Thread: Waxed Green Turning blanks

Depends on the turner, Some prefer to turn green and allow to dry others prefer to turn and finish a dry piece.

I don't mind either way. Although it would be cheaper to post semi seasoned blanks due to the weight loss.

Bowls are different from spindles. Spindles are far easier to turn with regards to speed and torque. You can spin a spindle as fast as you want, but because bowls are so large and heavy and the grain is oriented across the bed of the lathe, there is drastically more centrifugal force and potential for high torque. Therefore, turning it green makes it cut more easily and therefore reduces torque.

If it's a small piece I, personally, would prefer it dry.

If you are processing these to sell, I would wax all your bowl blanks . Not all over , just the outside diameter and say 20mm up the faces .Unless I can rough turn green blanks within a day or so, I treat all mine like this .
Ted

If you're going to make boxes, it's better to wait for the wood to dry. I've turned several while wet, and even allowing the 10% oversize rule, the lids still didn't match up to the bottom half. That's my experience making lidded boxes........... Jerry (in Tucson)

While green wood is easier to turn there is always the chance it will crack after turning. I normally coat my green rough turned bowls to reduce this risk.

If you turn seasoned wood the chance of cracking is much less. Ie if you season the wood then you wear the risk of it cracking whereas if you sell/give it away green then you pass that risk on.

Cheers,

Steve