Green Turning

[Kidbee]

I have viewed Youtube clips of woodturners in the UK turning green oak with great success.

In my part of the woods I have access to Grey Gum, Pink Bloodwood, Tallowwood and Brush Box. Has anyone successfully turned these species green? Naturally it would be ideal if they had reasonable stabilty when turned.

Also if you turn green timber what is the best coating? I do not have access to a microwave.

Furthermore, is there any tips on staining the piece black? I am aware of the vinegar and steel wool stain.

[Kidbee]

Also I remember the Australian Wood review or similiar publication had an article many years ago about an Aussie that turned green eucalypt. What was his name?

[mat_au]

i turn alot aussie timbers green and treat it the same way i treat every other timber. havent had any problems at this stage you get the odd crack and warping. but over all rough it out leave a 1" thick wall and then i coat the outside with wood sealer and look for anything on the inside that i think might crack and give that a but of wood sealer as well.

then put in on my shelf for drying. the only real difference is, i made a special space for drying my bowl blanks.

a box of 18mm ply and put some of that heat blanket stuff on the inside and added some doors, as to date it works well there is no fan or light in there, but might add a fan have noticed a bit of fur growing on the blanks. and on average im leaving them in there for about 2-3 months or when i turn the next lot of wet blanks just go through it and see whats dry and ready to come out. they get added to the dry blanks stack, ready to be finished.

hope this helps

[mat_au]

also if you are going to use wood sealer, dont use the one from carbourtec ive found it dosent last long like its been watered down or something. look for a caltex depot and they have a wood sealer there about 20lts for $80ish. ive had no problems had timber sealed for about 2 years and still sealed nicely. but the carbourtec one ive found only lasts a few months before its like bare timber again and u start to get cracks

[Dalboy]

I am starting to turn my wood green as it is easier on the tools. I do this purely to get the down to a thickness so that is will not take so long to dry also by doing so reduces the tendency for the wood to split although there are some wood that will split as soon as you look at them. The last picture is on the lathe ready to rough out I take them down to just over the inch. Once roughed i then coat the outsides only with watered down PVA glue.


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The other advantage of turning green is that there is less dust mind you if the tree has just been cut down and taken back to the workshop and rough turned straight away water proof clothing is a must:U:U:U:U


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[Kidbee]

Thanks for the replies I received. However, I would have thought that the post could have been discussed some more. Am I to believe that of the hundreds of turners on this sub forum only a couple do green turning and have never turned the species I mentioned. Are we just not green timber turners in this country. Do most turners prefer seasoned stuff?

Does anyone turn it real thin first up and then torch the item with a gas flame. i remember the wood carver called Nobby Clarke who carved his pieces green and used Penetrol Wood Oil to prevent cracking. Mango was one of the timbers he used.

[powderpost]

Hi Kidbee, the reason you didn't get the number of replies you thought you would get, is that this topic has been discussed a lot. If you do a search, you will get a lot more information.
Jim

[Sturdee]

Am I to believe that of the hundreds of turners on this sub forum only a couple do green turning and have never turned the species I mentioned.

You are probably right in your assumption as I don't turn green and I don't have access to the species of timber that you have.

Also I wouldn't turn something really thin and then ruin it by torching the item with a gas flame. IMO our timbers are good enough without such treatment but staining it can be useful and then I would use the Ubeaut's range of stains.


Peter.

[DaveTTC]

I have experimented a little but no where near what I would like.

I assumed from your post you were more into the idea of turning thin, to finished. I did some iron bark but went too thin. It will move as it dries. As for finish I am not sure but I do believe some of these guys in the UK and the states use wet and dry for final sanding.

Will be following this with interest and perhaps as more try it they will post here, even if it is a link to their own thread etc


Dave the turning cowboy

turning wood into art

[Dalboy]

I have experimented a little but no where near what I would like.

I assumed from your post you were more into the idea of turning thin, to finished. I did some iron bark but went too thin. It will move as it dries. As for finish I am not sure but I do believe some of these guys in the UK and the states use wet and dry for final sanding.

Will be following this with interest and perhaps as more try it they will post here, even if it is a link to their own thread etc


Dave the turning cowboy

turning wood into art

It is surprising how dry the outer surface becomes once turned thin and sanding is not a problem. I know a few turners who use a oil finish on this type of work.
On one of the English websites a woodturner Neil Lawton is recording the progress through Microwave drying http://www.woodworkersinstitute.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=14966&title=microwave-experiment

I am trying the airing cupboard to dry rough turned blanks, where as I have had the logs straight from a freshly cut tree so very wet and I have rough turned them as my post above. They have now stood for about 2 weeks, so I have kept a record of weight and moister content and the first started at 1350g and the moister using a meter started at 21%.

This test blank has now been put into the airing cupboard for a couple of days and now down to 1015g and a moister content using the moister meter is down to 12%.
This is not a hard and fast method as different woods will act differently, but all I can do is experiment to find which ones will put up with this method.
I am sure I will have plenty of failers

[DaveTTC]

Dalaboy,

recently I got some wood from a school during some fires when I was fire fighting. Frshly cut down trees that were a risk. I have a 44 gallon drum full of water and have put the biscuits of various sized in there completely immersed. When I am ready and have decided what I want to do with them I will take them out and imagine I should be able to do 'green turning'


Dave the turning cowboy

turning wood into art

[Dalboy]

Dalaboy,

recently I got some wood from a school during some fires when I was fire fighting. Frshly cut down trees that were a risk. I have a 44 gallon drum full of water and have put the biscuits of various sized in there completely immersed. When I am ready and have decided what I want to do with them I will take them out and imagine I should be able to do 'green turning'


Dave the turning cowboy

turning wood into art

If you are going to leave them in there for a while don't forget to change the water often. I have read some where that soaking them for a time helps replace the sap with water which in turn helps the drying, not sure if it works. I found that the quicker I rough turn the blanks leaving out the centre, the better chance of drying without splitting. As I said before this is not always the case as some wood split very easy even only after being fresh cut.

When you do turn green wood cover anything you do not want to get wet in line with the spinning blank.

[DaveTTC]

yeah that rings a bell, I knew it was meant to do something beneficial


Dave the turning cowboy

turning wood into art

[dr4g0nfly]

Okay, so I am in the UK and get to turn Green oak (and many other european timbers). For shaping Vases and roughing out bowls and the like it's the way to go.

[Kidbee]

Okay, so I am in the UK and get to turn Green oak (and many other european timbers). For shaping Vases and roughing out bowls and the like it's the way to go.

What is the radial and tangential shrinkage of green oak? I assume it would be fairly minimal. Of course my favourite turner who uses it is Liam Flynn from County Cork, Ireland. His work is not intricate but his form is a amazing.
When the timber grain has darkened and the piece has lost its gloss it all comes down to form:feedback:

[dr4g0nfly]

Kidbee,

that is one of those difficult to answer questions, it depends upon the starting point. If it's dried somewhat already (lost some of it's free water) it will apparently shrink less for you. Also the time of year it was felled, High summer growing season, it will be full of free water, midwinter, with the sap not rising much less free water.

Freshly felled 6.5% - 8% tangentially just over half that radially. If you are asking as a prelude to knowing how much to allow over to allow any shrinkage / warping that occurs during drying to be removed aim for 10% - 12%, but (and there is always a but...)

... that only works for evenly grained timber, if you are turning branchwood (tension or compression timber) I'd certainly leave it 15% thicker as a minimum as the drying will become more pear shaped than elliptical.

I don't know your Aussie timbers except through this forum, but Oak is a Ring Porous timber, if you have an equivalent type timber I'd suggest you work it similar.

I've some from a friend's garden I'm working at the moment, but they are to be smaller pieces, I'm taking them down to thin walls (5mm) and almost finished in one go. I rub it with Lemon Oil on the outside to slow the drying a little and so far it's holding it's shape well, but it has only been 4 days.