Frozen green bowl turning

Inquiring minds want to know...

Let us know how it works.

I suspect they will be harder to turn frozen than thawed.

Old Guy Who's turning stock is also frozen in Minnesota

Well, speaking as someone who used to turn frozen wood in a below freezing shed, I think thawing it is a waste of time, but suit yourself.

Not the most fun I've ever had, but that was the cold; the wood turns perfectly well - think about it, ice would not be that hard to cut with a lathe - mounting it and not breaking it (if it was just ice) would be difficult, but cutting it would be trivial. Putting the ice inside wood makes it easier to mount and not break, but your cutting effort is still nearly all directed to the wood, not the ice in the wood.

In my opinion it cuts alot nicer frozen. It's just a little colder on the hands.

I'm with Ralph, the difference is in how cold your hands get when turning. Leaving in a plastic bag won't mean much if the temperatures are below freezing. Minimal vapor pressure will keep the blank from drying. I've got some fresh cherry in the trailer in the garage, and I'm not worried a bit about it checking at 16F. I generally let a chunk acclimate and shed any snow on the basement floor before turning just to keep the icy stuff off my hands.

Where you'll want to pay extra attention is in drying the bowl after first turning. Assuming you'll bring it in, it's pretty low relative humidity in heated dwellings this time of year, so bag or wrap, coat or box to slow the loss from exterior surfaces.

Never tried it, but I have cut frozen foods. Frozen food is more likely to cut than to crush. Perhaps that means that if you are turning a wood that tends to scrape rather than cut (like the wenge I just had the misfortune to turn) it would do better frozen.

Thanks for all the replies on the frozen wood. I didn't think it was a problem, but good to get some other opinions. I did have one bowl check on the 2nd day(red oak) \, so now will put them in a grocery bag for a couple of weeks before leaving them in the shop environment. Minnjim

I was just wondering if the wood is freezing and water expands as it turns to ice, will not cause the wood to crack? Ivor

If it did, we'd never have two year old trees around here. Having personally cut down and counted a 150 year old specimen, I conclude that it is not a problem.

Lots more air space than will ever fill with expanded water. But, as you'll discover, there's enough dissolved material in the water to keep it from freezing anyway. At least down to minus 20 F on my woodpile.

I would like to post some pictures on a question I have. The help section says to send an attachment with an e-mail to this group. I don't find what looks like an e-mail address at the bottom of this group site.Any help for this com. illiterate would be appreciated Minn Jim