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gary marquardt

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am i doing this correct?
Nov 30^th, 2015 at 6:51pm

over the weekend I picked up some FOG wood while in northern Michigan. I have yet to i.d what kind of pine it is. Kind of had to do a grab and go with it. most of the pieces are about 24" dia X 18" tall. my thought is this. slice them into 4 wedges and then slice out the pith. rough them into rounds and seal with anchor seal until i can get to them in about a month. then rough turn and finish drying in chips before final turning. this is a new area for me as i usually do smaller stuff. Correct my procedure if need be.

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Ed Weber WR Administrator WR Patron Offline Posts: 8,999 Wilton California USA Gender:	Re: am i doing this correct? Reply #1 - Nov 30^th, 2015 at 7:33pm Sounds like a good plan, this may help. Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!! You need to or There are other resources in the TPT section.
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Bill Rockwood

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Re: am i doing this correct?
Reply #2 - Nov 30^th, 2015 at 7:38pm

Gary,
Sounds like you are planning to turn bowls (but not sure.) If so, in which orientation are you planning to turn them - edge toward the outside (bark side), or edge toward the pith side? Also, what is the capacity of your lathe?
You have many options on how to cut blanks from these logs, depending on the width and depth you desire. Reed ("Robo Hippy") has a great video on turning logs into blanks here: Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!! You need to

or

You might also check out this Glenn Lucas video for an idea of how many blanks he gets out of large log Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!! You need to

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If you have to wait a while to turn them, the end grain needs to be sealed.

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« Last Edit: Nov 30^th, 2015 at 7:39pm by Bill Rockwood »

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Don Stephan WR Addict Offline WR Rocks! Posts: 2,666 Cincinnati, Ohio Ohio USA Gender:	Re: am i doing this correct? Reply #3 - Nov 30^th, 2015 at 8:16pm Before spending too much additional time, try turning one to see if the wood is full of sticky pitch.
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gary marquardt Active Member Offline WR Rocks! Posts: 222 Saline Michigan USA Gender:	Re: am i doing this correct? Reply #4 - Dec 2^nd, 2015 at 4:34pm and if it's full of sticky nasty pitch I presume the best thing is to "pitch it" into the fire pit? or is there a way to work with it?
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Larry Matchett WR Addict Offline Be One with your Tool! Posts: 1,588 Gulf Coast, Mississippi Mississippi USA Gender:	Re: am i doing this correct? Reply #5 - Dec 2^nd, 2015 at 8:12pm No you do not have to pitch the wood because it has pitch. I have turned a lot of it. It helps to have jar of turpentine handy to clean off any from your lathe and tools. A lot of it is just flat beautiful.
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Bill Rockwood Active Member Offline WR Rocks! Posts: 218 Buena Park California USA Gender:	Re: am i doing this correct? Reply #6 - Dec 8^th, 2015 at 2:12am Here's another good video on cutting log segments into bowl blank pieces, by Mike Mahoney (the person behind Mahoney's walnut oil, etc.) Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!! You need to or Wish I could find wood the size he's cutting in this video...
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gary marquardt Active Member Offline WR Rocks! Posts: 222 Saline Michigan USA Gender:	Re: am i doing this correct? Reply #7 - Dec 8^th, 2015 at 1:30pm here's what it looks like. Cutting it later this week
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John Cepko Senior Member Offline WR Rocks! Posts: 492 Newark Maryland USA	Re: am i doing this correct? Reply #8 - Dec 9^th, 2015 at 5:12pm I would cut right down that crack right in the middle to start. At least 2 bowls there.
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gary marquardt

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Re: am i doing this correct?
Reply #9 - Dec 9^th, 2015 at 5:52pm

Thanks John. it's about 20" wide. I really want to get a bowl out of that spalting towards the bottom. plus it's really flat there so it could make mounting it easier. I may cut at the crack then to the right of the spalting then across. the upper left corner is pretty punky. I can stick a pencil into it. Maybe i'll mark it out tomorrow and repost.

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Steve Doerr WR Addict Offline Wood is one of God's hidden /> /> canvases. Posts: 837 Joplin Missouri USA Gender:	Re: am i doing this correct? Reply #10 - Dec 11^th, 2015 at 10:26pm Gary, I've turned some pine with lots of pitch and it has turned out very well. If you turn it to the right thickness (thinness) it becomes translucent, very much like Norfork Island Pine (NIP). Here is a picture of one that I did.
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John Cepko

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Re: am i doing this correct?
Reply #11 - Dec 12^th, 2015 at 12:15pm

gary marquardt wrote on Dec 9^th, 2015 at 5:52pm:

Thanks John. it's about 20" wide. I really want to get a bowl out of that spalting towards the bottom. plus it's really flat there so it could make mounting it easier. I may cut at the crack then to the right of the spalting then across. the upper left corner is pretty punky. I can stick a pencil into it. Maybe i'll mark it out tomorrow and repost.

I would saw that log along the crack.
I would score the end across the crack, flip the log end for end, and find the pith, and score another line with the saw along the same plane as the first score mark.
Then lay the log on the side, and shim it so it won't roll around, and saw length wise to connect the score marks on each end. That way you are cutting long grain. Much bigger chips, and easier on you and the saw.
Cut most the way through, roll the log over, and finish the cut.
Before you finish, you may want to cut the log to length of at least equal to the width of the log at the widest part.
Knock off the corners, and you have a blank.
No need for wedges. You are not splitting firewood.
You can mount it pith in, or out.

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Blake Sellenberg

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Re: am i doing this correct?
Reply #12 - Dec 12^th, 2015 at 2:08pm

Steve Doerr wrote on Dec 11^th, 2015 at 10:26pm:

Gary, I've turned some pine with lots of pitch and it has turned out very well. If you turn it to the right thickness (thinness) it becomes translucent, very much like Norfork Island Pine (NIP). Here is a picture of one that I did.

omg the color on that is beautiful! Time to go turn some wood now lol

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Al Wasser WR Addict Offline WR Rocks! Posts: 626 Pueblo West, CO Colorado USA Gender:	Re: am i doing this correct? Reply #13 - Dec 12^th, 2015 at 2:22pm You said pine, but I have never seen a pine with red/brown heart wood. The picture doesn't show the bark well but from what I can see it does not look like pine.
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gary marquardt

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Re: am i doing this correct?
Reply #14 - Dec 13^th, 2015 at 11:30am

So i feel really stupid now. when we grabbed the log it was almost dark out and it was laying in a bunch of pine branches.
i rolled it into the back yard and snapped the pics. On friday I broke out the chain saw and got set up to cut it. that's when i realized that maybe I need a course in wood i.d just because it was laying in pine branches doesn't mean it's Pine. that just means that the guys trimmed some pine trees first. That log is actually Maple. and some really nice maple at that.
So what I did was I first cut just above that spalting as there was a small crack there and roughed out a bowl from that. then cut along the crack and pulled two pieces about 5" out of that for maybe platters. that still gave me two more decent sized pieces for bowls and a couple of corner chunks that will become tool handles and fly rod reel seat etc. there is the one piece with the punk part attached you that I'm still trying to figure out.

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