# Cracks in cherry bowl



## Mitch Cholewinski (Mar 11, 2007)

This first picture of a piece of cherry wood I never got the endgrain waxed so when starting to turn it a few days ago, I was depressed at all the hair line cracks in the wood. Was going to turn the bowl then just throw it away. As I turned the cracks seemed to add some character to the bowlBy the time the turning was finished I changed my mind, I now liked the bowl. I burned the lip with a rag and the lathe running on 3500 rpm. Used a spiralling tool to deorate the upper and lower half of the bowl and this made the craks look better.On the 2nd picture I spiralled the bottom of the bowl too but it doesn't show good on the picture. I changed my mind, I like this now, what do you think? Mitch


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## Maveric777 (Jul 30, 2008)

I personaly love it. Looks good Mitch.


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Mitch,
If we threw out every bowl that developed a crack, we probably wouldn't have too many left. I think what you did is the right idea. Use the cracks to your advantage. Whenever I get the hairline or even bigger cracks for that matter, I stop and fill them with ca glue. For the real fine cracks, the thin stuff soaks in and works well to hold things together and help to prevent further spreading of the cracks. For anything with a gap, use the medium or even heavy ca glue. I have had a number of bowls come apart and fly off the lathe across the shop (usually induced by me not watching as I am drawing a tool away from the inside of a bowl and catching the side.). I pick up the pieces, glue them back together and then it becomes a quest to finish it and make it turn out to be something worth keeping. That's half the fun. I always tell people "if it were easy, everyone would be doing it." The bowl turned out very nice by the way. Good job.
Mike Hawkins:thumbsup:


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## Mitch Cholewinski (Mar 11, 2007)

Maveric 777
Thank you for taking the time to reply,and thank you especially for the positive reply. Keep in touch. Mitch:thumbsup:


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## Mitch Cholewinski (Mar 11, 2007)

Mike H
Thanks again Mike. I too use glue fairly often but never use ca any more cause I didn't turn pens for several years. I just use carpenters glue. Usually the cracks I get on the bottom of a bowl, vase etc. If bad enough I paint the whole btm and dry. Finish usually looks great cause whole bottom is same. Wish you could see the btm of this bowl after using the spiralling tool on it. Beautiful This is going to be my signature way of finishing bottoms of any turning, no more signing., which I never liked doing.Thanks again Mike. Mitch


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## Terry Beeson (May 29, 2008)

Does CA come in 55 gal drums? I'd need it for my mistakes... LOL

I say the cracks add "character" to the piece. I'm a sucker for things that have character... I like the bowl very much...


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## Mitch Cholewinski (Mar 11, 2007)

Thank you Terry and if the truth be known, we would all need 55 gal drums of ca at times. Mitch


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## Barry Ward (Mar 22, 2008)

*cracks in bowl*

Hey Mitch,I too am a fan of the rough stuff,cracks voids,or whatever,I think makes the piece look more natural.I know those pieces sell great for me.Much better than the super smooth high gloss pieces.You really put out some nice work. :thumbsup:


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## jdixon (Nov 21, 2007)

I love this bowl. When you say that you burned in the top edge with a rag, do you just hold it on literally until it burns in or do you use something else on the rag for friction? Speaking of putting wax on logs to prevent cracking what do you use to do this? A carnuba wax, or something else? Sorry for all the questions just trying to learn all I can. 

Beautiful work on the bowl, I'm with Terry it shows alot of character! Just a ton of neat features and details.

John


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## Night Mill Bill (May 7, 2008)

That is just beautiful. I'm very glad you saw it through to the finish.:yes:

Pardon a dumb question: When you say you burned the lip with a rag and the lathe set to high rpm, I was not sure what you meant. Can you give a newbie a rundown of how that is done? Or, do you know where I could look to figure it out for myself? Thanks!


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## Night Mill Bill (May 7, 2008)

I'm sorry, John, I'm typing slow tonight, so I didnt see you already asked just what I was going to ask. Sorry about that!:icon_redface:


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## Mitch Cholewinski (Mar 11, 2007)

Woodsman
Thank you very much for your reply. I appreciate it much. Guys like yourself that take the time to acknowlwdge another fellow turners turnings and give an honest opinion is what makes me want to try to do better every time. Thanks B:thumbsup:uddy. Mitch


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## Mitch Cholewinski (Mar 11, 2007)

jdixon
Thank you jdixon.When I want to burn a brown ring around the top of a turning I use an old rag, in this case I used an old pair of my skivy's rolled up into a ball. Make sure it is in a ball and not wrapped around your fingers at all, for obvious reasons. Turn the lathe speed way up and just hold the rag in one place and apply pressure. If it doesn't burn like you want turn the speed up and do it again untill it literally starts smoking and the rag gets burned marks. I burned this strip wide to cover the cracks so I used a piece of scrap oak wood on it to burnish the wood and make burn mark wider. Easy to do but takes a few minutes. The wax I referred to you can buy at Woodcraft, our Woodcraft store in Pittsburgh just closed so I will need to buy it on line. For the life of me I can't think of the name of it but tell the guy you want to seal the end grain of wet freshly cut logs. Just scrub it on both ends. It is white like paint then dries clear. Good stuff. Thanks again and if I can ever help you with anything message, or e-mail me I would be glad to help. Mitch


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## Mitch Cholewinski (Mar 11, 2007)

Night Mill Bill
Thanks Bill. You asked about how I burn the lip on a turning. Scroll down to my answer to jdixon below this reply. I just answered this same question for him. Check it out Bill. Can I tell you something Bill? The only question that is dumb is the one a person who wants to know something is the one you didn't ask. You ask me anything you want Bill anytime and I will be glad to help you out to the best of my ability.We need to learn from eachother, little at a time.Make sure you work safely. Mitch


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## Terry Beeson (May 29, 2008)

Mitch Cholewinski said:


> jdixon
> ...I use an old rag, in this case I used an old pair of my skivy's rolled up into a ball...


So, Mitch, do you prefer using the leopard print skivies or the little tuxedo or the flaming thong?

(I just wanted Geoguy to spit coffee on his monitor again... :laughing: )

By the way, I find myself doing that with drills every once in a while... :yes: I bought a used set of Forstners at a yard sale and found out yesterday that the 2 1/8" was dull... But I really needed one hole that size. I think the neighbors called the fire department with all the smoke I was making for a 1/2" deep hole... :blink:

That burn is a really nice effect, Mitch.... :thumbsup:


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## Barry Ward (Mar 22, 2008)

*crack in bowl*

Mitch I do a lot of that burning when I can,but I try to stay away from any kind of rags on the lathe,as you know they may catch,but they could catch fire and cause you to drop em and then :furious: all I ever use is a piece of scrap wood,usually a soft wood,but you can use about any kind.For accents,I use piano wire or picture frame wire.
ken


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## Mitch Cholewinski (Mar 11, 2007)

Terry 
Thanks. You don't have to put up with smoking dull forestner bits Terry, they are easy enough to sharpen. I touch mine up lightly every time I use one. Mitch


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## Mitch Cholewinski (Mar 11, 2007)

woodsman
Thanks I use a hard piece of oak to burnish wider strips on turnings but this bowl the burned edge was half inch wide, no wire is gonna do that. I also use wire for accent. You use a rag and ball it up very tightly there is only a very small bit of the rag touching the piece and it isn't dangerous at all. Just hold it on a short time then take it off a while. Just make sure your just using a small amount of bearing surface. Mitch


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## jdixon (Nov 21, 2007)

Terry Beeson said:


> So, Mitch, do you prefer using the leopard print skivies or the little tuxedo or the flaming thong?


Man Terry, I thought for sure there would be a reply regarding the use of Mitch's skivies with one about skid marks/burn marks! Terry are you feelin ok?:laughing:

John


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## Night Mill Bill (May 7, 2008)

Mitch Cholewinski said:


> Night Mill Bill
> Thanks Bill. You asked about how I burn the lip on a turning. Scroll down to my answer to jdixon below this reply. I just answered this same question for him. Check it out Bill. Can I tell you something Bill? The only question that is dumb is the one a person who wants to know something is the one you didn't ask. You ask me anything you want Bill anytime and I will be glad to help you out to the best of my ability.We need to learn from eachother, little at a time.Make sure you work safely. Mitch


:smile:

Thanks Mitch!
-Bill


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## foneman (Jul 22, 2007)

Mitch Cholewinski said:


> jdixon
> The wax I referred to you can buy at Woodcraft, our Woodcraft store in Pittsburgh just closed so I will need to buy it on line. For the life of me I can't think of the name of it but tell the guy you want to seal the end grain of wet freshly cut logs. Just scrub it on both ends. It is white like paint then dries clear. Good stuff. Mitch


Mitch,
I really like the spiraling on this bowl. How do you do it and keep it between the lines?

I think Anchorseal is the waxy stuff you put on the ends of logs to seal them. 

John


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## Mitch Cholewinski (Mar 11, 2007)

foneman
Thanks foneman. I do the spralling first with a Sorby spiraling tool, then I put the lines at both ends of the spiraling. It's easy to do and I think, adds a lot to a turning. Mitch:thumbsup:


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## goingenoan (May 24, 2008)

Hey everybody, I am kinda new to woodturning and I came to this forum to ask some questions. This thread has helped a lot already! Turning blanks are somewhat hard to come by where I live so I started bidding on turning stock on Ebay. I won some decent stuff, at least for practicing. Thing is, about 60% of the blanks I won have cracked!  They were all end sealed with anchorseal but still a lot of it cracked since I received it. I live in Nevada and the average relative humidity around here is about 15%! Most of the blanks I won came from the mid-west and east coast. I don't know what else I can do other than take the advise from this thread and just live with it, and buy lots of glue. :blink: Maybe I would have better luck bidding on KD blanks. How big of a gap can you fill with the heavier CA glues? Do you mix in sawdust from the turning to help fill the crack? Thanks to everyone for the advise. :icon_smile:

________________________________
Work to live, not live to work!


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## Mitch Cholewinski (Mar 11, 2007)

goingenoan Sorry I never answered your reply on this thread. I haven't looked at this for quite some time and didn't see your reply. Anyways welcome to turning. Seems to me your doing it the expensive way if your bidding on eBay for your blanks. When I started turning I would buy pine 2"x 12" lumber and use a compass to draw the largest circle I could on the wood ,cut on the bandsaw , cut anywhere 2 to 6 of these circles and glue together with carpenters glue. Depends on the lathe you have how big a circle you can turn. I still do this a lot to practice. Them blanks your buying on eBay that are cracking are probably wet wood that someone cut up and cut then auctioned them off. They probably left the pith in the wood instead of cutting it out so your wood is cracking. That bowl I show on this thread was cut from wet wood but not cutting out the pith so it cracked, I know this cause I am the one that did it. Anchorseal is good but is not fool proof. I anchorseal all my wood ut the longer you keep the wood the more susceptibly to cracking. I have a bunch out side that is cracked. Most times if you cut off a couple inches off both ends of the wood you can save the wood to turn. If I was you and was going to buy wood on Ebay I would ask the seller what the moisture content is, if he hesitates or doesn't know don't buy. Then buy a moisture meter and check the moisture whan you get the wood. If he was lieing you can complain to eBay. You can use sawdust and glue. I just use sawdust and carpenters glue. Mitch


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