William,
When I played with microwave drying I used one second at high per ounce
of weight. I would repeat this until it was almost too comfortable to
hold (but not painful), no more than three repetitions. I would let it
cool for 30 to 60 minutes and do up to another series of up to three
repetitions on the same program. If they would fit, I would do this with
the blank inside of a plastic bag that had a hole pierced in it. The
idea was to hold hot moist air around the outside of the piece while it
was hot to avoid too great a moisture gradient in the blank. When it
came out after the third repetition I would put it in a dry bag and let
the steam collect until it cooled. This allowed for a slower but more
controlled removal of moisture. When I noticed that the piece was not
getting as warm as it had been, indicating there was not as much
moisture to heat up and I would soon be baking the wood, I stopped and
paper bagged the piece a couple more months. Not an immediate
gratification program but I did get several pieces of olive to stay
together and eventually finish up round and smooth.

Good luck, YMMV.
David

william kossack wrote:
what power settings did you use for the microwave?

I've done a few pieces in the microwave but these were genearlly roughed
out bowls. I start out at about 30% power (about the setting you would
use for defrosting food) for a minute and check. If it is only warm I
let it cool then increase the time maybe to 2 minutes. I never increase
the power only the time.

You don't want it to become hot.

After several heating I put the piece aside until next day. Next day if
on another nuking at low power that it does not get warm then it is
probably dry. If it warms up then I put it through a couple cycles at
the same power.