Bowl blanks come off the part of the tree most operations burn. Not the trunk — the crown, the crotches, and the thick limb sections above where the sawlog ends.
They Go Out Green
Turners want them green. Green wood cuts cleanly on a lathe, it is easier on the tools, and the turner shapes it, rough-turns it and dries it himself to suit what he is making. So a bowl blank does not sit and wait on drying the way a slab does — it is the one thing off a tree that can leave more or less as soon as it is cut.
Which also means the curing is the buyer's. Said plainly at the point of sale that is a fair deal. Left unsaid it is a complaint, and drying is the one link in the chain I cannot stand behind on somebody else's behalf. Drying, acclimation and movement is the long version.
Lathing Lengths, and Only One Length
Straight limb sections too thin for a bowl but long enough to turn go out as lathing lengths at 36 inches. That length and no other. Thirty-six divides down to two 18-inch chair legs or three 12-inch spindles, so the cutting decision belongs to the man who knows what he is making, and one length means one box, one price and no sorting on my end. Anything that will not make 36 inches is not lathing stock — it goes to pen blanks or it goes on the pile.
What Limb Wood Does
Limb wood is reaction wood. A branch spends its whole life holding itself up against gravity, and the wood it lays down to do that moves more, and less predictably, than anything out of the trunk. That is not a defect to hide, it is a property to know about — and it is the other reason this material leaves green rather than taking up drying space I would rather give a slab.
The pith is dead centre and it always checks, so where a piece is big enough I cut off-centre and leave the pith out. Small limb sections go as rounds with the bark on for natural-edge work. Everything gets end-sealed the day it is cut and moved out rather than left standing in a shed — a green blank forgotten for a month is a cracked blank.
One Practical Warning
If a piece is spalted, wear a respirator to cut or sand it. Spalting is live fungus and the spore load is the real hazard, not the ordinary sawdust argument.
Every Piece Carries Its Number
Turning stock ships with the tree number of the tree it came out of, same as everything else. Small pieces are the cheapest way there is to put a tree number in a lot of hands, and turners will tell you things about a wood nobody else will — how it cut green, how much it moved, whether figure came up as it dried.
Where the rest of the tree goes is on the frugal milling page.
Contact
Old Growth Mill
Axson, GA 31624
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (912) 310-0650
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