Thread: Cutting for spindle work

Whilst it is hard work, have you considered a hand saw?

I don't have a decent hand saw long enough, and I suspect it would take me many, many hours

I split some black locust the other day. Chainsaw was struggling.
If there is any visible splits that's the best spot to start the wedge.
And a good lump hammer. Be careful the wedges don't get pushed out due to
Timber pressure. Can be hazardous.

Hi grassy , perhaps you could borrow or hire a chainsaw
for the day , if you intend to do a lot of turning you might
want to buy your own , if you have access to some larger
pieces ....you can get a chainsaw fairly cheap these days

Do you have a bandsaw?

I heat with solar and wood. I bring home all sots of timber to turn or burn. Almost every type of timber will split if left in the round so it is best to start with a blank that has the center or pith cut off. Logs 150mm or bigger that are straight grained I will split into fourths or thirds following the starting cracks. I use a small 1 kg hand ax started in the crack and driven in with a round of tough heavy timber with a smaller end turned on the lathe for a handle. When this gets too beaten up, it goes into the fire and another is made. The ax is a cheap Chinese with a steel tube handle and rubber grip. I would not abuse a good Swedish ax like that.

The rounds split along the grain, I keep the straight pieces big enough to make handles and burn the rest. I have a piece of clear plastic with a hole in the center and a series of concentric circles scratched on it. I put this on each end of the triangular blank and find the approximate center and poke an awl into the hole.

That jig can be made by drilling a 3mm hole in the center of a piece of clear plastic, putting it on the lathe against the face plate, run the tail center point into the hole and scoring the rings with the toe of the skew or a nail. Run the tail center up to hold gently as too much pressure may split some plastics.

I stick it on the lathe using the holes in the ends for the drive and tail center points. I do a few passes with the roughing gouge. If the body is not being cut more ore less evenly, I adjust the center on one side or another or both sides.

It is best to start with a rough blank 1 1/2 to 2 times the size of the desired finished diameter. Splitting out blanks will make for stronger spindles as the grain is running end to end.

if you can salvage any it a magnificent timber to useI have dried some and it depends on how it is cut as to whether it will split.The grain and texture s as good as oak or perhaps better

I have used a axe head as a wedge to split some wood that had cracked along the length of the log. These were only 1 meter in length and some were very quick to split and a couple that were taking ages. What I ended up with were various sizes. I cleaned up the faces using a bandsaw taking little slices each time.

I figured that once I get around to using them I would be able to clean them up on the lathe.

This is what I use,

Its a BS sled, that can accept up to 290 mm diameter x 700 mm long logs.
Logs can be very gnarly and twisted.
Bandsaw log cutting sled

I have seen MDF versions of the same thing.

OK, splitting was a complete failure, even along a natural crack, the wood is extremely tough and fibrous and the wedge got the the bottom without actually splitting anything off. I had to also hammer in a large log splitter head to break a piece off. I then cut that piece with a combo recipro saw and hand saw, which ended up as quite a good workout as the recipro saw cried and went and hid in a corner. Cutting these thinner pieces with a table saw again highlighted how hard this stuff is, even in crosscut. I haven't tried to turn it but it's pretty hard stuff, at least this tree was, even the sapwood is very hard. Very pink looking wood, not much grain showing at this point. I will update after I've turned some.

I thought you would have trouble splitting, by the look of the lumps in the first photo - gnarly came to mind! I have split a bit of various timber, and even with a good grain, it can be a wasteful exercise because of the hills and valleys you end up with. Somewhere I saw a story about a bloke that splits shakes and shingles and he said he might search for hours to get the right tree.

Bottle Brushes just do not grow with straight grain AFAIK. But that makes it better to look at when it has been turned into an object. A pity you did not have a chainsaw - less pain, more gain.

Hope you get something nice out of the exercise.
Alister.