WWA Info Exchange

Resurfacing into the woodworking world after a long hiatus this winter, ready to make spinny things. Hope y'all had a good winter and are emerging into a nice spring! Gotta gloat here, though. Major score on Madrona turning stock today! Biggest logs are 13-14"D. Bowls, bowls, bowls!! Dennis, when I get up to your place, I'll bring you some if you want!

Awwww, darn, Tom's left for vacation!

This is really weird, Jamie. I was just wondering about where you were and if everything was OK. Glad to hear everything is!

What a way to hurt a guy, Jamie! Resurface to the group and flash such nice material. But you've got your work cut out for you! I'm assuming this is all green? You need to get all that stuff at least rough turned ASAP. I don't care if you encase the ends in 3" of reinforced epoxy, that stuff's gonna check big time. I've got some similar sized chunks out in the stash pile that I've let sit far too long. One 10-12" long piece has three major checks the full length, each one over 1/4" wide.

Be sure to rough turn the blanks on the heavy (thick) side since they're going to go really out of round as they dry. You'll need the thickness to get back to round. The alternate option is to start turning them all now to final thickness in one session while they're green. It's almost sensual how green madrone comes of a really sharp tool. Study the grain as to how it's oriented on the lathe, then see what kind of shape you get after it's contorted after drying. Find the orientation that produces the most interesting distortion.

Hey - I hit reply before both images had completely appeared so (dial-up, ya know! -grin-) so I'd like to add:

Even those longer lengths will split down the entire length if they're not taken care of soon. You need to get this stuff cut into turning blanks sooner. You've got to get rid of the pith or you'll have some marvelously figured firewood. You really should cover it with plastic if you haven't already.

Sure, it'd be great to have you and Nick over so we could pile up madrone shavings. But we better do it pretty soon or ....

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Cheers - Dennis

Hi, Dennis. I have a couple of contacts of turners who've processed Madrona successfully, but you're right it still needs to dealt with quickly. Looks like boiling may be the best way to avoid to much loss. If you've never read it, check out this article by Steven Russell. He has a special protocol for boiling Madrona (v. other difficult woods -- Madrona's is the most difficult!
[don't worry, it's not a video, it's text] http://www.woodturningvideosplus.com/boiling-green-wood.html

I gotta find out where to get one of those propane burners though.

Wow, what a score. Count me in the totally jealous and drooling category! Madrone is just wonderful to turn green. You can turn super thin walled pieces. I also like that it deforms so dramatically. You'll have lots of fun turning it.

As for your propane burner, you just need one made for frying turkeys. I picked mine up at a boating shop at Fisherman's Terminal so you ought to be able to find one near you.

Have fun! Oh, and if you need a saw to cut up the wood, my band saw can accomodate up to 14" stock.

peter

Yes, boiling it is a good way to process it although I've never tried it myself. Used to be I had time and energy to rough turn most of the green wood I scrounged almost as soon as I got it. But as I'm sure you're finding out by now, once people know you have a lathe the wood seems to come out of nowhere! I sure hope you can preserve all that beautiful stuff before it deteriorates, Jamie, but don't be dismayed if you don't. It's really tricky to store for any length of time. Even boiling doesn't seem to prevent the serious checking and cracking over the long haul. But being the chivalric type of guy I am, I'll be glad to help you get it turned! (hehehe)

You might seriously consider Peter's offer to help get it cut up on his bandsaw. If you can at least get the pith out and blanks milled out you could store it in large plastic garbage can liner bags. You'd need to air it out periodically to prevent mold, of course, but that would drastically cut down on the moisture loss. You're more than welcome to come up and mill it on my band saw as well but I suspect Peter is a lot closer.

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Cheers - Dennis

Hi, Peter. Thanks so much for the offer of the bandsaw!!! I could really use some help learning how to use one for this kind of stuff -- I haven't built a sled for mine or anything, LOL! I found a Craig's List King Kooker that's exactly like the one in Steve Russell's pictures. Just have to get the right 55 gallon drum. Found one on CL but the people haven't written me back yet.

I may need a couple of drinks to get so carefree that I want the wood to warp. We'll see!

.

Oh no ... you want it to warp, Jamie. Trust me, you want it to warp. This stuff, the madrona, goes nuts when you turn even medium sized pieces to a consistently thin, thinner the better, thickness. It's absolutely crazy wood. Let's face it, anyone can with practice turn a perfectly round piece, whatever. With this wood you can create a truly one of a kind piece. There has never been and there never will be another like it!

But you gotta finish the entire project in one setting. Don't expect to rough out and turn the outside one day/evening and come back the next to do the inside. Or even turn the outside and inside today and sand/finish the next.

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Cheers - Dennis

Well, sounds like I need to get those bowl-turning skills tuned up and set aside some "quality time" to spend with this wood! I played with a piece of spalted cherry tonight, just a small one. Tweaking needed..

Hey, Jamie! I don't think I can ever remember something coming out of my shop that couldn't have used a bit of 'tweaking'! We're our own worse critics, dontcha know!

As for the cherry thing, I understand that at this watering hole if there's no picture provided for backup, it never took place!

Not to worry; I'll endure the dialup image download if you'll show us (me) the piece. Can you get it down to about 500k? (groan)

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Nullum Gratuitum Prandium

Cheers - Dennis

Good seeing you again FG! And what a score! Great haul there and I can't wait to see what comes from some of it. I really need to get back on the lathe mysel. I've done a couple of bowls and really want to do some more. I'm sitting on some beautiful blanks right now, but I don't want to cut into them until I get my skills up to speed. Looks like you'll be getting in a good amount of time with yours.

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Frank
WWACOAUX#1
"I love the smell of Sawdust in the morning, it smells like, victory."
WWA'ers I've met: Popeye, Ed Avery, Stephen Wolf, Rockfish, Rodedon

Trust me, Dennis, you don't want to see a pic of this thing! I'll definitely post a pic of my first bowl that doesn't look like it was created by a beaver. Took Grumbine's DVD to bed last night, watched it on the portable DVD player.

I'm always nice when I post pics usually <50kb Learned back in the dial-up days, selling on eBay. People don't buy things when it takes 5 minutes for the pic to show. For a long, long time, I never posted anything greater than 35-40kb Geez, I'm old!

Nothing like that around here! I'm kind of jealous.

Enjoy the turning, and let us know how it goes......

Gimme a break, child.

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Nullum Gratuitum Prandium

Cheers - Dennis

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