Turning Green Oak

rcarmac

Board of Directors, Secretary
Robert
Staff member
Corporate Member
I have a customer that is wanting me to turn a gavel from an oak tree that was cut down about 1-2 months ago.

I have rough cut the wood down to an oversized blank that I will need. I turned the square pieces slightly just to get them into a round shape. I also sealed the ends of the now rounded blanks. The blanks are about 1”-1.5” dia. Oversized from what I need.

Now what. The customer wants them for December present. Go ahead and turn them or wait as long as I can and hope the dry some more? Just looking for advice on what to do next.
 

beloitdavisja

James
Corporate Member
Fresh cut most likely won't dry by then. You'll need to speed it up. I made a cheap drying box based on RickTurns' video for drying bowl blanks, and it works pretty well.

Basically a cardboard box with a computer fan on the side, and a 100w incandescent blub for a little heat. I used a usb-powered fan to avoid doing any wiring. Leave it in there for a few days, and measure the moisture once a day. With 1.5" thick, it might need a little more time.

There's also the microwave method (if you have a spare microwave - don't use the kitchen one) where you microwave on low power for a few minutes at a time, measuring the weight after each zap. Wait for the wood to cool then zap again. When it stops loosing weight between zaps, you're good. This method puts a lot more stress on the wood, however.
 
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rcarmac

Board of Directors, Secretary
Robert
Staff member
Corporate Member
What would happen if I go ahead and turn and finishing now? It developing a crack?
 

beloitdavisja

James
Corporate Member
Warping and cracking are your biggest concerns. It might not be big enough to worry about it, but I always err on the side of caution when dealing with a wood where it's not easily replaced, in this case something sentimental.

Making the drying box is cheap & easy, and in a week you should be good to finish turning. Hardest part for me was finding a 100w incandescent. Stores don't sell them anymore, only LED & CFL's. I ended up getting it at a local Habitat ReStore.
 

Steve Martin

New User
Steve Martin
I have a customer that is wanting me to turn a gavel from an oak tree that was cut down about 1-2 months ago.

I have rough cut the wood down to an oversized blank that I will need. I turned the square pieces slightly just to get them into a round shape. I also sealed the ends of the now rounded blanks. The blanks are about 1”-1.5” dia. Oversized from what I need.

Now what. The customer wants them for December present. Go ahead and turn them or wait as long as I can and hope the dry some more? Just looking for advice on what to do next.
You might try drying the pieces in a microwave. I weigh each piece on a kitchen scale, record the weights. Zap for 30 seconds at top strength. Let the pieces cool. Weigh, record and repeat until consecutive weights are equal. Be attentive because they can burn and microwaves don't smell good after you have burned wood in them. Then you can finish as you otherwise would. You may need to do a final turn, as they may warp, so leave them just a little big for the final turning. Have used this technique several times over the last 2 years with both turned pieces and carved spoons. I plan to keep using it when I need to.
 

rcarmac

Board of Directors, Secretary
Robert
Staff member
Corporate Member
You might try drying the pieces in a microwave. I weigh each piece on a kitchen scale, record the weights. Zap for 30 seconds at top strength. Let the pieces cool. Weigh, record and repeat until consecutive weights are equal. Be attentive because they can burn and microwaves don't smell good after you have burned wood in them. Then you can finish as you otherwise would. You may need to do a final turn, as they may warp, so leave them just a little big for the final turning. Have used this technique several times over the last 2 years with both turned pieces and carved spoons. I plan to keep using it when I need to.
How many times have you been yelled at for using the microwave
 

rcarmac

Board of Directors, Secretary
Robert
Staff member
Corporate Member
What moisture level should the wood be ok at to start turning.
 

Steve Martin

New User
Steve Martin
Twice, both times when I burned the piece. Another drying tactic is to make a dryer from a non-working dishwasher. Install a 40 watt bulb inside the dishwasher, using a drop cord with a fixture on the end like you might use under the hood of a car when working at night. Put the pieces you want to dry on one of the racks, turn on the bulb, close the door. Check the pieces in 24 hours by feel, or weight, or tapping with a piece of dry wood to hear that the wood sounds dry, a sharp ringing sound, not a dull thud. Weighing as I suggested for the microwave will also give you a good measure of dryness. The "dead" dishwasher is insulated, has some openings to let the hotter, wet air escape as the moisture is drawn out of the piece(s), so it works pretty well, and your wife won't fuss at you for messing up her microwave.
 

Roy G

Roy
Senior User
Does the wood have any pith in it? Is the grain regular and not wild? Not likely to split if it's only 1 1/2" thick. Did you only get enough for one gavel? No extra for experiments with drying?

Roy G
 

rcarmac

Board of Directors, Secretary
Robert
Staff member
Corporate Member
Does the wood have any pith in it? Is the grain regular and not wild? Not likely to split if it's only 1 1/2" thick. Did you only get enough for one gavel? No extra for experiments with drying?

Roy G
No pith. Grain is regular. I didn’t cut any of the areas that had anything wild going on. I keep it to the most regular consistent grain I could find.

Between myself and the Owner, we have enough to do a ton more. Time is getting to be the critical part. They want to give 1 to a retiring judge in December. So I don’t have a lot of time to do test pieces and then turn the actual piece. I have this pesky full time job thing that keeps getting in the way of my woodworking
 

Roy G

Roy
Senior User
I have turned mallets out of green wood and they don't crack unless there is a knot in them. They get a little oval shaped but not a whole lot. I would think you could turn the gavel and handle closer to the final dimensions and let it dry some more and then final turn as the gifting date approaches.

Roy G
 

smallboat

smallboat
Corporate Member
Twice, both times when I burned the piece. Another drying tactic is to make a dryer from a non-working dishwasher. Install a 40 watt bulb inside the dishwasher, using a drop cord with a fixture on the end like you might use under the hood of a car when working at night. Put the pieces you want to dry on one of the racks, turn on the bulb, close the door. Check the pieces in 24 hours by feel, or weight, or tapping with a piece of dry wood to hear that the wood sounds dry, a sharp ringing sound, not a dull thud. Weighing as I suggested for the microwave will also give you a good measure of dryness. The "dead" dishwasher is insulated, has some openings to let the hotter, wet air escape as the moisture is drawn out of the piece(s), so it works pretty well, and your wife won't fuss at you for messing up her microwave.
Never thought of this but my drier came with a floating shelf for drying things like shoes. Could work for a blank. Hmmm…
 

rcarmac

Board of Directors, Secretary
Robert
Staff member
Corporate Member
Not pretty but let’s see how it works
A98AA212-A172-4584-99F9-AEDB7D6D9219.jpeg
 

cyclopentadiene

Update your profile with your name
User
I agree with the others regarding trying to dry the wood. Turn green, slightly larger than you want. Dry the piece and turn again to final dimensions

Another thing to consider is the grain and location from the tree. The trunk moves far less than limbs. The limbs tend to have a different grain pattern on the bottom versus the top and each section will dry differently. Generally the pith is not centered in a limb as the bottom is thicker than the top with a wider grain pattern. The top will have a tighter grain. The same can apply to the trunk based on exposure to sunlight and water source but this does not seem to impact drying as much.
I learned these the hard way as during my early days, I would turn anything that I found on the side of the road. After numerous failed pieces that cracked or were too warped to return,I realized these issues.
 

iclark

Ivan
User
Oak can also be subject to wind shakes that open up as the wood dries. I got some nice ~12" cubes of oak from trees that were ~30" in diameter. I sealed the cubes but I did not get to use any of them because of all of the voids that opened up. It happened less where the radius of curvature of the growth rings were larger (closer to the outside of the tree). I don't know how much of the problem was due to the trees growing at a water's edge or due to the trees being taken down by a tornado.

As others have said, turn the blanks to slightly oversize to allow for shrinkage. Plan for the gavel head to be mirror-symmetric about the handle. That is, if you hold the finished gavel with the handle vertical and look at the end grain of the head, then the center of curvature of the grain will be either straight up or straight down. That way, if the head continues to dry after it is presented, it will stay symmetric and balanced even if it is slightly out of round.
 

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