| Woodturners need wood to turn. This obvious | | | | there is good balance support for the log section |
| statement quickly leads to the question of where to | | | | both before and after the cut. Also ensure that there |
| get the wood and then how to get it ready for the | | | | is a flat surface against the table at all times. Curved |
| wood lathe? For most woodturners it begins with a | | | | or very uneven surfaces encourage a roll of the |
| chainsaw and then the band saw. Band saws are | | | | wood which will bind the blade and likely break it. At |
| certainly the woodturner's friend in the woodworking | | | | the best the saw will stall and the blade will be kinked. |
| shop. | | | | A band saw is a great tool for cutting bowl blanks |
| A chainsaw is used to cut a log to length and then to | | | | round. Templates made simply of circles of cardboard |
| cut it down the center. Sometimes it is also used to | | | | can be attached with a couple of small nails to the |
| cut slabs off the side or, rarely for the woodturner, | | | | rounded side of the log and the flat placed on the |
| to cut the log into rough boards. Then the wood is | | | | table. All that is needed is to follow the template with |
| taken to the band saw. | | | | the blade as the cut is made. |
| Most wood introduced to the woodworking shop in | | | | Once rough boards or blanks are cut be sure to |
| this fashion is undried, what the woodworker call | | | | work for good drying. End grain should be sealed with |
| green or wet wood. In order to cut it well and | | | | wax emulsion sealer such as the hardwood lumber |
| safely, the band saw should have a fairly coarse | | | | mills and other high end mills use to slow checking and |
| blade such as three teeth to the inch. It should also | | | | splits in drying wood. Boards need to be stickered for |
| be freshly sharpened or a fairly new blade. As green | | | | air flow and bowl blanks should be stacked so as to |
| wood is cut the blade friction produces heat that | | | | allow good air flow around the whole blank. |
| may cause the water in the cells to expand and grab | | | | Because most wood for turning is used in fairly short |
| the blade. The sharper the blade the less friction | | | | pieces, this is not hard to do. It is considerably |
| produced and the safer the cut. Some turners like to | | | | cheaper than buying boards and blanks and some |
| use vegetable or mineral oil on the blade to reduce | | | | wood can be gotten in no other way but cutting |
| friction in the cut. | | | | your own. Besides, there is the satisfaction in making |
| The half log can be cut into boards with the band | | | | something in the shop as we go not from lumber |
| saw. A rough line down the outside of the log gives a | | | | yard to shelf, but from log to lathe to finished work. |
| good way to follow. Before starting be sure that | | | | |