Woodturners create magic in every single wood blank. Experienced wood turning workers look for features like knots and eccentric growth rings of the tree branches. Such blanks may influence the finished turnings to warp or crack excessively. So, it’s essential to select the best wood and one of the important steps in preparing wood for turning block. Woodturners avoid limb wood and look for trunk logs with minimum knots.
Where to buy wood for wood turning?
The country has several top-rated wood manufacturers, who deliver quality wood turning blanks online at affordable rates. Get started with your creativity with the perfect raw material.
The key to successful wood turning is preparing wood for turning. This secures the wood on the lathe and allows the turners to shape it with tools without having the woods to fly off from the lathe. Prevent this fly off by following few steps,
Remove Hazard From Rough Wood
Hazard removal is one of the significant processes in preparing the wood. Woodturners make sure that the wood is free from hazards. Turners examine the wood for any kind of indications like metal or hardware embedded in the wood.
Have a metal detector or rare earth magnet on a string to find the metals hidden under the bark. Also, check out unexpected bumps or growths around the tree.
Check for the status of wood whether it’s found in the forest or any other. If suppose the wood was dropped on rocky ground, clear all the rocks and dirt before starting with the process. Knowledge of the above-given factors ensures successful preparing of wood turning.
Rough Woodcuts
The next step is simple, cut the rough wood and make it slow for a perfect cut. Woodturners always cut the blanks oversize to create wood pieces that are safe and easier to control. Most of the woodturners use a cradle or other wood pieces to keep the log steady while using a chainsaw or any such tools to trim the wood size. Use chainsaw along the length of the round and parallel to the grain for a round in half wood piece. Take an inch from the ground and cut out the last bit for less wearing on the saw. This allows preparing wood turning easier as it dries faster and reduces the chance of wood splitting.
Trimming Jigs
Most of the turners build jigs to hold the log steady as you flatten on one side. Few turners use cradle while others screw the wood to the jig. If you have a flat surface while preparing wood for turning, then turners can use a band saw or table saw to cut out bowl blanks or billets for spindle turning.
Sealing wood
Turners, while planning on drying the wood, then cover the ends of wood with paint or wood sealer. How dry should wood be before turning? Traditionally, air-drying of lumber takes around one-year drying time according to per inch of wood thickness. While using green woods, turners use a kiln to control the drying process. There are various types of kilns used in the wood drying process. The dry fast wood drying agent is a desiccant bead that allows green wood to dry out within 12 to 48 hours, with no little checking or cracking. The dry fast wood drying agent is a hassle-free agent for drying rough turned bowls, pen blanks and other turning block.
Turning Bowls And Spindles
Finally, preparing wood for turning is almost done after drying. Use the wood on a lathe with the help of a faceplate. Let the size of the turning block match with the size of the faceplate and start with the process slowly by shaping the outside of a bowl blank. Get rough turned bowls and slowly finish into a perfect shape. The consistency of bowl thickness retains the wood shape without any spilt or crack.
In the case of spindle billets, let the wood dry out and maintain the circular shape. Make it fit into a drilled hole and finish the piece slowly over time. Spindle turnings are quite small and finished with carnauba wax to prevent cracking or splitting.
Maple, walnut, cherry, rosewood, red elm, pear, padauk and cocobolo are the top turning woods that assure mesmerizing look and excellent working characteristics. Get turning blanks from top manufacturers and make it stunning!
