Roughed out bowls etc

[BlackbuttWA]

I notice in the USA many guys place their rough turned green bowls etc in brown paper bags with or without shavings.

Do any of you Aussie guys have experience with this paper bag method ?
I would really appreciate any info & comments on this topic.

Cheers
Col

[wood hacker]

I haven't used a paper bag but have had sucess with sticking the rough turned bowl in a cardboard box with shavings. Shoved it under the bench for about 6 months and they seem alright. If fact I got one out last night to do the final turning. It was a piece of unknown acacia and hadn't cracked at all.

[Pat]

I've placed rough turned bowls into crates of shavings, put the shavings back into the bowl and left them alone, under a bench. Some suffer some minor cracks, some dont crack at all. I leave the rough turned bowl about an inch or so thick and sometime seal with end sealer. It all depends on how lazy I am :U

[bowl-basher]

For smaller bowls I use the cloth shopping bags with shavings in and around. seems to work rather well.........:no::no: the only trick is not to let SWMBO catch you pinching the shopping bags:no::no:

Larger bowls I just put on top of a cabinet in my computer room where the temp.& humidity is fairly stable .... this also seems to work well
Regards
Bowl Basher

[TTIT]

Tried it once and the pieces all went moldy and stained right through. Can't remember what timbers they were (too long ago for this head) but it put me off trying it again :shrug:

[vk4]

I have just gotten back into turning , but previously I would regularly , rough turn green timber bowls and , store them in a crate of wood shavings, for 2-3 months.

I found this worked well .

Jeff

[hughie]

Card board boxes, yes, dont bother with the shavings

[NeilS]

My current method:


Bury in green shaving pile on floor for about a week. That's long enough for initial moisture equalisation. Any longer and the mold can get going.
Transfer to woven poly prop (horse feed, etc) bags, no shavings. The woven bags have small holes that allow the moisture to escape slowly, but stops air circulating directly past the wood surface which avoids the moisture drying out too rapidly.
Then stack in cardboard boxes (no shavings). Closed initially, then progressively opened.

Always stack bowls so that moisture is not restricted from escaping the inside of bowls. If the outside of a bowl dries quicker than the inside the chances of cracking are greatly increased. Three small styrene cubes between bowls work well for stacking. Progressively smaller bowls inside larger bowls also helps.

If using paper bags, leave top partially open to allow the moisture to escape from inside of bowl first.

I have at times used industrial 'gladwrap' on outside of some pieces, like hollow forms, that don't lend themselves to stacking.

I have experimented with metho soaking, but wasn't convinced. I think the wrapping after soaking had as much to do with its effectiveness as any claimed water displacement process. And, I would have to buy the DNA in in 44 gallon drums, which is a tad expensive!

I'm about to experiment with boiling. Has anyone had any success with that?
.

[rsser]

These days mostly I rough turn and slop some endgrain sealer on the er, endgrain. Then sit them on the floor for a few weeks watching daily for checking. Usually starts in the base. If so, give the checks a squirt with cheap CA.

In Melb. it's rarely humid and the drying goes fast without some kind of restriction.

That said, there's no guarantees.

One thing that Raffan's said which I've found to be true: if you cut a tree down in winter the moisture content is at its lowest and the odds of a good result improve.

[hughie]

.

One thing that Raffan's said which I've found to be true: if you cut a tree down in winter the moisture content is at its lowest and the odds of a good result improve

I once made a simlar comment to a turner,one of Americas finest apparently, and he roundly poo pooed it. Thought at the time it was a bit one eyed and lacked some common sense that other parts of the world might be entirley different.

[NeilS]

One thing that Raffan's said which I've found to be true: if you cut a tree down in winter the moisture content is at its lowest and the odds of a good result improve.


.

I once made a simlar comment to a turner,one of Americas finest apparently, and he roundly poo pooed it. Thought at the time it was a bit one eyed and lacked some common sense that other parts of the world might be entirley different.

Certainly applies over my way, particularly with any deciduous trees.

[Cliff Rogers]

Sticking rough turnings in bags or shavings in the tropics is a waste of time, they just go mouldy.
If you have the space stuff them in the fridge or freezer of a tub of soapy water.
They still crack a bit in the fridge & can get mould spots if you aren't careful.