Bags o' blanks

After hauling all that wood home on Saturday, then next logical step is to cut it up, right? I took the chainsaw back out on Sunday and started cutting blanks. With a bit of practice, and some trial and error on getting the block to sit still, cutting octagonal blanks with a chainsaw is not too hard. I've been debating buying a bandsaw to cut round blanks, but I'd need something that could do depths on the order of 10 inches. The cost of a bandsaw with that capacity is prohibitive, and not really worthwhile if it's only for rounding out the blanks. With a roughing gouge, I can carefully true the octagonal blanks before I begin shaping.

I cut the following blanks yesterday, all approx. 9" diameter x 10" height:

• 2 locust
• 4 maple
• 3 beech

so I'll have plenty of rough turning to do this week. I cut them tall because the logs allowed, and I'd like to do some deeper vessels. I can always cut one in half to make 2 shorter bowls if I want. All the blanks went in paper bags to stay moist until I can rough-turn them.

I started roughing a beech blank that looks (so far) to be nicely figured. I purposely cut the blank from beneath a location where a 6" branch had been trimmed so I could take advantage of the grain pattern underneath. All I can saw so far is that the beech is really hard, so I should get used to doing a lot of sharpening. I shaped the outside last night, and I'll rough-out the inside tonight or tomorrow. When it's done with the rough turning, I'll post pictures so you can see what the grain looks like inside and out.

Generations

My son (9) and I went log hunting on Tuesday afternoon. He was really enthusiastic, and wanted to help me get "just the right piece." Let's back up...

A few days earlier, he had seen my first turning attempt and declared that he wanted to try it too. I told him that he could try turning with my help, and he was really excited. (I'm not sure yet how exactly I'm going to safely encourage his interest, but I don't want to discourage him from trying his hand at woodworking either.)

... so we're at the giant power company log pile (most of which is rotten, heavily cracked, pine, cedar, or some combination of the above) and he's running & climbing all over the place looking for the "right size" piece for him to turn. I shifted his focus a bit by explaining about cutting smaller blanks from larger logs, and about wood types and problematic symptoms to avoid.

We wound up taking a nice size log that I believe is oak, and brought it home for some trimming. Then he got to watch me hack it to pieces with the chainsaw! (arguably his favorite but most feared part) I explained each cut, how we're trimming the ends to get past the smaller cracks, and how we're avoiding the hollowed pith. We talked about grain direction, and spindle blanks vs. bowl blanks. Not only did he fully understand the concepts, he was actually interested.

We wound up with 2 good bowl blanks and one spindle blank that he wants to turn into a trophy with a Mario Brothers (Nintendo) mushroom character on top. He's such a creative kid that it's great to see him have an opportunity to explore a new medium. I'm glad that he got to witness the transformation of a log in a pile into a set of turnable blanks for a planned project. More importantly, I enjoyed sharing that process with him and knowing that he learned something new as a result.

Community

I have to give props to the folks on the message boards at the Woodturner's Resource. I've found it to be a great place to ask all sorts of questions. I'll announce that I'm a complete beginner, and not get one condescending remark. Everyone is friendly and helpful. I look forward to asking all of my stupid questions, and I know I'll get many great responses. Already, I learned a ton about the best ways to dry bowl blanks. (The general consensus is that Dave Smith's alcohol soaking method is the way to go. I won't get into the details, but you can find them here.)

I set up my compressor today, and I didn't realize how helpful it's going to be with blowing the sawdust out of my shop. It made my cleanup go very quickly. I also ripped (lengthwise) the other log I got from the power company (did I mention that I love my new chainsaw?), and I'm looking for help identifying the species. It has some ineresting darker streaks running through it, and the general grain pattern looks nice to. Hopefully it will turn well and produce a nice bowl.

Meanwhile, I'm cleaning the garage/shop while I wait for Jet to open tomorrow so I can order the replacement switch for my lathe. It's hard being patient.

Update: Damn, looks like the species above is eastern white pine, which is soft and prone to cracking due to wide rings from fast growth.

Two steps forward, one step back

Yesterday saw great progress, but also some frustration. I bought a chainsaw for cutting blanks out of logs that I find (including the cedar that I cut by hand already) and an air compressor for getting shavings out of hollowed vessels. If you're craving some unboxing action, check out the flickr sets here and here.

The chainsaw is great. I cut that piece of cedar into two bowl blanks yesterday without any trouble at all. Once the pieces got too small to stabilize for cutting with the chainsaw, I used a mitre saw to shape them, hence the 45 degree cuts on the corners. One has a good gouge out of the side that happened during the last bit of hand cutting when I pulled the two pieces apart, but I think it's low enough that I can turn away the wood around it without affecting the overall shape.

Here's where the step backward enters the story... After I got the blank mounted between centers, I go to turn on the lathe and the switch literally comes off in my hand. Apparently a small piece of plastic in the shipping box that I thought was packaging material was actually half of the trim around the switch housing. Well, that meant that one moderate lifting of the switch would just tear it out. Fortunately it wasn't stuck "on", but unfortunately I'm not doing any tuning until Jet reopens on Jan. 2 to send me a new part. Until then, I guess I'll have to actually clean up the garage and make my "shop" ready for work. I can also work on sharpening my tools with my new Tormek Supergrind that I haven't used yet. More on that later.