Hi! I’m a newbie to woodturning. I have very recently cut down a field maple tree in my garden and would like to keep some of the wood for turning bowls once I’m up to speed on my lathe. How can I stop the logs from splitting?
Do I need to split the logs lengthways to expose the centre, seal the end grain, ….
Any advice would really be appreciated.
Thanks, Philip
Basically, yes; and I’ve found a heavy coat of PVA to be as effective as wax for end grain sealing.
However, as drying times are long (for air drying) and sections large enough for turning are very thick, it’s generally a good idea to take your green logs and rough turn them into thick walled bowls. They can then be stored in brown paper bags (surrounded with the shavings) and they’ll dry much faster.
They’ll warp, but with a good thick wall (e.g. 1") you’ll have enough material to turn your final form once the wood is dry.
Frank Howarth (on YouTube) does a number of turning videos, and he’s done this rough turning + drying process a number of times in his videos; so may be a good thing to check out.
Thanks Gordon.
I’m getting new chains for my chainsaw so that I can cut the logs length-ways. PVA sounds good as I have a quantity of this.
