Turning green oak

[Steve68]

Hi all.

Not been too involved with the forum lately due to work and Christmas. That's probably a good thing for you guys, I'm not constantly picking your brains

But that's just what I'm gonna do now!!! I've bought some green oak offcuts from a local sawmill that were going to be sold as firewood. Three rubble sacks full for six quid....I'm going back for more in the new year. If anyone local to me needs some, just give me a shout and I can let you know what's there and grab some for you. Usually they chop up Larch for firewood but when I saw the oak I couldn't leave it there. (Will Larch turn ok? I'm sure there's a lump or two in the bags.)

So to the questions.....

I know I can turn it green, but will the finished piece crack over time?

Can I finish the piece as normal or should it dry out then seal/finish?

Should I rough turn the pieces then dry them out and turn them to finished piece later?

I've got lots of chunks so experimenting isn't an issue. Especially at that price!!! What I'd really like is a vacuum pot, get them stabilised and make some of those cool hybrid blanks.

Any info, help and comments most welcome.

 

[Penpal]

Good luck.

Peter.

 

[Terry Q]

My suggestion is rough cut the pen blanks to size. Stack them in rows 5 wide with space between them and as high as you want with spacers between each row. They will dry in a couple months.

Option 2. Microwave them. Small batches, cook on high for 1 minute, remove from microwave and allow to cool thoroughly. Repeat until dry. They really must cool before repeating.

You cannot stabilize wet wood. Before stabilizing put your dry blanks into the toaster oven overnight at 200 degrees to get moisture content to 0. Allow to cool in an air tight container then stabilize.

Good luck

 

[Steve68]

Thanks Terry.

Some of them I don't want as pen blanks but I will use the microwave method to try a few out, as well as stacking some aside.
I also want to dry some larger pieces for bowls etc. I've got some quite good chunks in there.

 

[martin.pearson]

Cant really help to much as new to all this myself, don't know about had turning larch but you can machine it, the heart & ribbon I posted n my thread are made from larch, machined on the CNC, you don't get as good a finish as with a lot of hardwoods but it is acceptable, had to do a bit of sanding ith this but not to extreme lol

http://www.penturners.co.uk/off-topic-forum/22804-acceptable-tools-3.html

 

[wm460]

Steven, I used to turn green wood bowls, wrap them in newspaper, then put then in a plastic bag, then Microwave them. as Terry said, " cook on high for 1 minute, remove from microwave and allow to cool thoroughly." keep repeating till paper is dry.

 

[Terry Q]

The method I use for green turned bowls is to rough turn, submerge in denatured alcohol for a couple days. Remove and let the alcohol flash dry then put the bowl in a heavy brown paper bag. The bowl will be ready to finish turn in about 4 weeks.

 

[Bill Mooney]

I’ve used the microwave method successfully a few times.

 

[bigbob]

The way I microwave is measure the weight of the blank on a small set of digital scales do not put the microwave on full as you might burn the center out. Set the microwave on reheat or defrost wrap the blank in kitchen towel to allow the moisture that will come out of the blank and give it 30 seconds. Rest the wood for 20 minutes then repeat keep weighing until the weight remains the same it usually takes between 3 and 5 shots at the microwave to complete

 

[Phil Dart]

I'd experiment if I were you Stephen. Lots of drying methods mentioned already, but no-one's mentioned that to minimise the chances of it cracking, make sure the rough turned wall thickness is even all over.

Another thing to try is just to finish turn it to a really thin wall thickness, and then just leave it in a cool place to do it's thing. It will warp and distort for sure, but one man's crack is another man's piece of art (although I accept that maybe I could have phrased that a bit better)

 

[Steve68]

but one man's crack is another man's piece of art