# Preping a log



## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

Well it has been pretty dry here on woodturning for a while so thought I would post how I prep a log for bowl turning. These particular blanks were from a silver maple tree that was being trimmed. They told me I could have the trunk if the tree happens to die on them It is about as near as I can estimate about 30" in diameter. Make some fine coring bowl blanks. Anyway what I do is to cut the log into sizes that the bowls will be. If the log is 12" across I will cut it 12" to 13" long. Then as you can see in pic's #1 I cut the log in half. I try to run the chainsaw right down the pith. The pith in the middle of the tree is where 99.9% of the cracks start. So first and foremost is to get that pith out of the blank. Now if I am not going to be able to turn these right away I will seal the ends with anchorseal. They will still crack some but not as bad as with the pith in. Sealing the ends is extremely important to keep the blank from drying out to fast. The second picture shows 1/2 of the log or bowl blanks. I measure the size and put a disc (made out of card board from 4" to 18") the curved side as a guide. Always lay the flat side on your bandsaw table. If you don't and put the curved side down it could twist and accidents can happen. I then take the bandsaw and cut the blank round. This helps to kind of balance it. If you left it square it would be so much harder to turn round. The next step is I find the center and attach a faceplate. Once it is attached I mount it on the lathe and bring up the tailstock. You can see this in the roughing a bowl post. I always use the tailstock whenever possible for safety sake. I generally start roughing at about 250 to 300 rpm. Once I have it pretty much rounded I speed it up to 500 rpm. Once it is pretty much balanced I will kick it up to 750 to 1000 rpm. I never go much higher than that. The last two pictures are of the bowl roughed, coated with anchorseal or green wood seal. This is something new for me. I meet a gentleman from Utah who is a professional bowl turner to me to try this method of drying. It does take about 6 months to a year to dry it this way. But like he said he has over 450 bowls in various stages of drying so the year to him doesn't matter. So I thought I would experiment with one of the roughed out bowls and see how it goes. He says he has very few crack using this method. Right now though I will stick with my DNA method as I don't have time to turn 200 or more bowls at this point. I have 14 bowls drying and 3 more soaking so will have some work to do in about a month. 

Oh maybe in 217 days I will but not now. Anyway this is the start of the roughing a bowl and how I do it. Been doing it this way for 3 yrs and it works for me. Hope it will helps others.


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## Maurice (Sep 24, 2004)

Well done Bernie, that's the way I do it except sometimes I turn it without letting dry too long (be ready for a bath!), cover it with a paper bag if I have to leave it, then put a coat of finish on right away to seal it. Works great.


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