New to turning.

[JohnF]

I am a real novice at turning. Recently I have enjoyed making finials for garden ornaments or posts. I make them from pressure treated wooden fence post. Cheap as chips at my woodyard. Trouble is I buy a post three of four inches diameter with the idea of cutting them into blanks ready for turning. I went to a couple of posts stored in the garage this week and they are cracked along the whole length enabling them unusable for my purpose. They were not like this when I bought them. In future should I cut the new post into blanks first and store the like that? Or would they still split? Any help for a novice appreciated.

[jay]

 Most pressure treated fence posts are cut from the centre of a tree and often contain the pith . As the wood dries it shinks causing radial cracking . The way to minimise this is to avoid including the pith in a turning blank . Another factor of pt wood is that it is often very wet with preservative . My question to you is why use treated wood when you turn off most of the treatment . In an ideal siotuation one would turn the material then treat it . I realise that tanalizing is not available for home use but there must be  other brush on preservatives that may work for you . When i used to produce  a lot of Victorian house trim  i used  firstly Pentachlorophenol  when that was banned copper napthanate and zinc napthanate   then painted .I am not familiar with what chemicals are now available  to home users in the UK

[Bill21]

I can’t imagine what health risks might be involved turning treated wood, it’s not something I’d do. I’m not sure what make it is but I’ve got a tin of wood treatment that’s very thin and soaks right into the wood so I’d use that on ordinary pine.

Edit:

https://www.finegardening.com/article/does-pressure-treated-wood-belong-in-your-garden

“ Protect yourself while working with CCA wood. Always wear gloves, eye protection, and most important, a dust mask. Long sleeves are a good idea, too. Wash yourself and your clothes afterward. Finally, clean up every speck of sawdust you can (a shop vac does the best job). Drilling and sawing over a paved surface makes dust retrieval easier. Bag up sawdust and wood scraps and send them to the landfill. Don’t consider these steps optional”.

[oldfern]

I make finials from larch or Western red cedar.  I can get these in 4" or 6" square section, without the pith, or with the pith on the edge of the blank.  Larch is getting more expensive, cedar is becoming as expensive as some hardwoods.  It is not very nice to turn, but it is very durable.  Have a look at oldfern on the internet, or search for Summerhouse finials on Google. Feel free to contact me directly for more advice.

[jay]

I can’t imagine what health risks might be involved turning treated wood, it’s not something I’d do. I’m not sure what make it is but I’ve got a tin of wood treatment that’s very thin and soaks right into the wood so I’d use that on ordinary pine.

Edit:

https://www.finegardening.com/article/does-pressure-treated-wood-belong-in-your-garden

“ Protect yourself while working with CCA wood. Always wear gloves, eye protection, and most important, a dust mask. Long sleeves are a good idea, too. Wash yourself and your clothes afterward. Finally, clean up every speck of sawdust you can (a shop vac does the best job). Drilling and sawing over a paved surface makes dust retrieval easier. Bag up sawdust and wood scraps and send them to the landfill. Don’t consider these steps optional”.

 Bill  not trying to hijack this thread  . I would like to clarify that CCA  ( Chrome ,Copper ,Asenic  ) has generally been discontinued  and replaced with ACQ   (some kind of salt )  I am not sure of the US,  the home of fine gardening . Burning  and therefore vapourising those metals in CCA  are one hazard . Also the surplus crystals on fresh lumber were posing a problem with the runoff  especially in school playgrounds with climbing frames  However  The salt (acq based treatments are not without problems . They eat fasteners especially in constant damp situations  This necessitates  heavy hot dip galvanising  or stainless fasteners 

[Bill21]

Why take the risk when perfectly good wood is available without chemicals though?