Thread: Green Woodworking

Working with wood straight from the tree.

Seriously! It's different to working with dried wood. Try googling "green woodworking" and you'll get more info than you want.

Roger -

For some reason it's never really taken off in Australia - at least as far as I can tell. In Britain and in the USA where you have had a stronger revival of the traditional craft industries and a long history of chair-bodgering, it seems to have quite a following.

Others may disagree with this, and I am happy to be corrected.

All I can say is ... build yourself a shaving horse, buy a drawknife, and then go bush! You'll find it therapeutic, and possibly even addictive.

Cheers,
GW

A good site to refer to is John Alexander's site (www.greenwoodworking.com) where he demonstrates riving etc. I have always wondered if it was the fact that most Australian timber may not lend itself to riving (splitting along the grain) due to its growth pattern , that twisting characteristic you so often see in Australian native trees.

Some of the native "oaks", like forest oak and river oak split well. They used the timber in the old days for shingles, split with a froe.

Cheers,

In a mad moment today I grabbed the saw and went out to the stack made from the remains of the mock orange tree that once only a month ago thrived in our back paddock... and cut a length about a foot long nice and straight looking... took it to the lathe set it up between centres and put gouge to work

Man was it heaven on a stick!! sooo easy so well orangey smelling which with my turning a candle stick holder in Huon pine yesty sorta gave the shed a real tangy zesty orange buttery smell

But it was easier than anything Id had a go at before the bark and flesh of that peice just slid off... now Im waiting to see what happens as it dries!! :eek: Actually I decided to make it into another candle stick holder for her highness and so it should be interesting... mmm was I meant to put that shellawax on it? damned if I know but by harry it looks a treat and beside the Huon pine one it smells amazing in the living room

I for one will be doing much turning of the green timbers from now on... hey! It should by rights be easier to learn bowl turning on a green peice than a rock hard dry peice eh? heck tomorrows a new day in the shed and soo I will let you know how I got on givin that bowl turnin caper a go!

Yeah, you can get some really nice curlies going when turning green timber, too.

As a general rule, it's best to turn down to a rough shape... like, if you're going to make it into a bowl, leave it around 3/4"-1" thick, slather it in sealer, paraffin wax, or even in a cardboard box filled with it's own shavings. Leave for a while, periodically checking it for cracks. Being so much thinner than the green log, it'll dry a helluva lot quicker too. Once you're happy that it's dry and has warped as much as it's going too, then you can remount it and finish turning it in the normal way.

On the other hand, if you turn a green log into something really, really, thin, you can "mould" it into unusual shapes fairly easily. It can be steamed over a kettle even. There's a bloke who specialises in making wooden hats this way, mainly the good ol' "cowboy" hats. I wonder where I put that article? Hmmm.....

So ooh mighty Skewy one wheres the link? mmm seriously Skew Im interested this was soo easy it was increadible and has encouraged me to continue tryin to face plate turn more than anything else

Can't think of any links offhand... but I know I've a WW mag with an article about the hat bloke. He's pretty well known in woodturning circles, once I remember his name it won't take much to do a google.

There have been some good examples of the craft on Grand Designs (Lifestyle Channel).
They've had two episodes where people have used green oak to frame their house. It was held together with traditional wooden pegs. An awesome structure. Those houses must sound as if they are alive.
I think the real art would be to do the finished interiors in a house made of timber that is going to move so much over the years.

How do you go about putting a finish on green timber? Does the type of timber matter? Can you use oil based lacquers any helpwould be appreciated thanks.

I turned a bowl a while back out of green She-oak and and when it was finished i put a thick rubber band around it and put it in the microwave with a little bowl of water and zapped it on and of on mediun for 5 min. The result looked great, it ended up looking football shaped. Its in a box some where, if i can find it ill post the pic

There's a fairly in-depth article on green chairmaking in the latest Australian Wood Review, of a guy near Canberra. What I found interesting is his use of a water bath for slowing the seasoning rate, to prevent splitting, but also for retaining that ease of working that you get with green timber. Well worth a read!

Cheers,

Originally Posted by Skot_79

How do you go about putting a finish on green timber? Does the type of timber matter? Can you use oil based lacquers any helpwould be appreciated thanks.

AFAIK, most bodgers use oils as they protect the item while still allowing moisture to pass through, albeit slowly. A master bodger made their furniture in such a way that as the wood moved through drying the joints tightened, enhancing their effectiveness. (On the other hand, when badly done, pieces tend to fall apart... hence the current term "to bodge" meaning to hack. )

I tend to oil my green-turned items for the same reason, then put 'em aside for a few months to cure before applying further coats or waxing. That's just me being fussy though...

Did any one else watch foxtel, lifestyle, Great designs in the last week? The other night in the UK a complete house frame was made from green Oak. They had to cut the timber from approx 90-100 trees. All the timber post where approx 200x200 and beams approx 200x75?
Each wall frame was made set up in the factory then dismatled and delivered on site. The joins were mainly tenons with dowels through them.
It was double story with the centre in hexagon shape... with wings off the centre. All the roof timbers were exposed internaly, It looked amazing.
I didnt see the end of the show but i'm sure it finshed off well.
I'm not sure about the timber shrinkage:confused: