"res055a5" wrote in message
news:q4uzd.16228$rL3.5062@trnddc03...
wish me luck and i sure wish i had been storing more anchor sealed wood
over
the years so i would have more wood to turn.
rich

You do not need dried wood to do certain things, and you can dry wood
rapidly without degrade outside of the "ovens" as well.

Though I'm getting "page currently unavailable" messages now, you can learn
about wood structure and drying by looking at the publications at
http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/tmu/publications.htm

One piece of folklore needs to be set to rest entirely before you begin,
that being the "inch per year" rule of thumb for drying boards. Face-grain
bowls expose almost entirely end grain, with no part more than an inch from
the air, and end grain dries at ten times the rate of face grain - thus the
checks in a poorly controlled drying situation. If you can dry a board in a
year, you can dry a bowl in a month; less if you disregard another rule of
thumb, the 10% "rule.

The 10% rule says to leave the wall thickness at 10% of the diameter to
assure yourself a circular piece. It's generally overkill on domestic
woods. If you look at those FPL publications, you'll see shrinkage as a
percentage across the grain - Tangential - and from center to surface -
Radial. Say you have a 10 inch bowl of hard maple which shrinks 9%
tangentially (not looking it up, likely less), and you want to get 1/4"
thick walls on your bowl. Sound like the 10% rule? Shrinkage is more or
less symmetrical ! You'll lost 9% of the total width in worst case, so
that's an inch, then your thickness, an additional 1/2 inch, gives you a
3/4" thick wall to start. It will be more than enough, because the drying
loss is a combination of the two, T&R, and the Radial is usually less.
Depending on the slope of the sides, could be much less.

Now you need to think of that Fiber Saturation Point - FSP - which is around
30% moisture by weight. Anything above that is unbound water, which you can
spin out centrifugally on the lathe without any degrade, because degrade
happens only with loss of bound water. So spin it fast, throw and let the
surface dry, then, depending on the relative humidity, protect from degrade
with a newsprint tent or paper bag, or just leave it in quiet air somewhere
where its water and surrounding pieces will provide a damp microclimate.

If you like to weigh them, and a postal or diet scale should be good enough,
weigh them the first day the surface is dry, and turn them after they've
lost about 25% by weight. Or, as I prefer, look at the drop on the rim and
the shrinkage across, turn when it's as predicted. Some say give 'em a
kiss, and if they're not cool to your lips, turn 'em.

I take my firewood, which is around 20% I would guess, rough it 1/3 thinner
than the predicted (it is drier), and set it out for two weeks. Works
great, and has enough fudge factor built in to be safe in shape and
moisture.