Woodturning Green Wood For The First Time
Green wood (wood that is fresh and has yet to dry out) scared me for quite some time. I don’t think it was the wood per se. More the vision I had in my head.
Water spraying everywhere. Tools getting rusty.
Chaos.
So, for much of my time woodturning up until August 2023, I had dealt exclusively with dry timber.
Dry spindle blanks
I would have, more than likely, continued like this for a lot longer.
But then, like all good stories, there was an unplanned event that moved the plot on and developed the character.
Cherry Timber From A Tree!
My next-door neighbour’s Cherry tree was to be cut down. Due to age, stability, and a little bit of rot.
It was over 60 years old. For a Cherry tree, that is good innings. So I am led to believe.
Anyway, this news was good. For two reasons primarily:
Our dog would no longer eat the cherries that fell - and therefore make himself sick. Quite important.
I was given the opportunity to keep a lot of the wood. The “Cherry” on the cake, if you will.
As it always tends to do, July arrived on the 7th month of 2023. With it, so did the chainsaws and a couple of tree surgeons. We’d agreed to split the bill with our neighbour - and given we were keeping the wood, paid a little more proportionally.
It took the tree surgeons just a morning’s work and when the tree fell, it gave the house a strangely satisfactory shake.
By lunchtime I was left with a pile – yeah, a literal pile – of quite big chunks of freshly sawn Cherry in my garden.
Previously mentioned greedy dog for scale…
It was an exciting moment. Until I realised that I had no means of cutting up the Cherry further.
Luckily, after a few deft taps on the phone - 1 hour later I was standing in my back garden with a chainsaw and wearing safety chaps. All purchased from Screwfix.
On a side note: it still boggles my mind a bit how easy it is to buy a chainsaw…
Cutting Up Wood Blanks From Logs
I was soon putting my newly purchased chainsaw to use.
Tentatively at first, but with gradually more confidence as time went on - and my limbs remained intact. It is hard work mind you… I got blisters on me fingers! Well, on my palm.
Now, by nature, I am not very patient. My original plan had been to let the wood air dry before turning. I sealed the end grain of the blanks with a mixture of glue and water.
Using the well-known method of adding the two liquids together in random amounts, mixing and then going… yeah, that’ll do.
I had read that Cherry cracks and checks easily, so I wanted to try and avoid this as much as possible. (Side note: it’s true… it loves to crack and check.)
However, as mentioned before, I am impatient. Rather than wait the 2+ years for my new blanks to fully dry (a year of air drying for every inch of wood is the general rule of thumb I believe most people go with), I decided to bite the bullet and turn some of the freshly cut green wood.
What a revelation.
Woodturning Green Wood
Turning fresh wood is fun. I suddenly got it. Long spirals of wood would come away from the timber with ease. The workshop was awash with silky ribbons spiralling through the air.
Was there some spray? Yeah. Was there some rust? A little afterwards. But nothing that couldn’t be fixed.
For example, I learned quickly that after using my tools, I should have wiped them down. My hollower did get a little rusty on the cutting edge.
Before I finished turning my first wooden bowl from this new wood, I was faced with two options.
Option 1
Go down the twice-turned route of woodturning.
This is the process of rough turning but leaving the walls quite thick. Then putting the bowl into storage for around 6 months whilst it continued to dry. Then returning it to the lathe and shaping it to its final form.
Option 2
Turn it to its final form whilst the wood is still green and then let it dry.
Doing this in the knowledge that it will warp and change shape as it dries. If the warping is not to your liking, this is no recourse to fix this down the line. As there is not enough wood left to turn away and reshape.
Now, I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m impatient. And I like to repeat myself it seems.
In order to find that instant gratification I crave, I went with… option 2. Of course.
This decision was compounded by the fact that I had begun to read up about forcing the wood to dry out quickly using a microwave.
So this is exactly what I did. After I had turned the wooden pot, I spent the next couple of days completing the following steps:
Weigh the piece.
Microwave the pot for about 60-90 seconds on full power.
Remove from the microwave (oven gloves were required a couple of times!) and then let it fully cool.
Repeat.
I kept track of the weight and how much it was dropping each time.
Once it had stabilised, the bowl was ready to apply a finish. I can’t say if this is the right or wrong way to do this. If you are interested in trying it, I’d suggest doing your own research!
Since that first successful attempt (I was happy with the level of warp and deformity during the drying – it gives the piece a quite natural and organic look. In my opinion anyway) I’ve turned 3 more pots and a host of wooden bud vases from this green timber (see the bottom of this post for those listings).
With plenty of wood still left, I expect there will be a lot of pieces made over the coming months from Cherry.
I am now also eagerly trying to figure out how to acquire more logged trees…
Now this is not to say I'm a green wood convert. A zealous preacher who will only ever use fresh timber from this day hence.
Rather, I think the moral of the story is that I am no longer imposing restrictions on myself - in regards to the materials used.
I foresee a future of balance. Using both kiln-dried blanks and fresh green wood. Like life, it seems woodturning is all about balance.
