Thread: Hoop Pine continued

Rough turn, then throw it in a brew of 50/50 metho/detergent - a few threads around about it. I have a few swamp mahogony and casuarina's in a brew at the moment. I'm trying brewing for a month, dry for a month.

Originally Posted by cedar n silky

Not a good idea to put it in plastic bag, me thinks, for fear of moulding!, What of the wood shavings method. I thought to try nuking one anyhow, but maybe not a good idea on pine?

You're right about nuking: pine tends to be a bit resinous. It's not only messy, but can cause or aggravate splitting. Any method that cures in hours instead of months has risks.

I find stashing a rough-turned blank in it's own shavings works, but is really best suited to setting the blank aside for only a week or two. eg. if you're spending a few days roughing a stack of blanks, which you'll finish turning over the next few weeks. Handy if you're deliberately making warped pieces or plan to dry further after finishing.

The LDD & alcohol soaking methods take a few weeks or months, but in general the items don't need further curing when finished.

If you're looking at "long-term" storage/drying of the roughed blanks (say in the 6-12 month range or longer) I'd settle for sealing with a good commercial end-grain sealer, a couple of coats of PVA or dipping in wax. Being a roughed blank it's best to seal the whole thing, not just obvious end-grain.

So, I guess it's a case of matching the method to the timeframe in which you want to be able to work the timber. In general: the longer it takes to cure, the more reliable the result.

Thanks for the feedback on drying. I have rough turned a couple, and was wondering if I am erring on the side of caution? The bowl at the moment (see photo) is 300mm diameter (as you can see it just fitted on the lathe)( yes I know it looks clean, almost as clean as the one-way!! )The walls are 30mm thick. Am I being too cautious or is there a formula for turning green (and I mean green- the water was flying off).
Skew, when you stash them, in there shavings, is it just in a cardboard box?
Dia sensei, is it neat detergant or diluted?

Some time back I turned some bowls from pine (caribaea) about 250mm diameter and about 100mm deep, from a tree that had been fallen the previous day. The wall thickness was about 20mm. They were kept in a box and covered with the shavings off the floor. The bowls had dried to the point where they could be finished and polished, in six weeks. During the six week period, I weighed them every seven days, noted the weight loss and plotted a graph. The end curve surprised me. Try it. Storing in a plastic bag can produce some spalted colouring and also can encourage blue mould. I find the discolouration very pleasant.
Jim

Originally Posted by cedar n silky

Skew, when you stash them, in there shavings, is it just in a cardboard box?

In really hot, dry weather (for Melbourne!) I try to use buckets, to reduce the surface area of the shavings exposed (don't want 'em to dry out too fast), but yeah, I usually use a cardboard box or a hessian bag. Basically whatever's convenient to hand at the time.

I won't use plastic bags though, 'cos they tend to be miniature mildew factories.

Cedar 'N' Silky

Ron Kent in Hawaii turns Norfolk Island Pine and he found that by freezing the pine it stops the bluing in the pine, So by him leaving the pine out for different times he can vary the blue or freezes a freshh cut pine for no blue. It was in an old Woodturning magazine.
Darren

Originally Posted by cedar n silky

)( yes I know it looks clean, almost as clean as the one-way!!
Am I being too cautious or is there a formula for turning green (and I mean green- the water was flying off).

Shamefully clean lathe there, cedar. Envy the outboard toolrest.

Beautiful wood, too. And my compliments to you on the sharp tools, too... Can't get wet pine that smooth without 'em. Well done.

Just waitin' on the finish pics, now.

Originally Posted by dai sensei

... a brew of 50/50 metho/detergent ....

Green wall thickness of about a tenth the diam is my rule of thumb.

Apart from that, Hoop Pine isn't a 'real' pine is it.

I have finally finished some hoop pine salad bowls. It's been 9 months since I started the thread, but I finish turned them a few months back. Just took a while to adapt my bowl jaws to accept larger bowls.
Thanks everyone for the advice about drying. It worked a treat. A bit of drying in cardboard boxes with shavings from the rough turning, and very regular watching and checking to avoid the dreaded bluing mould. It just started on a couple of bowls, so out of the box, and slow drying on the shelf. I milled some 70 mm flitches and air dried them outside under cover with slats in between, and I opened them up last week, and they are perfect. (as you can see by the cylinders I turned for salt and pepper grinders. (never made them before so here goes )
I am very impressed with it, it's very nice to turn, and I finished them with plain old olive oil. (except for the one with the lighter in it which was done with Shella wax.)
I have a few other things I'm goin to try out with the pine, like shaping some salad serving spoons to match the bowls.

Tis a lengthy process indeed but well worth the wait. Top job Cedar - and that stuff looks so much better without the bluing

And how many pine hoops did you need to laminate to make just one blank...?

nice bowls mate, i have some hoop logs going blue in my stash, its nice wood to work.
cheers
john

You've done a fine bit of work on these, Cedar. I guess they're pretty light, huh? Lookin' good!
Still thinkin' bout that outboard toolrest. (little green, here)