Prepping wood for turning

[Heather Finch]

Hi all,

I'm new to this world and hope I can learn a lot from all your experience.

We have a small woodland in the Scottish Highlands which we live in and manage for biodiversity, conservation and our own biomass fuel. Occasionally we have large pieces of branch or trunk on our hands when big windfalls or crown-raising has taken place.

At the moment we have some beautiful oak branch wood on the ground waiting for processing after doing some protective work on a huge tree that's about 220 yrs old. The biggest rounds are ca. 55cm diameter and about the same in height/length. It strikes me that there could be some beautiful wood in these for turning. I'd love to know what I should do to preserve/prepare them for future possible sale/trade/use.

I'm not a woodturner so have very little understanding of how to dry wood for anything apart from fuel. My neighbour is a woodturner and I've watched his process a lot but he likes to work with very old, very wet & decaying wood and I'm interested in creating a product that's a little less complicated than that. So, please, go ahead and talk to me like the total beginner I am :-)

My understanding thus far from the wonder of YouTube is that I need to;

1. remove the pith by sawing either side of it then discarding
2. seal the ends and open faces of the wood to slow moisture loss
3. store somewhere with a medium-high humidity level and wait a long time

I'd love for you all to tell me what I'm wrong about here, also if I got anything right and what to use for sealer.

Many thanks :-)

Heather

[BrianH]

Hi Heather welcome to addiction.
There are as many answers your question as there are wet- woodyturners. Here comes my 2 pennyworth....
Get rid of the pithe  plus as much wood around it as you can spare.
Mount your piece on the lathe and rough turn it to something approximating your desired shape but leave it 3 or 4 times thicker than the finished project.
Seal it in a paper bag and store it away for a month or 3.
Retrieve it and remount the now oval blank on the lathe and turn the piece to a finish.
Don't do these things singly because whatever your chosen method some wood sprites will have other, splitting, ideas, in which case I'm afraid its the firewood bin.
The advantages are that you are only drying the minimum amount of wood and, I find, the paper bag does a better job of slowing the process than sealer.
You might also try sealing some of your rough turnings into a plastic bag with a handful of grass clippings. This will encourage the wood to spalt and leave a wonderful pattern in the wood.
I wish you all the best with whatever method you choose
Brian

[Heather Finch]

Hi Brian,

Many thanks for this and the welcome :-)

I don't have a lathe and am really thinking of prepping these pieces as best I can for other folks' use.

Interesting point re drying the minimum amount of wood - that helped some understanding click for me, thank you.

Do you know of any good books on this topic - the prep stuff specifically, rather than the turning as the focus? I've had a good rummage online but can't see any.

Best, Heather

[BrianH]

Sorry Heather, anything beyond a lathe tailstock is outside my, and probably most, woodyturners expertise. Try putting the question on a less specialised woody forum would be my best advice.
Brian

[Bill21]

This article may be of some assistance?

https://www.davidcondonwoodcraft.ie/the-process

[Heather Finch]

Sorry Heather, anything beyond a lathe tailstock is outside my, and probably most, woodyturners expertise. Try putting the question on a less specialised woody forum would be my best advice.
Brian

thanks Brian :-)

[Heather Finch]

This article may be of some assistance?

https://www.davidcondonwoodcraft.ie/the-process

Thank you Bill21! Very helpful indeed! :-)