Derik, welcome to WR and to the vortex. My first advise is to make sure your keep your wallet, checkbook and credit card in a safe location when you start looking at tools, wood and all sort of other woodturning paraphernalia:-D


As far as keeping the bugs out of wood.  If you can find the answer you will be on your way to becoming a millionaire.  Eggs get laid all over the trees and you don't always know the bugs are there until they go splat on your face shield.

I turn most of my wood green to finish.  Some people will turn it to a thickness that is about 1/10 of the diameter of the turning.  Either way works, it is just personal choice.  Neither will guarantee that the process will eliminate cracking.  When I turn green to finish, I will soak the turning in denatured alcohol (DNA) for 24 to 48 hours, after I have sanded and removed the tenon.  Once I take it out of the DNA I let the surface evaporate dry and then place it in a brown paper bag and staple it shut.  I weigh it and when it stops losing weight I know it is dry.  You want to keep the stapled paper bag in a location that is cool and does not have direct sunlight on it.  What you are doing is trying to control the evaporation process so that it dries in an even slow manner.  Once dried, I take it out of the bag and finish it in the manner I choose.

If you rough turn the bowl/turning the standard practice is to turn it so the thickness is 1/10 the diameter of the turning.  Once you do this, then you cover both the inside and outside of the bowl (some cover just the end grain others the entire surface) with anchor seal.  Again store it in a dark cool space until it is dry (usually months).  You will need to keep the tenon on this so that once it dries, you re-chuck it and then turn it to finish.

As far as storing logs, you need to seal the ends of the log with either paraffin or anchor seal.  If the log is still round (like a cut part of the tree), make you you cut the pith out of the log.  Most of us will cut a slice the length of the log that is about an inch or two wide that contains the pith.

Hope that helps and good luck.

Derik

Like Steve, I make once turned bowls.  After turning, I start the drying process by putting the bowl in a paper bag on the concrete floor (which is on grade).  Then the weekly weight loss is less than 2% I continue drying in the bag on a table (off the floor).  When the weekly weight loss is again less than 2% I remove the bag and continue weighing weekly.  When the weekly weight loss is again less than 2% I treat the bowl as dry enough to sand and apply finish.  I've not the courage to keep large quantities of denatured alcohol (DNA) on hand, and haven't found it necessary.

There is another current discussion about carbide tools and whether they will leave as smooth a finish as a traditional HSS bowl gouge.

It is often said that ask 10 wood turners a question and you will get 11 different answers.  Do a lot of reading here, and watch the videos here, then make your own informed decisions.  And practice practice practice.  My suggestion is to buy a couple know free 2x6 x8' boards, cut into 5 1/2" squares, and make a lot of practice (i.e. throw-away) bowls.

Of all the types of gouge, only a bowl gouge should be used on the inside of a bowl, never a spindle roughing gouge, a spindle gouge, a detail gouge, or a spindle detail gouge.

The search function here will find A LOT of discussion about mesquite.

A local woodturning group can be an invaluable asset - mentoring, opportunity to discuss tools and other equipment, et cetera.

Drying mesquite is quite a drawn out process. What do yall think of the PSI HSS tool set? I should upgrade because the tools I have don't hold an edge very well and are just cheap.

Where do yall get blanks? I have a Lowe's store relatively close so I can get wood of different sizes.

I'll mess around with different finishes and see what happens.

Thank yall much

Derik,

I have a mesquite bowl I turned last week on my finishing table.  Unlike most here, I turn dry wood rather than green.  Mesquite gets harder when it's dry, but that must means you have to sharpen more often.  I dried my blanks in a metal shed for 5 years.  Summer temps were over 120 some days.  I have not found any live insects in what I've turned so far, just lots of tunnels filled with waste where they have been.  I use them as design features and tell my customers not to eat cereal out of a mesquite bowl.

I am using satin poly on this bowl, mainly to seal the tunnels.  I've used Tung Oil on other bowls as well as Woodturner's Finish and buffing.  I make a monthly trip to DFW to shop for woodturning materials and tools.

Steve Kniffen wrote on Aug 1^st, 2017 at 8:51pm:


+1

I won't go over everything that's been said but I'll just add a few things.
First of all, there are several different kinds of mesquite, if you know which one you have it can be helpful. How tough it is on your tools is really going to be different every time. Mesquite can dull even high quality tools quickly at times, so it may have more to due with the wood than the quality of your tools.
Mesquite is "hard" for a domestic wood but there are other species (some exotics and those that contain silica) you will encounter that can dull your tool just by being in the same room.
If you want to upgrade the quality of your tools there are plenty of good options, you might want to start off by telling what you have and what you are looking for.

Good luck, have fun

The tools I have are craftsman, i assune they came with the lathe (bought the lathe in a garage sale ). I'd like something that's better, but not crazy expensive. There's the PSI HSS set for around 80 bucks I believe on Amazon, i read good reviews, thought that would be a good start.

Derik Mittag wrote on Aug 2^nd, 2017 at 8:51am:


The PSI sets or Benjamin's Best are good starter tools IMO and some others. Good for learning to turn and sharpen.
The one thing I will caution you is that many times when we buy "set" of tools there is usually one or two that get little or no use.
PSI has many different configurations of sets or you can get individual
I will say that I bought this kit years ago and still use some of them today.
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