I have been watching the basic woodturning series on DIY this week. It is running every night at 2:30am. Last night they stuck a cherry log ( piece of branch about 4 inches wide, bark and all) on the lath and spun a goblet out of it. The stem was pretty thin and I was thinking it would bend and the walls of the goblet would crack. I am pretty new to this and have played with some cherry limbs but have always had cracking. Is there some secret I'm missing?
Won't this crack and warp???
Jan 22, 2004
2 Replies
Turn to an even thickness overall, or at least not with thick section in one area and thin in another.
Make sure the wood doesn't have cracks to begin with. Look closely for hairline cracks in the end grain, they certainly won't get any smaller.
Start with limbs longer than needed, so you can cut the ends down far enough to eliminate cracking.
Seal the endgrain of limbs and other green wood if you aren't going to turn it right away. Hot wax, house paint, and carpenter's glue works good, or buy the stuff made for the purpose. I use yellow carpenters' glue--swab it on thick, then slap a plastic grocery bag over it.
Ken Grunke
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