Turning #3: Turing Green Wood: When "Free" Wood is not "Free" (humorous)

Free stuff is never free. I got a free cat once, $385 within the first six weeks. My first pen cost about $400.00. But it is what we get out of it that matters.

nothing in this world is free. nice score on the wood post some pics of the turnings.

-- Roper - master of sawdust-

I’m not familiar with pearwood at all, but this looks like it’s going to be very interesting to cut in to…

-- As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17) †

That is some neat looking wood.

-- The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them

Nice score! I look forward to seeing some of your free turnings. Thanks for sharing Brian.

-- My favorite piece is my last one, my best piece is my next one.

Beautiful looking stuff. Can’t wait to see what you make of it.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

That particular tree should have been cut into lumber. Pearwood will make some nice bowls, but for furniture, it is wonderful. Have fun!!!

-- Oldworld, Fair Oaks, Ca

Hello Brian;
....I have a saying that goes like this….”whenever some-one tells you it’s free, grab your back pocket and make sure you still have your wallet in place, since soon there will be a gathering of folks standing around you with their hands out….LOL.”

My wife comes home quite regular and tells me of all those ‘free’ deals out there….just waiting for me, so that I can have a free deal. Ah yes, the memory of all those free deals….

Keep making chainsaw dust and have a great time turning that wood. Haha, I see you also forgot two more costs….the cost of sharpening those chains and new chain bars….

Thank you.
GODSPEED,
Frank

-- --frank, NH, http://frank.wordpress.com/

Am I missing something here? Why would you soak it in Alcohol???

-- Chris

I am experimenting with alcohol soaking to speeds up the drying process. I rough out a bowl blank, for instance, to about 1/2” thickness, and then soak it in alcohol overnight. This speeds up the drying process about 10 fold, with no apparent loss of color and minimal warping and cracking. I have even tried this on Live Oak, which is notorious for warping and cracking as it dries.

This is my understanding of how it works: Water molecules have a strong attraction for each other, which make it evaporate slowly compared to other liquids. Alcohol and water are “miscible”, meaning that they are freely soluble in all proportions. When alcohol mixes with the water, it separates the water molecules from each other, making them able to evaporate much more readily. (Again, this is my understanding based on information I have culled; I am no expert on chemistry.)

I have finished my first bowl using this technique, and the results were great. It is made from Eucalyptus, and was from a tree cut down about a week before I roughed the blank. I have another blank ready to finish, one made from Interior Live Oak crotch. Currently, I am waiting on some blanks from this Pearwood. I will let you know how it works out. :-)

here are some links regarding the chemistry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solubility
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miscibility

and here are some links to post/articles by turners using this process:
http://www.woodcentral.com/articles/turning/articles473.shtml
http://alcoholsoaking.blogspot.com/20051201archive.html

Also, try Googling for “alcohol soaking” and “alcohol drying”

-- If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, who will cut it up into bowl blanks?

Thanks Brian! I am interested in the results. I guess my big concern with the Alcohol is the flammability. Also you must have some outstanding ventilation when you doing this….

-- Chris

Also,

I know Alcohol has been used as a “drying agent” for a fair number of different uses, I’ve just never using it for wood. The chemistry seems sound; however, would not the accelerated removal of the water still cause loads of stress to build up in the wood?

If not, why not? I know with kilns they caution against drying too quickly, but that does involve heat as the catalyst , not an anhydrous solvent.

Curious…...

-- Chris

Ohhh you soak the WOOD in it….ahhh much clearer now…I thought maybe it was something you used to pass the time whilst the wood dried….but I guess you wouldn’t use the denatured stuff for that :-)

-- ...it's rennovation time!!!

Brian,

There is one aspect of free wood that nobody seems to mention. If you destroy the woodturning you lost nothing. This is priceless to allow you to get good—I mean really good. Most woodturners that I talk to play is safe and part of the problem is that they pay for the wood. By playing unsafe I do not mean putting yourself in danger but putting the woodturning in danger. Most of my woodturnings now are 1/8” or less with some of them 1/16”. My ideal thickness is 3/32” (take a look at my projects). How can you turn something that thin? Practice on free wood and do not be afraid to fail for a long time. In the first 6 months I was destroying 4 out of 5 bowls. Now I destroy less than 1 in 5 and that is usually happening because I do not pay attention or I really push the limit.

About the alcohol drying, there was a time when I experimented with soap myself. I got tired of it fast though (still have the soap in a container somewhere). What I noticed is that if I turn the piece at about 3/32” the wood does not crack but folds. This provides a countless source of interesting pieces. I have yet to see a person that says I do not like how this bowl bended. Since the woodturnings dry in one day, I do not bother to microwave them or to measure the moisture. This immediately removes two of the high price items on your list.

The most important thing on your list is, of course, the relationship with an arborist. Mine will get a 100$ woodturning for being nice to me.

Alin

-- -- Alin Dobra, Gainesville, Florida