Harvesting A Blown Over
Ash Tree for Woodturning

About a 12″ dead Ash Tree blew over from some Northeast winds the other day. Thank God, because if it were the regular Southwest winds ….my neighbor’s Gazebo would have been tooth picks!

Looking to Start Cutting Bowl Blanks From Logs!

Been a rough week or so for me, health wise….so hard to do anything physical when you feel like crap all the time. But, I finally gathered up some strength and went down to the river (where the tree fell) to cut a few pieces off the downed ash tree. I grabbed a wagon, my small Stihl 180 chainsaw and cut up a few pieces to see if the Ash Tree was in good enough shape to turn some woodturning bowl blanks. So I was ready to start cutting bowl blanks from logs.

But first I had to began Collecting and Preparing Wood for Woodturing. And unless you are made of money, most woodturners will want to start to learn the process of collecting local woodturning wood from their area. It doesn’t matter if its a new tree that has been sawn down or a tree that has been laying around for a while. Get a chainsaw and get yourself some free woodturning wood blanks!

Chainsaws for Cutting
Woodturning Blanks From Logs

Chainsaws are important when cutting bowl blanks from logs. Just a side note ….I have up to a 660 Stihl …..so all you chainsaw experts don’t laugh at my little saw 🙂 My son, Christopher, actually purchased the 660, I told him to get the 880 but he got the 660 Stihl, monster of a saw ….in fact, he rides dirt bikes and said the engine on the 660 and 880 were like dirt bike motors! I can pick up the 660, not sure I could use it 🙂 The thing is a monster! Really, really, really, sucks being sick and getting old 🙁 Sorry for that little chainsaw rant, but all you chainsaw geeks, millers and sawyers share my passion! and I though you might appreciate the story.

Looking For 12″ Trunk Size for 12″ Bowl Blanks

Anyway when thinking about cutting bowl blanks from logs, I was looking to max out the bowl size on my lathe…that would be 12″ I would need 12″ logs for bowl blanks….turns out I’ll probably get 10 or 15 bowls around 11″ and a whole bunch of small bowls, vases, cups …etc.

I would say this little Ash Tree was dead for about 3 or 4 years. To my surprise, all the damage on this tree was under the bark. So far, no worm holes in the tree. It’s still wet …although I’m guessing, probably 50% or more dry. The wood is strong. The grain is not punky! No soft spots anyplace on this beautiful tree 🙂 I expect to be able to use almost all of this Ash Tree for making woodturning bowl blanks and other woodturning blanks!

Save Ash Limbs for Future Woodturning Projects

Even punky and worm hole ridden ash makes for nice pieces, do not forget to take ash limbs down to a 1-1/2″ diameter for ash tool handles, billy clubs and vases! I will cut limbs between 24″ and 30″ long. When I feel like turning but really do not want to think about starting a big project I will put a couple of these on the lathe and just turn them to round. So I might end up with a stash of ash rounds that are 1 1/2″ wide to 6″ or more wide. I store them low, and let them dry slowly. If they are wet, I will paint the ends. I might even move them up to the 4 foot level so they dry a little faster.

How To Use Your Ash (Limb) Rounds

You would be surprised what these Ash round/long blanks can be used for. I first of all use them for custom tool handles. You can make custom ash wood mallets for woodworkers, ash billy clubs, ash fish clubs, ash vases …you really are limited to your imagination. If you have a nice small clear piece, make some really cool ash ornaments. These are great pieces to make ash snowmen from. If you know any kids or young baseball players you can make some really cool custom Ash baseball bats. When I played baseball ….almost all the bats were from ash trees.

Round Blanks Not Limited to Ash Trees

I’ll let you in on a little secret. Collecting limbs for woodturning to make smaller 1-1/2″ to 6″ round blanks is not limited to Ash Trees! You can collect limbs suitable for turning from just about any tree. Most woodturners will ignore and bypass the limbs when collecting wood from a downed tree, they go for the big pieces that will give them nice bowl blanks ….and I understand that. However you are leaving a lot of good turning material behind if you do not investigate and grab some of the larger branches that might be available for future woodturning projects.

For instance, there was a boxelder tree that came down not too far from me. The owner told me I could have the whole tree but someone snuck in and ripped me off, they grabbed some of the nicer pieces. It didn’t matter, they couldn’t lift the big trunk pieces so I got those ….but they thief left some nice branches behind, 2+ inches up to 6″ or so. So, I grabbed those and threw them off the the side. I tried to turn a vase out of one of them and to my surprise it had a nice red/purple streak going through it.

I had several Oaks go down over the last 2 years. Once again, the branches….most people burn/chip or throw away were a gold mine of handles and other spindle related turnings.

It does take a bit of effort to cut up the branches, load them and then store them but once you do….. you’ll be sitting pretty for a long time. You will never be looking for a 3×3 oak blank for a stair balaster 🙂

Or, the smaller branches can be easily cut into pen blanks or …..I think they are called “scales” for the wood handles on knives.

Learn to Spot Woodturning
Gold ….Trees For Turning!

To the uneducated eye, this would be a junk tree ….worthy of being cut up and burned on the fire pile …probably not even good enough for firewood. In fact, that’s probably what I would have done with it 4 or 5 years ago. I now look at trees with a different eye 🙂 So I see behind the shredding bark, broken branches laid a perfectly fine Ash tree. Lumber from the tree would be perfect for cutting bowl blanks from logs but could be used for just about anything. A small mill could get a whole bunch of paneling or some framing beams, more importantly ….I can get all kinds of wood for turning!

Pictures of My Ash Tree Harvest
For Woodturning Projects

In the pictures you see the wagon with my chainsaw and lengths of wood as I get ready to cut some bowl blanks from the Ash tree. I used my bandsaw to split 2 of the larger logs and cut some round bowl blanks from them. I actually mounted one on the lathe and started turning the bowl, formed the ouside of the bowl and sanded it. I put it on a shelf to dry a little.

The other pieces are for tool handles. Ash makes really good tool handles. I’ll use the rest for vases, billy clubs, fish clubs, cups and some boxes. Probably could do a lamp or two ….lots of good turning wood in that downed tree. I plan on cutting it up and putting it inside the shop or garage for use latter this year as it slowly dries and is kept out of the weather!

Hoping to Help Some New Woodturners Find and Process Local Trees For Their Woodturing!

I just thought that some of the new woodturners would like to see the thought process when trying to find and harvest some turning lumber. I see questions asked on how to harvest wood for woodturing, where to get wood for woodturing and what to do with it when you find some wood for woodturning. Bottom line, grab it! Take it home and then figure out how to process it.

Quick Look At Cutting A Log For Woodturing Bowl Blanks

Let’s say you want to turn bowls with a 12″ diameter. You’ll need logs that are at least 12″ in diameter, to be on the safe side your logs should be at least 14″ wide. Then you should cut the log 14″ long plus 3″ or so to allow for damaged ends or crooked cuts. You’ll then split the log in half, you’ll then have 2 log halfs to make your bowl blanks from. At this point you can use a bandsaw to cut a circular bowl blank or use your chainsaw to nip off the ends ….making it a somewhat chainsaw circular bowl blank. Hope that makes sense. If not, check out youtube for processing logs for woodturning.

Videos Show How to Cut Bowl Blanks From Logs

Here are a few videos that will give you an idea of how to process a log for creating some bowl blanks. Remember, everybody takes a different approach, its up to you to figure out what works best for you. Remember a chainsaw is a viscous tool, accidents happen in milliseconds so please be careful.

Notice in this first video that the chainsaw creates shavings, this indicates a nice sharp chainsaw blade ….that goes a long way to helping you make your bowl blanks

Stephen Ogle is one of my favorites and he shares how he processes and cuts logs for bowl blanks. Pay attention, he is a great teacher on all things woodturning!

Brian Havens is an excellent teacher of woodturning …all aspects! Some of his stuff is a little old, I wish he would add some new things but maybe he got burned out or just did a brain dump over a couple of years and doesn’t have much new material to share.

This video he was given an apple tree. He did not record the process of cutting up the apple tree into blanks but he brought all the pieces back to his shop and put them together and then explains why he did what he did ….excellent video for the woodturner who is looking to understand how to dissect a try to get the most out of it ….pay close attention and I guarantee you will learn much 🙂

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