Woodworking

I wouldn't think a dog would take more than one lap. We had a calf that drank diesel fuel and engine oil mix. A leaky fuel pump diaphragm filled the crankcase of a tractor. I had drained it into a pail. One would think it would kill an animal.
 
Trying my hand at being Jay this morning, still!
I cut a slab from one of the Maple tree's at Mom and Dads, 57"x32" at the widest points. I cut it 5 1/2" thick thinking I could take it and have it run through a band mill, come to find out the mill will only take 24"!
Fine, I set it up on saw horses in the front yard and cut it to 2 1/2" ish, it's hard to do free hand, borrowed a power hand planer and a belt sander and lived in the garage for most of the night!
I've got one side, the top side, where I like it. It's a tough call to leave enough imperfections and enough fine finish to make the look! Waiting for that to dry so I can flip it and seal the other side so it doesn't crack or split on me! I really don't want that!
Sanding green, green wood just sucks! Loads up sand paper like no other, and fast!
Then the real pisser, it seems it may all be for naught! I wanted to use this for a coffee table, the wife isn't liking it at all! It's a "bench" in her mind, and she will make a place for it? Really? How cool would that be for a conversation piece? "I took down this tree, look under it at the chainsaw marks!"
Women!
 
I have never been a wood worker but I work more in metal. Get one of those rubber blocks for cleaning the belts they work wonders and save money on belts.
 
You can't hardly sand green wood to amount to anything .If you must work it green a cabinet scraper would probabley work better .
 
There is a trick for sanding green wood on the lathe.
Soak it in a mixture of 1/3 dish washing detergent and 2/3 water.
Keeping it wet keeps the sand paper from getting clogged up, and each time you change grit, wash the object to remove traces of the coarser grit, you just used.

It is pretty messy, I usually wear a raincoat. But the result is fine. Sanding up to 300 grit and then once the wood is dry, repeat that and follow with as fine grit as you want.
 
So how the Hell do I seal this and keep it from cracking, like it's trying to do now? I've got a coat of poly on both sides and holding the garage temp around 60deg.
Do I need to sand through the poly and start rubbing like Hell with tung oil?
 
I doubt that trying to work the wood and make something while it is still green, will get you much beauty for your troubles. Stig was talking about lathe work, which is often partially done green, then more seasoning is applied, generally.

The best thing is to seal it and stash it in a semi protective environment, let it dry and possibly warp and crack somewhat, which are often unavoidable eventualities as the wood looses moisture, but if you have started off with enough extra material, you can usually find the better usable material contained within after it has seasoned. If you want to work it and use it green, you might get lucky and come up with something interesting, but the negatives generally far outweigh the chances for that. I don't envy you sanding some thick coating off green wood. What is your budget for sand paper? Perhaps 80 grit :\: might accomplish the feat, but the scratches will be horrendous, so then progressively working up through the finer grits to make it nice, all the paper is going to clog quickly, and I think frustration will result. If dry, you can possibly find a planer or use an electric hand plane to get it flat and reasonably smooth, then it is much quicker to work up to a nice surface from that point. That is the logical progression, if one wants to be logical. Whatever...good luck with the project.
 
I have an electric hand plane, that's how I got it where I could use the belt sander, the used an orbital sander to finish. Sanding it down isn't that big of an issue for this.
But it sounds like I need to get some more of these rounds, cut them down, dry and see which ones will be usable.
 
Oh, you are using rounds, I thought you had slabs that ran with the grain, as in logs that were milled. Cracking is a given with rounds unless you put a slice all the way in from the outer edge to the pith to reduce the stress. Heavy sealing the surfaces and drying in a very consistent environment out of the sun and wind, will give the best results, i.e. dry slow. Still, you'll be bucking nature to hope for unblemished surfaces. There is also something called polyethylene glycol or PEG, that is a waxy substance that displaces the water and soaks into the cells for a permanent situation. It renders the wood stable, but is probably impractical to use for anything of much size.
 
PEG is packaged for burn treatment FWIW, I think I have a tube in the first aid kit.
 
Some shots of a few Walnut rounds for Stig and in case Stehanson may want some blanks for turning.... it's not too late mang. Might be soon though. As I stated before, he is going to use it for a fire to burn the last of the stem.
Steve, he also has what looks to be black walnut stock for gun stocks he is willing to give away as well. If you want some, I'll call him and set it up. :)
 

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Back in the day, i could have gotten some nice salad bowls out of those rounds.
The contrast between sap and heartwood in walnut makes for an interesting bowl, when played right.

Turners can utilize wood that furniture makers turn their noses up at.

Those rounds just needs to be rough turned and then seasoned for a couple of years, before finishing.
I've always had good luck selling walnut bowls, for some reason.
I think the light/dark contrast appeals to Danes, when you combine it with a simple , unadorned form.
 
That highly figured walnut usually comes from near the roots that they like for fancy gun stocks .Pricey stuff .
 
Today I was asked to take a glued up mess of cherry and turn it nto a countertop.
It is all of 3/4" thick, has a serious cupping, and has sentimental value to the woman (her father 'made' it for her).
Sorry the picture from my phone is so fuzzy. Counter.jpg
 
Wooden Jeep displayed in France.....

wooden_jeep_france1-650x488.jpg


wooden_jeep_france2-650x488.jpg


Looks like a dragster behind it as well..
 
About 1½ years ago a forwarder driver dumped off a large beech burl at my house and asked me to turn him a bowl from it.
I roughed it out and dried it, and now I've finally finished it off, just in time for it to make a nice x-mas present for his wife.

It was a wonderful piece of wood, and since i don't turn much anymore, I gave some of it away to other turners and a knifemaker.
They are still working on it, but the Scottish knifemaker has made one fine knife from it.
Here is a link to the Danish woodturning forum. just enjoy the pictures, since the words will be Volapük to you:D http://www.woodturning.dk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2321

hedetoft bøgeknude.JPG P1010282.JPG P1010278.JPG P1010273.JPG
 
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