What am I doing to cause this?

[lubbing5cherubs]

HI what is going on here? and how can I fix it?
bye Toni
sorry about the quality but I took with my phone but you can see it really digging out with each turn it when it hits the cross grain in the bowl.

[DavidG]

1. Need smaller sharper tool. Turn faster. Cut lighter.

2. The wood is soft and open and will never cut clean. Needs a #80 gouge.

3. Wood is spalted. See above.

4. It is one of those bast..d woods that always does that. see #2.

[lubbing5cherubs]

Thanks David. The wood is only Paperbark is that common or am I on the wrong track
Toni

[Gil Jones]

Hi Toni,
I am not familiar with melaleauca wood, but some of our softer species tear-out like the wood in your pics. David has the correct idea of higher speeds, lighter cuts, sharper tools, and course sandpaper. Also, I have applied a bit of paste wax on the problem areas, and that seems to help lubricate the cut. Plus, I have applied a coat or two of thinned lacquer, or thinned (50:50) white glue. After either of these dry, the wood grain is better supported (stiffer), and cuts cleaner with less tear-out.
Good luck,
Gil

[dai sensei]

As the others have said.

I often use thin CA or shellac sanding sealer to help stabilise the areas, then high speed sharp tools and fine cuts. If you go for the 80 grit option, use a decent timber backer, or the sand paper will cut away the softer areas faster than others and you will ned up with an uneven surface.

[funkychicken]

Very sharp tools, Very light touch, Slice, don't scrape.


I've turned mellaleuca before, easy to work, soft but heavyish

[DavidG]

I have, sometimes, soaked the area in CA.
Might work as a last resort.

[robutacion]

Hi lubbing5cherubs

Shame that your pics don't zoom bigger, you called Paperbark to the timber you using, Gil Jones call it Melaleuca, and the Melaleuca I know well (I got too much of it), with the bark all out, the wood cut like butter but solid, I haven't seen it ever, unless that piece of wood you using has rot in that area, very possible. Super Glue is the faster way of having the wood hard enough getting it back to the lathe but, expensive option if the area is big and deep. My suggestion and always my second best option, is to soak it in sanding sealer as it dries harder than normal sealer. Soaking can mean 2 things, one is literally submerse the whole piece in the material, or use a brush and keep brushing plenty of it into the wood. If the soft spot is over half an inch deep, I would live it for a couple of days or so, until return it to the lathe.

I will get you a couple of pics from the timber and bark in close up, so that you can identify if is it, or something else. The pics I got in the puter are of the tree and bark view, I will send them anyway.

Hope this helps

Cheers
RBTCO

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

It has pretty well been covered, Toni, apart from the fact that some pieces will give you grief no matter what you do. It's not necessarily the type of timber that causes this... it could just be from a cantankerous old tree. I've had Huon Pine which blunted my gouges as badly as Ironbark! :~

Sometimes changing from a cutting tool (eg. skew or gouge) to a scraper - or vice-versa - will do the trick. I've often had pieces of redgum that tear-out something cruel with gouges but come up beautifully when scraped, for example.

I'll also often use a "sealing coat" to harden the timbers. Personally I don't use Sanding Sealer for anything :oo: and I tend to avoid CA for anything but hairline fractures, as I find it can discolour the wood - unless I'm doing a CA finish anyway, of course. :U If I'm doing a waxed or oiled finish, I'll give it a coat of Danish and let it dry. This can be painfully slow, as it doesn't take long before you've removed the "hardened" section and are into fresh timber again, needing another coat.

So I only tend to use this method when I'm close to the finishing cuts.

I also do this if I'm going to resort to the 80 grit gouge... as Vern said, sanding can cause ripples as the softer timber is worn away faster. Putting a coat on first hardens it up a bit and makes it less of a problem. :)

[artme]

Hi tony.Things have been pretty well covered but consider whether you are cutting with or against the grain also. This can make a big difference.

[robutacion]

Hi again lubbing5cherubs,

As promised, I took some close-up pics of Melaleuca, this afternoon for better comparison. Is this similar to what you're turning?
Is interesting that skew mention also the use of sealer coat, but not the sanding sealer I mention and use. In my experience, normal sealers are good to seal the timber as a "sealant", when sanding sealers have an extra hardening agent to raise and dry quicker the timber "hairs/soft grain". Indeed, I have been searching for a type of sanding sealer that I am very familiar with, when overseas, and a few years back while managing a solid timber furniture in NSW, long ago but, don't remember the name! This sanding sealer, is nearly as clear and thin as water, and it doesn't mix with Thorpe's, has to be "cellulose" paint thinners, for spray guns, cleaning etc. Because is so thin, a gun spray is used to coat the raw timber surface and raise the grain for sending. For very soft timbers, or when soaking is necessary to reach deep into the wood, a soaked/dripping brush is used to cover the timber with multiple generous coats of that product. It dries in 10 to 30 minutes (depend if sprayed or brushed) at approx. 25 degrees temp. This sanding sealer is quite toxic if used in enclosed areas, and produces a very white fine dust similar to "baby talc', when sanded. Doesn't take long to cut/sand the raise grain, and it gives a smoother surface like nothing else.
So far 4 or 5 Brands I tried, do not compare even close, and they use/mix/clean either with Thurs or are acrylic, (water based). I have contacted some timber furniture manufacturers around Australia, for a possible match (possibly Industrial use/quantities, only?), and I'm waiting on some replies/samples. If I can find this product again, (I'm certain I will), it will save me lots of money in CA, and I will replace immediately 2 of products I'm using, the sanding sealer type and the timber stabiliser.
One single coat of this product on any soft wood, and you will thing you working with hardwood!
If anyone out there, know this sanding sealer, or recognise the product characteristics, please let me know, I will by a 200 litres drum if necessary! Seriously!

PS: If I find this product again lubbing5cherubs, I will let you know, that would be the end of your problems with soft wood or soft spots in wood.:2tsup:

Cheers
RBTCO

[lubbing5cherubs]

Thanks RBTC I have finished it and posted it under the headache one. IT did end up alright in the end well I think. Room for improvements but I am learning that
bye Toni