"John" wrote in message
...
In message , coffelt2
writes
I didn't search the newsgroup, but I did a small test a few months ago
with some small, green curly willow branches. (too small, really, for
most turning projects) but the unpeeled 1 1/2" or so branches were
splitting rapidly and far up from the ends. I tried heating them in the
microwave three or four times over a week or ten days, and it seemed
to really reduce the splitting. I didn't leave them long enough to do any
real drying, just to heat them up so they were too hot to handle bare
handed.
Boatbuilder friend said heating the green wood loosens the
lignin bonds so many of the stresses in the uneven drying wood
are relieved, reducing the splitting forces. He cited the steam bending
of wood as an example. Not so much the moisture, but the heat.
Does sort of make some sense to me.
Old Chief Lynn
I did some playing earlier last year with some pieces of wild cherry. As I
was using the household microwave. I placed the pieces in a plastic food
bag, with the open end trapped in the door. The microwave is a deltawave
so no turntable.
Switched on for 2 minutes till the water was steaming out. Carefully
removed the bag and drained surplus fluid, repeated the operation 10
times, each time weighing between. Was loosing about 2% weight each
heating. None cracked, compared to pieces that were left to air dry, which
would make nice toothpicks
Hopefully this year I will experiment with some large pieces
--
John
when I tried this with Olive, and some other mystery wood, my results were
massive cracks - boiling in water closed them back up