It Is Too Late Now, so

[Bill Holt]

what do I do next time.  Bought a $24.99 Marble Wood (plain) block to make 6 tooth pick holders.  Roughed out three last night; this morning two had checks.  I'm bothered more by the loss of time than the material.
The block was very wet while turning so I did expect warping.  Did I pick the wrong wood, how do you prevent checking after the turning has been roughed?

[Arlin Eastman]

what do I do next time.  Bought a $24.99 Marble Wood (plain) block to make 6 tooth pick holders.  Roughed out three last night; this morning two had checks.  I'm bothered more by the loss of time than the material.
The block was very wet while turning so I did expect warping.  Did I pick the wrong wood, how do you prevent checking after the turning has been roughed?

Bill

I have never heard of Wet Marblewood before.  It ships from over seas and usually has to be cut up and waxed and sit on a shelf for a while.  I have gotten 5 to 7 pieces before and all are dry to 11% or so.  Did it sit out in the rain or snow or ?

Also a lot of woods will check even when dry if it is cut at high speeds and aggressively cut when the wood gets hot.

[crokett™]

 how do you prevent checking after the turning has been roughed?

pack it in chips inside a breathable (such as paper) bag, or some other method to slow down the drying so that the wood has time to equalize pressures.  It checks because some of the wood driest faster and contracts faster than other areas.    I don't know what your original slab looked like.   I think I would have cut it into the blanks I needed and left them long to allow for end checking and let the wood dry before I turned it.  I've never heard of rouging out small items like toothpick holders, but that's not to say you can't.

[MichaelMouse]

what do I do next time.  Bought a $24.99 Marble Wood (plain) block to make 6 tooth pick holders.  Roughed out three last night; this morning two had checks.  I'm bothered more by the loss of time than the material.
The block was very wet while turning so I did expect warping.  Did I pick the wrong wood, how do you prevent checking after the turning has been roughed?

Cross-grain, I presume?  Long grain would have ovalled, but not likely checked.

You may seal outside endgrain with some of the water emulsion waxes or bag with dry shavings as  a buffer, but the best thing is not to turn broad,  but use a continuous curve or taper to redirect a bit of the drying stress on the walls, as is done with larger cross-grain turnings.  

Was the blank dipped in wax when shipped, do you think?  That why it was wet?

[DFJarvie]

It’s an issue with the wood itself. I was at Woodcraft one day and picked up a block of Marblewood to make a pencil cup sine the wood looked really cool. One of the guys at the store asked me what I had in mind and told me it’s very prone to cracking. I put the block back.

From your description it sounds like he was on the money.

[Bill Holt]

Yes, it was covered in wax.  8"x8"x3" ripped to three equal blanks.  I guess the lesson learned here...don't buy waxed blanks for immediate use.

[MichaelMouse]

Yes, it was covered in wax.  8"x8"x3" ripped to three equal blanks.  I guess the lesson learned here...don't buy waxed blanks for immediate use.

Scrape them off early if you do, or wait an eternity!