Some More Free Wood

[William Young]

From the free elm I got yesterday I used the biggest pieces and made 4 bowls. First two are out of the alcohol and wrapped and the second two are now getting pie eyed in the alcohol.
So this afternoon after turning the second two bowls I scabbed off the sides of some more of that same batch of elm and painted the ends with anchorseal to stop it from checking before I get around to turning it. These pieces are only 10" square down to 6" square and approx 16" long.
I had a blast turning that juicy green elm with it spraying out 6' or 8' from the spinning bowls. Next time I will cover my bench with plastic because it soaked it in one area where it sprayed the farthest.
That's the best way to turn green wood. Cut the tree down and turn some the first day.

The wood in the background is just a bit of left over last years firewood.

Gotta love free wood .

W.Y.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y231/WillysWoodcrafting/ElmSquaredOff.jpg

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Watch out you don't get " DUTCH ELM DISEASE " or is that " FRENCH ELM DISEASE " http://smilies.vidahost.com/ups/kamikaze/smilie_switch.gif

[William Young]

Dutch Elm disease went through Ontario about 40 years ago and wiped out most of them when I lived there but apparently it never hit out west. Probably because elm trees are very scarce in the west. I have always wondered since if they have re-populated in the east.
I might be taking a trip back east to Ontario later in the year and I will check it out.
We got lots of free firewood back then from the dead elm trees. It wasn't harmfull to humans.
As far as the French aspect goes I have no idea what happened in Quebec but with it bordering Ontario, they probably got hit with the Dutch elm disease as well.
The wood that is shown here was from a live healthy tree that I cut down for a neighour because the roots were getting under his foundation and the sap from the leaves in the spring was making a mess of his patio.
W.Y.

[Deanna]

Hey William,

Have you tried turning any "demim" pine yet? Or maybe it hasn't hit you yet?

[William Young]

Deanna;
I am not at all familiar with the "denim" pine that you mention.
But I find all the needle bearing woods like pine , spruce, fir, balsa, hemlock etc , etc are not very safe for turning because they have such coarse grain and wide anual rings and have a tendancy to separate and break off in chuncks when spinning on the lathe. Some is OK for spindle turning for lamps etc. but not for bowls and hollow vessels.

So I try to turn mostly the harder species with a tighter and stronger grain structure.
Just before I showed the pieces of chainsawed wood blanks in the previous message I turned 4 bowls (two eash day) from the lower pieces in the trunk of the tree. I roughed them out to within 10% of final turning.
Two of the bowls are 9" diameter and two are 11" diameter.

Here are the second two that I just now took out of the alcohol and are still wet. I will let them dry and sober up for half hour or so and then wrap them.
Top and bottom of same roughed out bowls.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y231/WillysWoodcrafting/Elm1.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y231/WillysWoodcrafting/Elm2.jpg

And here are the two smaller ones that I rough turned the day before and are wrapped and weighed and dated . Should be ready for final turning in a couple weeks.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y231/WillysWoodcrafting/Elm3.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y231/WillysWoodcrafting/Elm4.jpg

W.Y.

[TimD]

Great looking bowls there! Now excuse my ignorance but you mentioned soaking them in alchol. Would you, please, explain that to me. You are turning green wood from what I underdtand so is the alcohol to keep them from splitting or what?

[William Young]

Here ya go Tim;
This will explain it much easier than I could.

http://tinyurl.com/5kbdz

After a couple weeks of going from juicy green to totally dry I will put those bowls back on the lathe and turn them to final thickness and shape and put a finish on them.

Cheers.
W.Y.