Is this safe to turn?

[David Justice]

I'm no great wood turner, but I turn some pens and maybe a bowl a month.

I rough turned this bowl about 6 months ago and put it on a shelf and picked it back up today just to have a look. It has several hairline cracks on each end grain side (see picture). Is this safe to keep turning? Would it help to flood some thin CA glue in the cracks?

Thanks!

 

[Michael Mathews]

Oh no, that's not safe at all! You need to give it to me right away to turn.....er......burn in the fireplace....!!! I'd spin it up slow and see how badly it's warped, then just slowly increase the speed standing to the side. For future reference, if you turn something wet, either turn it to the finish width (around 1/4") or leave it fat then load it and the chips off the floor into a brown paper bag and then store it for a good 6 months or so. You can check drying process by weighing it every so often and recording the weight.

 

[Stuart Kent]

I'd turn it in a heartbeat. You can seal it up with thin CA and get after it. Also, know that it can fail, and it might, so stay out of the throw off zone - but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

 

[Hmerkle]

I'd turn it in a heartbeat. You can seal it up with thin CA and get after it. Also, know that it can fail, and it might, so stay out of the throw off zone - but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Yea, but you would turn a 25 inch diameter blank with only 60% wood!:rotflm:

 

[Stuart Kent]

Yea, but you would turn a 25 inch diameter blank with only 60% wood!:rotflm:

man you know I will - done that a few times!

 

[Mike Davis]

Y'all are just wreakless, the internet woodworking cops will be all over you for this.

 

[beloitdavisja]

Yup, some CA glue in the cracks and I'd chuck it back up. I always assume anything can fly off the lathe at any time anyway.

 

[David Justice]

Thanks guys, I put some CA glue in the cracks and am going to start more turning on it tonight. I've had a couple crack up and fly off the lathe on me before. Good thing about bowls is, I'm usually standing kind of to the side and not right in front of it anyway.

 

[gritz]

I have turned much worse. Go for it.
Next time take a little more of the pith away and MAYBE it wont crack as bad. We turners always want to use as much of the wood as we can, but experience teaches us that when we do, the cracking is pretty predictable.