i just received a bunch of maple and cherry that eventually plan on turning.
I'm experimenting in the meantime on coating the ends with anchor seal and
then microwaving a piece or two. i'm also trying out my kitchen oven on
another
piece.
anyone ever tried this before? results?
rich

--

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I have just obtained an old microwave (700Watt and only operates on
full power, will take a 380mm diameter object) and will be trying it
over the coming weeks.

The advice I have is:
Place a cup of water inside the microwave along with the item
(protects the magnetron - I believe).
Don't try to use anything thicker than 25mm as reports from an
experienced user suggest it isn't suitable.
Rough turn bowls to a uniform thickness (less than 25mm).
Moisten any knots or other sources which may crack during drying with
a damp cloth.
If you start to see fine checking (cracks) appearing on the surface,
STOP as this indicates the wood is now getting too dry.
If the wood turns black, you missed seeing the checking and the wood
is charring! (Hope that isn't the household microwave you are using)
You can use a weighing technique as follows:
Weigh the item.
Microwave, remove, cool and weigh.
microwave again, cool and weigh.
Repeat until item seems to stop losing weight (remember to stop if you
see fine checking as you are only trying to get down to an equilibrium
moisture content, NOT total dryness.

Have fun. This seems to be the ideal way of getting cheap timber AND
being able to complete the project the same day!
Alan

On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 18:25:31 GMT, "res055a5" wrote:

i just received a bunch of maple and cherry that eventually plan on turning.
I'm experimenting in the meantime on coating the ends with anchor seal and
then microwaving a piece or two. i'm also trying out my kitchen oven on
another
piece.
anyone ever tried this before? results?
rich

On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 18:25:31 GMT, "res055a5" wrote:

i just received a bunch of maple and cherry that eventually plan on turning.
I'm experimenting in the meantime on coating the ends with anchor seal and
then microwaving a piece or two. i'm also trying out my kitchen oven on
another
piece.
anyone ever tried this before? results?

Rich, Do a search on Google in this newsgroup under "Microwave" and
you'll get reams of anecdotal results. I wouldn't recommend
anchorseal and then microwaving...you're just defeating the purpose
of the microwave by anchorsealing, and you'll also just melt the wax
out anyhow.

Quick tips:

-Use low power for short periods of time (20% for 1.5 - 2 mins) and
allow to cool for 1/2 hr. between nukings

-If you've got a scale, weigh the wood before nuking and every 3
cycles. Quit nuking when it quits losing weight.


--
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thanks for all the advice.
actually, 4 of the pieces that i baked for 2 hours at about 200 degrees F
have survived with no cracks.
three pieces checked, but i have rough turned them and anchor sealed them
again.
one piece that i nuked in a home microwave for 12 minutes and then baked as
above has survived with no cracks.
another piece treated exactly the same checked badly and i turned it into a
goblet, gave it various coats of wax and a
coat of food-safe sealer....hope it won't crack too badly in the future.
another piece i rough turned after nuking several times...it started
checking, so i stopped the nuking process and rough
turned it and then continued nuking...probably too much cause the checks did
get a little bigger. so i finished turning it
and waxed it....looks pretty good despite the checks which seem to have
stopped. apparently sometimes nuking works
and sometimes it doesn't and it doesn't seem to be size dependent....same
with baking it and nuking combinations.
i don't have a moisture meter to see what's going on and the only weight
scale i have works poorly in the bathroom...therefore
is useless for what i need. so i only have one piece of wood that i am
still nuking....it was glued to a piece of kiln dried walnut, rough
turned on the outside (it's going to be a bowl), and i've been nuking it for
about a minute (average) once or twice per day with almost
no checking. i intend to keep nuking it for another week like that before i
finish turning it.
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

"Anonymous" wrote in message
newsan.2004.12.24.16.36.09.509313@notarealserver .com...
On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 18:25:31 +0000, res055a5 wrote:

i just received a bunch of maple and cherry that eventually plan on
turning. I'm experimenting in the meantime on coating the ends with
anchor
seal and then microwaving a piece or two. i'm also trying out my
kitchen
oven on another
piece.
anyone ever tried this before? results? rich

By now the piece in the kitchen oven has long ago been relegated to the
scrap pile. Possibly also the piece in the microwave.

What causes cracking is uneven drying ... where the inside dries much
slower than the outside. The advice to search the archives for this
newsgroup is the best you will ever get as there are several ways to speed
up this process with many vocal advocates for each. I nuke pen blanks,
boil rough-turned hollow pieces and LDD especially select bark-on wood.

Anchorseal (or other similar-in-function products) are intended for
preventing cracks during slow drying. I can't store all of my wood indoors
and not all of what I can store indoors will fit in either my boiling pot,
my LDD bin, my microwave or my freezer. For everything else, I use
Anchorseal type products and stack them neatly outdoors.

Bill

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"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.

oh, i've started with about 25 pieces of cherry and 20 of maple and more
maple to get.
meanwhile i'm hitting up everyone i know for their scrap wood and gluing it
together so i can turn it
into something....good for practice at least !
rich
"Anonymous" wrote in message
newsan.2004.12.26.23.01.41.447346@notarealserver .com...
On Sun, 26 Dec 2004 07:51:50 +0000, res055a5 wrote:

i sure wish i had been storing more anchor sealed wood
over the years so i would have more wood to turn. rich


Start now. We'll revisit the thread again in a couple of years / couple of
tons from now. ;-)

Bill
--
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