I went out to the shed for a couple of hours last night. When I opened the door, it was 49°C inside. After 15-20 minutes rough turning a wet birch bowl blank, the sweat was running down my forehead and stinging my eyes.
49°C may not be awfully hot to some, but here in Scotland it is about double the average outdoor temp for the time of year. The humidity in the shed is killer too.
I started turning a bowl from a lump of oak I have had sitting around for a good 2 years. This oak is horribly split, but still holding together. I have filled some of the cracks with CA glue & dust from the random orbit sander. Others I have experimented with PVA glue.
I did have some casting resin, but the frost got to it so I can’t use that to fill cracks. I have some epoxy glue though, which might get an outing.
My plan for the oak, is to have the cracks enhanced so they add to the character of the bowl. Experimenting with different fillers will also give me an idea of what works from an aesthetic point of view. I still have a massive amount of oak I was given when I first got my lathe back in March 2011, which has split all over the place because I didn’t know what I was doing in terms of storage. Hopefully if I can work out how to salvage this I can start processing it.
Every day is a school day.
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© Tom Speirs, Born to Turn and adventuresinturning.wordpress.com, 2011-2015. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Tom Speirs, Born to Turn and adventuresinturning.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Any contravention may result in the severe malky, a good hard pummeling followed by a rub down with sandpaper. So there!
Adventures In Turning by Tom Speirs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Adventures in Turning 
Just like your situation, it’s been a sweltering mess in my garage for the past few weeks, and that is one of the reasons my current project is being made from plywood, normal wood would have warped up, down, and sideways by now. If the heatwave/humidity wave continues I am not going to start any large projects for the rest of the summer. Good luck!, hopefully we all get some good weather real soon.
Yeah, the past 3 years we hardly got a Summer. It rained for most of the year. I like the heat, but inside the shed is just uncomfortable.
I doubt the neighbours would appreciate the sight of me outside in my underwear…….