Turning Bowls

Welcome. You can use dry or green. Most bowl turners prefer fresh wood because it is easier to turn. But of course then you have a green bowl that can be in 3-4 pieces when it dries :laughing:. Doing a little research on which types of wood turn best green is a good start. And how to slow the drying.

All I can say is if you are new to this, you have alot to learn. Firstly, you came to a good place to do just that (without having to do it all the hard way). But having alot to learn means alot of fun learning :thumbsup:. That's what it's all about for me, learning new stuff.

Feel free to post pictures of your new adventures, and ask any questions you have. I bet someone can answer them pretty quick, there are some pretty skilled turners as members here.

Welcome to the forum Brian. Yes, wet turning is a lot of fun as is dry wood turning but you need to find out the differences pretty quick if you don't want to experience some turning failures. Nothing hard, just get a good book. Best of luck. Mitch

Green wood cuts easier and much cooler. Just remember that it will warp almost immediately and must be completely finished in one session. Dont even stop for lunch! Once a bowl is turned thin (3/8 inch or less), it will warp but will not usually split or crack. If you can, borrow one of the David Ellsworth tapes on hollow woodturning. Another technique is to rough turn a bowl to 3/4 to one inch, let it dry for 6 months. When you final turn it, it wont warp or crack. This is the method I use most unless I want to take advantage of natural warping for artistic reasons.

The show I saw on green wood turning said to leave the bowl oversized as Jaxx suggested. Then he would wrap the bowl in newspaper and then stick it in a brown paper bag and close that up good. He just sets it on a shelve for 4 to 6 months then puts it back on the lathe to finish it out. He said at any given time he would have 10 or 15 bowls drying so you might want to put a date on them.

Mike

You can start and finish a wet turning all in one session, and have a great finished turning that will not warp twist or anything eles, one is that you bring your turning down to a wall thickness of around 2mm, make a vase use a light souce to get uniform thickness and finish sanding on both side at the same time, friction sanding this will dry your turning, there are lots of info and vids out there to give you help also books on green turning, Stuart mortimer has a vid/dvd on wet turning. let the google do the work. LB..