New to turning, dry time is worrying me

[fadi]

Hello all,

I'm completely new to woodturning as a hobby, which will stay as a hobby. My concern is that the videos and articles I've seen and read talks about having to store the wood, pre-turning or after roughing, for months or years. Waiting for months to see results, or to give away gifts takes the fun out of it.

How do you guys deal with it?

[Bombarde16]

Add to this the agony of starting in on a lump of wood only to see it self-destruct before crossing the finish line!  Roughing wet chunks of wood into blanks is an investment that a turner makes in future projects.  Drying time is an annoyance but it's one we tolerate gladly.

• Wet wood turns ridiculously easy.  Try roughing out a deep bowl in dry wood sometime and you'll see.
• The world becomes your lumberyard.  Downed trees left after a storm?  Enough turning stock for years!  And it costs you nothing but time plus a little gas for the chainsaw.

And so turners live for future projects unknown.  Get a chunk of tree.  Rough to whatever dimensions suit the chunk at hand.  Put it away and forget about it.  When you want to finish something, look over your stash and see what inspires you.

If you're scientifically minded, I'd recommend getting a small kitchen scale.  Weigh your first blanks and chart their progress as they lose moisture to the surrounding air.  (It'll go quicker than you think.)

For gift giving, most turners turn to small projects that can be made from dried stock:  Pens, bottle stoppers, cheese knives, etc...These go quickly and can be knocked out en masse around November.

Lastly, if you want to get into larger forms with dry stock, try segmented turning.

[Brodie]

The wait depends on what you turn.

If you are turning green wood you will have to bag it or store somewhere to dry after your initial turning.  If you turn a 10-12" bowl, you leave it at least 1" thick.  Let it dry in a cool place.  You may need to bag it if your area is very dry.  

1-2 months later it is ready for the finish turning. Now you can take it down to 1/2, 3/8, or thinner all set.

If you are turning pens, you won't use green wood so you can kick out a couple a day pretty easily.  Same situation for mugs that were made from staved wood.  A green turned mug will be left 1/2" thick for a couple weeks and then finish turned to fit and size.

There are some projects that require green wood and you turn to finish size right away.  Some bowl turners do this and accept the warped bowl as 'artistic embellishment'.  Wood hats require green wood that is turned to 1/8"-1/16" thickness and placed in a form to dry.  At that thinness you wait a week or so.  If you are interested in that kind of thing check out Johannes Michelsen.  He pioneered the process and does demonstrations and offers classes.  I will say, you will need a large lathe.

 

Woodturning is an art and a craft much like woodworking.  Unlike woodworking, I find that the results are view-able sooner.  You grab a piece of wood, turn it and immediately you can see the shape forming.  On a dining chair, it might be 3 weekends before you see anything representing a chair.   

[Tpt life]

Welcome to the forums Brodie. 

[wtnhighlander]

Thanks for chiming in, Brodie! We can use an infusion of turning expertise around here.

[Mpride1911]

I'm still less than a year in, and I had the same concerns.  A lot of the wood that I've found lying around, was down for quite a while, so the wait wasn't that long.  My land lord took me out to his land where he had a bunch of trees that were  dead, but still standing, so they weren't soaking up water on the ground.  But they'd been dead a while, and were able to dry naturally.  That helped a lot.

Obviously, you may not have that option. But it's one of those things, where you'll learn to spot opportunities, whether it's neighbors with dead trees in the yard or tree trimmers and stuff that you need to strike up a conversation with.