inside the garage and my turning wood inside a cabinet. Thanks for any suggestions.

[Doug W Swanson]

I would turn it now straight to a finished piece. If the thickness is consistent, you shouldn't have any problems with it cracking. The bowl may warp a little but I actually like turning green wood to finish just for this reason. If you are looking for a round bowl with less chance of warping then I would rough turn it to about 1", coat the end grain with sealer and store it for a few months.

[John K Jordan]

I generally prefer a bowl or platter I use to stay as round as possible instead of warp so I turn as soon as possible to a heavy wall thickness and dry before finish turning. How thick is a judgement call, although you can get close by calculating from the T/R ratio for your wood then add a safety factor. (Sorry, headed out and can't look it up right now.) I have had good success coating the rough-turned bowl completely with Anchorseal then air drying for some months but that's just one way.

JKJ

[Pat Scott]

Rough turn it now leaving 1" thickness in the rim, and taper the walls slightly thinner as you go down to the bottom (3/4" bottom thickess including tenon thickness is fine). Write the date on it and anchorseal the whole blank when done. Check the moisture in 3 months, but don't be surprised if you have to let it dry another 3-6 months.

[Stan Smith]

Many thanks for the responses. Looks like the consensus is to rough turn now, apply Anchorseal (which I have and use), and put the bowl aware for 3- 6 months. Guess that I'll cut the corners off with the bandsaw, bring into round, and do the rough turning. My plan is for only a slight curve on the outside and to have most of the curve at the bottom on the inside. I'll be finishing with WOP--4 coats. Hope I can have it done by Thanksgiving. Again, thanks for the suggestions.

[Thomas Canfield]

I would suggest a fairly generous radius on the bottom corners, say 2 or even 3" to avoid having a tight radius on the inside when turning thick. You can add a glue block to the bottom for a tenon also to help maintain the total height of the finished bowl later but a dry block to wet wood can be a problem. A 4 or 5" base ring for a popcorn bowl should be adequate for stability unless there are a lot of grabby hands.

[Stan Smith]

Thanks, Thomas. I was going to get the new screw spindle attachment from CSUSA, but I need to buy the spindle adapter and they are out of stock. I probably wouldn't get it until we are on our vacation next month. I'm reticent to leave stuff on the porch while we are gone with the increasing crime here. I might try to do it with my easy wood chuck & screw though. Here's the url for the CSUSA item.

https://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/p...-1-Screw-Chuck

[Stan Smith]

I got the screw chuck from CSUSA and the adapter from Highland via Amazon. I'm not super happy with using an adapter even though it's very good quality. I think I should have waited until they come out with a 1" x 8 tpi. Anyway here's a pic of how far I roughed turned the blank. With our dry climate, I decided to just let it dry out slower. I'll check the moisture content in 3 months. The outside was 25% and the insidewas 34% when I put the anchorseal on. I put it in a paper bag with shavings. The line on the rim section is just a scratch in the wax on the wood when I bought it.l Here's a pic while it was still on the lathe.

[Mike Goetzke]

I got the screw chuck from CSUSA and the adapter from Highland via Amazon. I'm not super happy with using an adapter even though it's very good quality. I think I should have waited until they come out with a 1" x 8 tpi. Anyway here's a pic of how far I roughed turned the blank. With our dry climate, I decided to just let it dry out slower. I'll check the moisture content in 3 months. The outside was 25% and the insidewas 34% when I put the anchorseal on. I put it in a paper bag with shavings. The line on the rim section is just a scratch in the wax on the wood when I bought it.l Here's a pic while it was still on the lathe.

First, I'm not the most experienced turner, but, those shavings look like your tool is dull (or user error - DAMHIKT). Beautiful piece of walnut!

Mike

[David Delo]

I got the screw chuck from CSUSA and the adapter from Highland via Amazon. I'm not super happy with using an adapter even though it's very good quality. I think I should have waited until they come out with a 1" x 8 tpi. Anyway here's a pic of how far I roughed turned the blank. With our dry climate, I decided to just let it dry out slower. I'll check the moisture content in 3 months. The outside was 25% and the insidewas 34% when I put the anchorseal on. I put it in a paper bag with shavings. The line on the rim section is just a scratch in the wax on the wood when I bought it.l Here's a pic while it was still on the lathe.

Stan,

If the picture you posted is how you took it off the lathe, I'd say it won't be anywhere near dry in 3-6 months. You need to get rid of much more of the inside of the bowl. Follow Pat Scott's advice earlier in the thread. You bowl should resemble something like this pic which was the same size as your blank.
mb4f.jpg

[Pat Scott]

I agree with David, if that's your roughout thickness then it's much too thick. Your walls look to be 2" to 2-1/2" thick, which means it can take 2 or more years to air dry. The bigger risk is because it's so thick, it has a higher chance of the rim cracking or developing cracks in the sidewall. You can remount it using the tenon and thin it down more and then wax the inside again. I live in Colorado which is a semi-desert climate (which surprises a lot of people). Even with that, my experience is that Walnut can take longer to dry than other woods. I let my 10" Walnut blanks dry a year before I touch them again.

[Stan Smith]

Thanks, I'll take it down to an inch. Hope I live long enough to see it finished at the rate that I'm going.

[Stan Smith]

@David. thanks for your post w/pic. It gives me a good example to follow. I wish my lathe was the size of yours. I had piles of shavings like yours even using my carbide hollower. I put them in a paper bag with the rough bowl.