A friend took down a Ponderosa Pine tree in his front yard and I got the trunk - 22 - 26 inches in diameter. The piecies weigh a good 150 lbs. I don't have much experience turning wet pine, or pine period, really. This stuff has a lot of sap in it. What effect is that going to have? Will it ever dry/cure/whatever? Is there anything that will seal it?
I'd like to make some large salad bowls if I can deal with the sap issue.
JW
Buy a box of Tyvex overalls. Get a good goggle and mask. Wear hat etc.
I use the Tyvex to spray chemicals or paint. Nice to have a box of them in the shop.
Just be sure you tape your sleeves on tightly. And your neck...
Mart> A friend took down a Ponderosa Pine tree in his front yard and I got
JW,
I've had good luck with pieces from a PP that grew in my back yard.
My experience:
Seal the ends and wait a few weeks before turning. Right off the tree it is REALLY WET. Water running down your gouge, Wet shavingings everywhere. After a couple of weeks to a month it will dry some, and be more fun.
It also throws off a LOT of sap/resin. I'd put a sacrificial cover over your face mask, so you don't have to scrub dried resin off. DAMHIKT. And have some mineral spirits handy to wipe down surfaces.
I saved some wood for a couple of years, with painted ends. didn't have any major splitting problems. I got really interesting fungus/ spalt/whtever colors in the wood. I've got some more I can't wait to turn.
Include some knots in your bowl. They have a lot of sap, and if your wall thickness is about 1/8 inch, they become translucent. Heck of an effect.
Pine wants to tear. Cut it with very sharp tools, and as you get to the fininal cut, use take small shavings. I have medium luck with scraping. I try to avoid it. If I have a problem area, I hit it with a spit coat of shellac, let it dry, and recut it.
When you sand the wood on the lathe, don't slow the wood down. The springwood and summer wood have different densities. One is soft and one is hard. If you sand too much, you will remove the soft, and leave the hard, so that your grain becomes three dimensional. Surface has ripples. If you sand at turning speed, the sandpaper doesn't have time to move into the hollows, and just rides on the harder wood. And don't try to fix too many cutting problems with sandpaper, you'll get a lot of irregular surfaces.
I sand to about 150 grit, then put on the first coat of finish (shellac) then I sand with 240 grit. Another couple of coats, then
320.. After enuf additional coats to get the finish looking as I want it, a light sanding with 400 grit, and a final coat of shellac. All hand sanding, but I find it easiest to manage the piece if I remout it on the machine.Have a good time witn it.
Old Guy
I do a lot of hand sanding.
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