I am no where near an expert, but I have done quite a bit of reseach on turning bowls and I have also found that every bowl turner has a different process. While all have similarities, they are all unique. What I have found and what I do is to leave the wax on until intial turning. On the intial turning I rough the bowl out and get it into the basic shape that I want - going down to about 1" in thickness. Then, I would place them in bags to dry out. When they are dry, I would turn them to the final shape/form. Just my $0.02 - and my method, but it may not be THE "correct' method other, more expereinced turners use.
Yes, your method is correct for those sort of blanks, they are dipped in thick wax because the wood was cut green and the wax is the only thing that will protect that blanks from cracking like mad while drying. The thick coat to wax will force the wood to dry very, very slowly, fast drying = cracks, every time.
Unfortunately, the blanks are not marked with the date they were processed/waxed, we know the wood was green but, how long ago was that blank waxed...??? It could have been last week, last month, last year or a few years ago, while the first options would make the wood super green and wet, blanks waxed long ago, could possible the dry or close to so, the only way to find out is to measure the blank(s) Moisture content (MC %).
This is done by scraping a little bit of the wax on the end-gain (more accurate) using a common Moisture Gauge, they are found on
eBay for 30 bucks or so (2 probe ones) I have one of these that has come with blue carry case, and is a good idea but watch for the probes with 2 spikes only, I prefer those.
If the wood reads about 35% or above, the wood is very green, I would let it settle a little longer until it gets about 20% or less and depending on what the wood is, most woods are dry at about 12%MC.
Don't remove the wax unless, you are ready to rough turn it, sure you can rough turn a piece of wood that has come from a tree cut hours prior, you may get a bath in the process (water) but that won't harm you however, if that is the case, make sure you leave at least 1" thickness all over the blank, you can further protect that wood by soaking it in various types of wood preservers or simply use its shavings to wrap around/cover the piece and put it in a cardboard box. If inside of a plastic bag, the wood can develop blue stain from mould or spalting from various fungi types that are common and present is certain woods, this will be your choice...!
Don't need to worry about that small area where the wax was removed for the MC % test, if the reading show close enough to 14%, you can turn and finish that piece to size, sand and finish it as you wish...!:wink::biggrin:
I hope this helps...!
PS: Remember that, "correct procedures" are as diverse as people doing them however correct, some are more efficient/safe than others...!
Cheers
George
