About 18 months ago I thought I'd try and test the limits of my lathe; just how big could I go? So I put on a piece roughly 16" x 24". Never done anything like that before.
And I roughed out this form. (the part about piece of it exploding in my face, requiring several stitches, I'll save for another day.)It finally got down to about 15% water, so I threw it back on the lathe. I got the inside working well, then had to wrap it in plastic for a few days. You know, things came up.
Getting back to it, I realized the pith (center of the tree) was still moving. That was the biggest movement in the overall drying, but I figured it was pretty much done. Not so!
With it well out of round by the time I turned it around, I figured I'd just carve the outside and be done with it. Piece saved. 
As you can see, I ran out of wall. Blew it out. Was paying more attention to the bouncing chainsaw blade that the thickness of the wall, and the you go. Some really pretty firewood. Once again, lathe and learn.
Posts
