The process for turning trees into “functional art” can be quite long. For those of you interested, I’ve provided an explanation of the process used to acquire, prepare and finalize the wood products you’ll see on my other web pages.
The first step is to find the wood, which I do through word of mouth or just seeing trees that have been taken down or about to be removed. Having contacts in the woodturning clubs is also a big help in finding wood. Our club, Woodturners of Olympia (WOO) have a person we call the "wood rat" who fields calls from people who have trees to be removed or already down ready for collection. This is a terrific source of raw product. People who provide trees or large amount of wood to me directly gets a hand crafted item in return at no expense. My favorite two woods being big leaf maple which is found abundantly here in the NorthWest and because of the diversity of colors and textures in the wood, and the other is Madrona (Arbutus) because it has a tight grain, is a dream to turn and is often found with figure or burls, especially from Southern Oregon. The preparation of Madrona for finished turning is significantly different than for maple and most of the other hardwoods we use. The difference is noted below.
The following describes the process for preparing Maple, as well as most other NW hard woods such as Walnut, Elm, Ash, etc.:
Once it is cut into manageable logs, the ends of the wood get coated with a wood sealer and then stored until I have time to cut into workable sizes. The ends are sealed to help prevent cracking as trees will lose moisture more quickly from the end grain, which causes stress causing the wood to crack and makes it unsatisfactory for wood turning. My “raw inventory” looks like “firewood” but I like to think of it as “treasures” looking for an escape from it’s natural form.
The next step is to cut the pieces into workable “chunks” which is done by chain saw. If I still don’t have time to work the wood, it gets sealed again and dated so I know how long it’s been drying. Big leaf maple dries about 1 inch of thickness for every three to four months of drying time.
Once I’m ready to begin working the wood, it gets cut into “round” on the band saw or if it’s too big for the band saw I do as good a job as I can with the chain saw. Unless the wood has been sealed long enough to be thoroughly dry, it’s still not ready to finish, so it gets turned to a rough shape, sealed, dated again and then goes into the “drying” area where it sits until I can finish it into final form. While drying and depending on the type of wood it can change shape significantly (warp); therefore, the rough turned object is left at least 10% thickness of the diameter (i.e. a ten inch diameter bowl would be left with a one inch thick wall) so that when the wood is finally stable any warping can be turned out and it will be totally round. I also have a kiln, made from an old refrigerator, that can speed up the drying process from months/years to just a few days/weeks, depending on size and thickness.
The following describes the process for preparing Madrona:
Because Madrona is notorious for cracking and warping the process is quite a bit different from other woods. As soon as Madrona is cut it will lose moisture through the cut ends and start to crack if not handled properly. If I can't get to it right away, I'll bury it in wet shavings that are left outside uncovered, or submerged in vats of water. It will keep quite a long time in this manner as long as it's moisture content is maintained. As soon as I'm ready to turn into a product, the wood gets cut to proper size just as above and then turned on the lathe to 10-15% thickness of the diameter. Once this is done, the rough turned blanks are then boiled for 2-3 hours which stabilize the wood. I let them sit in the cooking pot for a day or two until the water is completely cooled. You can also remove them immediately and submerse in cold water, but I find they're hot to handle and unless I'm in a hurry just leaving them alone works fine. They are allowed to air dry and are then ready to finish turn. An alternative that some people like is to turn the Madrona to it's final thickness in it's wet form and let it air dry. It will warp providing some unusual looking items, but as long as the thickness is consistent, it probably won't crack.
My utility pieces that are for every day use gets sanded at least to 220 grit and the artistic pieces usually to 600 or 800 grit, which leaves a very smooth finish. Then depending on its use, gets one of the following sealers:
I hope you enjoyed the explanation of the process. As you see it can take several months from time the tree is cut to finished product, but this process results in beautiful pieces that will last generations.
If you have questions on the process feel free to contact me and I’d be happy to answer questions or just discuss woodturning with you.
The first step is to find the wood, which I do through word of mouth or just seeing trees that have been taken down or about to be removed. Having contacts in the woodturning clubs is also a big help in finding wood. Our club, Woodturners of Olympia (WOO) have a person we call the "wood rat" who fields calls from people who have trees to be removed or already down ready for collection. This is a terrific source of raw product. People who provide trees or large amount of wood to me directly gets a hand crafted item in return at no expense. My favorite two woods being big leaf maple which is found abundantly here in the NorthWest and because of the diversity of colors and textures in the wood, and the other is Madrona (Arbutus) because it has a tight grain, is a dream to turn and is often found with figure or burls, especially from Southern Oregon. The preparation of Madrona for finished turning is significantly different than for maple and most of the other hardwoods we use. The difference is noted below.
The following describes the process for preparing Maple, as well as most other NW hard woods such as Walnut, Elm, Ash, etc.:
Once it is cut into manageable logs, the ends of the wood get coated with a wood sealer and then stored until I have time to cut into workable sizes. The ends are sealed to help prevent cracking as trees will lose moisture more quickly from the end grain, which causes stress causing the wood to crack and makes it unsatisfactory for wood turning. My “raw inventory” looks like “firewood” but I like to think of it as “treasures” looking for an escape from it’s natural form.
The next step is to cut the pieces into workable “chunks” which is done by chain saw. If I still don’t have time to work the wood, it gets sealed again and dated so I know how long it’s been drying. Big leaf maple dries about 1 inch of thickness for every three to four months of drying time.
Once I’m ready to begin working the wood, it gets cut into “round” on the band saw or if it’s too big for the band saw I do as good a job as I can with the chain saw. Unless the wood has been sealed long enough to be thoroughly dry, it’s still not ready to finish, so it gets turned to a rough shape, sealed, dated again and then goes into the “drying” area where it sits until I can finish it into final form. While drying and depending on the type of wood it can change shape significantly (warp); therefore, the rough turned object is left at least 10% thickness of the diameter (i.e. a ten inch diameter bowl would be left with a one inch thick wall) so that when the wood is finally stable any warping can be turned out and it will be totally round. I also have a kiln, made from an old refrigerator, that can speed up the drying process from months/years to just a few days/weeks, depending on size and thickness.
The following describes the process for preparing Madrona:
Because Madrona is notorious for cracking and warping the process is quite a bit different from other woods. As soon as Madrona is cut it will lose moisture through the cut ends and start to crack if not handled properly. If I can't get to it right away, I'll bury it in wet shavings that are left outside uncovered, or submerged in vats of water. It will keep quite a long time in this manner as long as it's moisture content is maintained. As soon as I'm ready to turn into a product, the wood gets cut to proper size just as above and then turned on the lathe to 10-15% thickness of the diameter. Once this is done, the rough turned blanks are then boiled for 2-3 hours which stabilize the wood. I let them sit in the cooking pot for a day or two until the water is completely cooled. You can also remove them immediately and submerse in cold water, but I find they're hot to handle and unless I'm in a hurry just leaving them alone works fine. They are allowed to air dry and are then ready to finish turn. An alternative that some people like is to turn the Madrona to it's final thickness in it's wet form and let it air dry. It will warp providing some unusual looking items, but as long as the thickness is consistent, it probably won't crack.
My utility pieces that are for every day use gets sanded at least to 220 grit and the artistic pieces usually to 600 or 800 grit, which leaves a very smooth finish. Then depending on its use, gets one of the following sealers:
- If it’s going to be used with food, it gets a coat of walnut oil, bees wax, a combination of carnuba/bees wax, or other food safe finish.
- For decorative pieces it gets 1-3 coats of shellac as a sanding sealer followed by several coats of high gloss, satin, or semi-gloss lacquer, that is sanded with 0000 steel wool between coats and then gets buffed three times using a different compound for each buffing.
- Because I’ve had many requests for my vases to hold water, I may seal the inside of some of them with an epoxy; whereas, those without this sealer are used for dry flowers.
- I also make some items out of Monkey Puzzle wood that are translucent when held up to the light. This feature is created by soaking the finished turned item in a mixture of mineral spirits and linseed oil for several days and then air dried for up to a month before getting the final finish. If these items are going to be finished with a gloss, they will definitely get 3 coats of shellac as this will seal in the oils that have permeated the wood prior to getting multiple coats of the lacquer. Without this sealer, the oils will seep through the lacquer and make it look "splotchy". If they aren't going to be finished with a gloss, they will receive two coats of wiped on Walnut oil.
I hope you enjoyed the explanation of the process. As you see it can take several months from time the tree is cut to finished product, but this process results in beautiful pieces that will last generations.
If you have questions on the process feel free to contact me and I’d be happy to answer questions or just discuss woodturning with you.