Woodturning (rec.crafts.woodturning) To discuss tools, techniques, styles, materials, shows and competitions, education and educational materials related to woodturning. All skill levels are welcome, from art turners to production turners, beginners to masters.

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Steve DeMars
 
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Default Drying Roughed Out Bowls! ! !

Paper bagging, Liquid Dishwashing Detergent (LDD) soaking,
microwaving, cover in sawdust and wait a month or two, boiling
- so many methods of attempting to control drying problems.

Which method above seems to work the best overall . . . I want to get into
turning but I'm sure watching finished projects crack into firewood will be
a real turn off.

Thanks in advance,
Steve


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Derek Andrews
 
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Default Drying Roughed Out Bowls! ! !

Steve DeMars wrote:

Which method above seems to work the best overall


Define 'best'

I think my advise would be to try them all and make your own mind up, or
think about what is involved with each method and consider how much
trouble and expense you want to go to, and how fast you want to see some
results. The type of wood you use and your local climate may also affect
what is best for you.

My preference is to slap some wax emulsion on the endgrain and leave to
air dry in normal room conditions for a few months, then introduce to
warmer and drier conditions for a similar period. Remount and skim the
wax off the outside, then dry some more. Then final turn.

This is mainly maple and yellow birch, but it works ok for me on oak,
ash and elm. But some honey locust I got once cracked.

--
Derek Andrews, woodturner

http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com
http://chipshop.blogspot.com - a blog for my customers
http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com/TheToolrest/ - a blog for woodturners








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robo hippy
 
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Default Drying Roughed Out Bowls! ! !

I have tried all except the boiling, and have gotten pretty much the
same results. For my style, I like to turn green to finish thickness,
and then let them dry. I like the warped shapes. I do use the LDD
method mostly because it makes a big difference in how it sands,
especially with the harder and more resinous woods: no burning on the
cherry, big leaf maple doesn't seem to glaze over the sandpaper, etc.
The main thing in drying the turned wood is to do it slowly, and have
an even wall thickness. For storing logs, summer is our dry season, so
I like to totally cover the logs in shavings, get them wet, and then
cover with a white tarp. They stay at constant humidity, and
temperature, and do lose some moisture, but checking is almost non
existant.
robo hippy

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Derek Hartzell
 
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Default Drying Roughed Out Bowls! ! !

What type of tarp? I used a "Big Tent" brand silver tarp that supposedly
has UV resistance, but it was toast in 1 year. A professional hay tarp that
I priced was way too expensive.

Derek

I like to totally cover the logs in shavings, get them wet, and then
cover with a white tarp. They stay at constant humidity, and
temperature, and do lose some moisture, but checking is almost non
existant.
robo hippy



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robo hippy
 
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Default Drying Roughed Out Bowls! ! !

I use a white tarp that I got from the local Ace hardware. I also have
some flame resistant tarps that I got from a local awning place. To get
more than 2 years from one would surprise me. The blue ones are toast
in one year.
robo hippy



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Steve Russell
 
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Default Drying Roughed Out Bowls! ! !

Hello Steve,

For me, my boiling protocol produces the best overall results. It's still my
first choice when I want to speed up the drying process, or limit drying
degrade to the absolute minimum.

Boiling works consistently over a wide range of species, grain orientations,
wall thicknesses etc. It's used by woodturners around the world and it's
also becoming increasingly popular with a few wood mills in various
Countries, for post-processing of solid blanks. Having boiled thousands and
thousands of bowls and platters, I still think that boiling (for me) is the
best option to insure a quickly dried, crack free roughout/blank.

Since I make my living as a production bowl turner, I have to use protocols
that consistently work on a wide range of species and conditions. You need
to try a bunch of things to really see what works best for you, your area,
the amount of time you're willing to commit, the loss ratio you are willing
to accept, the amount of money you're willing to invest, etc.

Your answers are likely to be different from your friends, so we must each
endeavour to find the optimum protocols that fit our own unique
requirements. Good luck to you and best wishes in all of your woodturning
endeavours!

P.S. I'm still evaluating the LDD method and should have the results ready
to publish later this year. Also, a new freeze drying protocol and an
updated enhancement to the boiling protocol will hopefully be ready later
this year.

On 4/19/06 7:55 AM, in article 8rq1g.3570$B42.3361@dukeread05, "Steve
DeMars" wrote:

Paper bagging, Liquid Dishwashing Detergent (LDD) soaking, microwaving, cover
in sawdust and wait a month or two, boiling - so many methods of attempting to
control drying problems.

Which method above seems to work the best overall . . . I want to get into
turning but I'm sure watching finished projects crack into firewood will be a
real turn off.

Thanks in advance, Steve



--
Better Woodturning and Finishing Through Chemistry...

Steven D. Russell
Eurowood Werks Woodturning Studio, The Woodlands, Texas
Machinery, Tool and Product Testing for the Woodworking and Woodturning
Industries

³Woodturning with Steven D. Russell²
Volume #1 CD ROM e-Book * Available for Shipment
Volume #2 CD ROM e-Book/DVD Video * Available for Shipment
Volume #3 Double DVD Video on Bowl Turning * Available for Shipment


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Arch
 
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Default Drying Roughed Out Bowls!!

Hi Steve, Welcome to woodturning where cracks are inevitable. I won't
say "relax and enjoy them", only try to make them a challenge instead of
a turn off. Problems with multiple solutions don't have a "best overall"
answer. As others have said, your best drying method depends upon your
timber and environment and the time, money and space you devote to the
craft and your plans & expectations for it.

It's thought that cracks are mostly owing to unequalized stresses
imposed inside relatively unyielding wood by loss of water from
different surfaces or interfaces at different rates. If so, then it
seems logical that drying without cracking is mostly about equalizing
water losses by impeding the loss at one interface (axial end grain
-air) and/or aiding the loss at another site (cell -interstices -
circumference -air).

Many ways are suggested to do this. The archives can bring you up to
speed and proponents can explain and defend their best way here, but
there won't be a consensus of "best overall". Until there is, I mostly
compromise with a simple natural method; benign neglect. I saw off the
end of logs after they crack or split the log along a big single
lengthwise crack. For wet/green bowls I either turn them thin or I put
them in a paper bag to help them dry evenly. I'm not 100% successful,
but then anything I do rarely is.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter



http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

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Default Drying Roughed Out Bowls!!

Hi Steve,

I am a new turner too, and as I am sure you know, green wood turning is
a great way to get started - free wood, easier to turn, and forgiving
in many ways. Many turners stick with it for their entire careers.
The mystery of the results, and the discovery of the processes that
work (and don't) is as much fun as the turning. So what if some of it
ends up as firewood, that's what it was to begin with anyway! Just
turn and the results will follow.

In case you haven't run across them, here are a couple references that
inspired and helped me a lot:

http://www.customwooddesign.com/turninggreenwood-1.html

TURNING GREEN WOOD BOOK , Michael O'Donnell available at:
http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/cg...n&key=086-3000

Objects with walls turned to 10% of diameter or less, a paper bag with
shavings, and a little time, is hard to beat, unless you are into a lot
of technology and processes that may distract you from developing your
turning skills.

Just my two cents after all of two years!

Jerry

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George
 
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Default Drying Roughed Out Bowls! ! !


"Steve DeMars" wrote in message
news:8rq1g.3570$B42.3361@dukeread05...
Paper bagging, Liquid Dishwashing Detergent (LDD) soaking,
microwaving, cover in sawdust and wait a month or two, boiling
- so many methods of attempting to control drying problems.

Which method above seems to work the best overall . . . I want to get
into
turning but I'm sure watching finished projects crack into firewood will
be
a real turn off.


Reduce the relative humidity around them slowly enough to avoid drying the
surface too much faster than the inside.

I have a basement, and took my humidity gage around looking for the calm,
cool, high-humidity air. Found it exactly where you'd expect it - close to
the floor. The fresh cherry from yesterday is still shedding unbound water
up at chest height, but today it goes to the floor, to stay there until I
need the space. At that point it goes to the rack.

Floor's 80% or better RH in non-heating season. With higher humidity in
summer I sometimes have mildew problems down low, so the dehumidifier comes
on.

Tables equating moisture saturation of wood and air at
http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/ in the Wood Handbook, chapter 3. Lots of
information on average dimensional change, as well. Use that if you're in a
hurry to get something re-turned. Thinner you start, faster it dries.


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Kevin
 
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Default Drying Roughed Out Bowls!!

Just an obervation/joke Arch, but cranks are also inevitable.

as ever,
-
"Arch" wrote in message
...
Hi Steve, Welcome to woodturning where cracks are inevitable. I won't
say "relax and enjoy them", only try to make them a challenge instead of
a turn off. Problems with multiple solutions don't have a "best overall"
answer. As others have said, your best drying method depends upon your
timber and environment and the time, money and space you devote to the
craft and your plans & expectations for it.

It's thought that cracks are mostly owing to unequalized stresses
imposed inside relatively unyielding wood by loss of water from
different surfaces or interfaces at different rates. If so, then it
seems logical that drying without cracking is mostly about equalizing
water losses by impeding the loss at one interface (axial end grain
-air) and/or aiding the loss at another site (cell -interstices -
circumference -air).

Many ways are suggested to do this. The archives can bring you up to
speed and proponents can explain and defend their best way here, but
there won't be a consensus of "best overall". Until there is, I mostly
compromise with a simple natural method; benign neglect. I saw off the
end of logs after they crack or split the log along a big single
lengthwise crack. For wet/green bowls I either turn them thin or I put
them in a paper bag to help them dry evenly. I'm not 100% successful,
but then anything I do rarely is.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter



http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings



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