View Single Post
  #7   Report Post  
Posted to rec.crafts.woodturning
Dave Leader
 
Posts: n/a
Default Alcohol Drying of Wet Wood - offline response

I apologise for the off-line response, but I don't post to the USENET
any more. The tenor has changed, and I'm not interested in flame wars.

robo hippy wrote:
snip
At first, I would just turn to about 1/4 to 3/8 thick (wet wood), in
sizes from 16 inches diameter to 3 inches diameter, and put the bowls
on a shelf and let them dry. While I never weighed them, they would be
mostly dry in 2 weeks or less: say about 98% of all movement had
ceased, they were dry enough to sand easily (no loading of the
sandpaper), and didn't feel cool to the touch.


The same seems to hold true for the alcohol bath and LDD methods. I
have never bagged a bowl blank. I have had about the same amount of
cracking with all methods. Most of the cracks coming from cracks in the
wood that I didn't cut out, some knots, and some crotch wood. I left
pieces to soak for 24 hours to a month, and got the same results. I
haven't noticed that any of the methods had any effect on movement,
especially on the Madrone.

snip
The biggest difference that the LDD soak makes is in sanding. I don't
leave my blanks thick, and then return them, I turn to finish
thickness, and then sand. When sanding any of the LDD bowls, the dust
comes off like big wet snow flakes, rather than fine powder. It does
take about 2 plus weeks for the fragrences in the LDD to go away, but
that is minor.


The last batch that I soaked, I added the last 3 gallons of my left
over alcohol to the LDD mix (10 plus gallons). The biggest difference
that I noticed was that it thinned down the solution so that the mix
dripped off a lot faster when removed from the tub. They sanded out
nicely.

snip

While I wouldn't presume to question a turner as experienced as you are,
I'm curious about one aspect of your LDD use. When I use it, I turn to
final thickeness and then finish immediately. I don't allow the wood to
dry before I finish it. Is that what you are doing, or are you drying it
before finishing? I ask because I haven't had very many bowls crack,
some warped, but cracks were very rare.

Dave Leader
--
Volunteer at Cluade Moore Colonial Farm (National Park)
http://www.1771.org
American Association of Woodturners
http://www.woodturner.org
Capital Area Woodturners
http://www.capwoodturners.org/
PATINA
http://www.patinatools.org
M-WTCA - Mid-West Tool Collectors Assoc
http://www.mwtca.org/