Today was my first experience with turning a largish bowl from green wood. Well, starting at least.
A friend brought some good California walnut by, a yard tree that had to come down for a number of reasons. He brought me enough for maybe 6 or eight largeish bowls (at least near the capacity of my Jet 1442 (*).
Here's some of what I learned:
I learned that cutting wet walnut is hard on my no-longer-young body.
I learned that cutting wet walnut on my bandsaw is a challenge. And that kinking a blade is easy to do, and an undesireable activity at the same time. Not only does it kill the blade, and slow the process, but I have to wait until the undesirable adrenaline spike calms down, before proceeding.
I learned that my made-in-the-USA 20 year old chainsaw still works well, but that it may not be big enough for roughing blanks easily. It certainly could use some attention with the Dremel tool.
I learned that I can split the blanks relatively easily, with a maul and big sledge, if I'm patient and cautious.
I learned that the Jet will handle an 8" x 16" out of balance bowl blank, outboard, but that there is a little more pucker factor involved there than I am ready for, on a regular basis, at this point in my skills development.
I learned that I need a bigger roughing gouge, on a longer, stronger handle.
I've determined that I need a bigger chuck than the Nova Midi for this size of work. Right now, it's attached with the factory large faceplate and some serious screws. But I'll need to turn it around Monday.
I learned that the folks who indicate that they have dented their Jet factory (cast) tool rest didn't have to do anything terribly unusual. Good thing I have a couple of files.
I learned that a cutting tool edge lasts substantially longer turning wet walnut than turning kiln-dried cherry.
And I have learned to stop, and clean up, when I notice that I'm getting tired enough to make little, stupid mistakes. Particularly when I make them a second time. Before I make big, stupid mistakes.
I learned that bagging the blank on the lathe, when it's warm, seems to promote the growth of various molds on the blank, even after only a few hours. Some of the bark inclusions are a bit punky, the day was warm, and there's still a good bit of free water in the blank.
Even if this turns out to be just a learning exercise, I've learned that there is real promise in this wood. Marvelous grain, great colors, strong contrast between heart and sapwood.
Thanks for all the pointers, answers to other peoples' queries, web pages, musings and ruminations, information and enthusiasm here at rcw. It's a neat learning experience so far.
Patriarch
(*) This is the new lathe that I got in early April, without consulting SWMBO. A pretty good deal came along, and circumstances conspired to have me bring it home. She walked into the garage/shop/studio as I was wrestling with this project about 7:30 pm, watched for a while, asked about the wood, and then commented "That machine is new, isn't it?" "Yes, about 6 weeks or so." "How much was it?" "Oh, about $700-ish." And that was the extent of that conversation.
I suspect that a new, higher capacity quilting machine is in our near future. And that's OK