Re: apple

Reyd,

I have had variable luck with end-sealing with Anchor Seal, and Andy's idea of submerging them in water sounds pretty good, too.

My main comment is this, though -- Save every scrap of the apple wood and all of the shavings! Don't let them get mixed up with other shavings, and keep them in a bag where they won't mildew. You'll be hard-pressed to find anything better to smoke a piece of pork, chicken or beef with, on the grill. You don't even have to have a smoker, just a hunk of aluminum foil and a double handful of soaking-wet shavings, chunks, or whatever you've got. Put 'em on the fire, wrapped up in the aluminum foil, with a couple of holes poked in it, and let 'er smoke! MMMMMmmmm, is that some good eatin'!

-- Chuck *#:^) chaz3913(AT)yahoo(DOT)com Anti-spam sig: please remove "NO SPAM" from e-mail address to reply. <

September 11, 2001 - Never Forget

I just completed a bowl from a piece of crabapple... Turned it to final thickness and sanded it wet, then let it warp and dry.

I did a hand sanding after it finished drying, then several (about 10) coats of shellac and finished with a paste wax.

djb

You can make a natural edge bowl, then use a heat gun to dry the surface and then sand. OR you can turn to about 5/8" thick and microwave. Do it in sessions and let the wood dry in between perhaps 3 minutes, rest, 1 1/2 minute, rest, 1 minute rest. I do the resting in a paper bag outside the microwave for about 10 minutes. I use this for natural edge bowls that are too wet to sand also. You will get rid of a lot of moisture and then you can finish cut and sand. There will still be warpage but you will have less chance of cracks since you will have reduced the moisture significantly.

There are no rules. It can be done many many ways and I do most of them from time to time just depending on what I want to accomplish, what the wood is tending to do while still wet, environmental conditions and, sometimes, just what I feel like that day.

Sanding while wet is cooler. It's "easier" in some ways and tougher in others. It can "muddy" some woods while not others. Sometimes, it's best to let completely dry and then hand sand. Other times it's not. If you have a great finish from the tool, leave it unsanded. Or not.

Putting a finish on will, usually, help prevent cracking but not always. Depending on the finish (film building ones), if the wood warps too much, you'll get cracks in the finish. Just depends on the finish, wood, evironmental conditions, how you let it dry, etc. It also depends on the pieces' intended use.

For a warping effect, again depending on the wood, it's best to go very thin (but yet still even thinness all over or else you're just asking for cracking) so that the moisture loss is fairly quick and even. Some woods won't warp well unless there's some mass there so you need to leave it a bit thicker. Realize, too, that with significant warpage, the natural edged bark may not want to move that much. You may loose it.

Keep checking and applying the sealer as needed every other day. It's better than nothing but it's not all that great either. Latex "breaths" way too much for this case.

That's the key! Have fun and get experience along the way.

- Andrew

I tried that, I didn't quite get an enthusiastic response when I got home, I got told to throw it all out.

Pity.

I did pork ribs on the BBQ a few weeks ago, the ribs on the cold side of the grill and apple chips on the hot side. Smoked them for about 5 hours, the added sauce and turned the grill up to "sear".

Ambrosia...

djb

Philistines!!

I just did two racks of ribs yesterday...smoked for about 5 1/2 hours in aromatic apple smoke with a dry rub, then slathered with sauce and grilled for another hour.

I'm convinced there will be BBQ in heaven...!

-- Chuck *#:^) chaz3913(AT)yahoo(DOT)com Anti-spam sig: please remove "NO SPAM" from e-mail address to reply. <

September 11, 2001 - Never Forget