Dave Smith, Longview, WA
11-13-2004, 12:24 PM
I want to share this information with my friends North of the boarder. I posted this on Woodcentral and I expect a lot of discussion there. I will try to answer your question here also.
Fred Holder was kind enough to publish an article I wrote about drying bowls in More Woodturning. I am not sure where you can obtain a copy of the November issue or if Fred has extra copies available for purchase. The process is something I have worked on for many years and it has proven very effective.
In the interest of turners who would like to turn bowls from green wood and give them for gifts this coming Christmas I am posting the process in a nutshell. Please let me know your results, good or bad, so I can write a followup article about the general use of the process.
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ALCOHOL SOAKING GREEN BOWL BLANKS IN A NUT SHELL.
Turn the bowl to a thickness of ½"for small bowls(< 6 inches). Larger bowls may need to be thicker to allow for distortion.
Place the bowl in a container of denatured alcohol.
Let soak for 2 or more hours.
Remove the bowl and place it on a rack upside down for 1 hour to let the surface dry.
Wrap the bowl in heavy paper such as a grocery sack. On a bowl simply gather the paper around the rim and secure with a couple turns of masking tape. On a closed form the paper can be tucked into the opening and held in place with masking tape across the opening. The opening must be open to allow air circulation.
Place the bowl upside down on a rack so air can circulate into the opening.
Record the weight and date on the bottom of the paper. When the weight stops decreasing it is ready to finish turn.
************************************************** **************************
Small bowls will stop losing weight in one week or less. Large bowls will take about two weeks. Hollow forms very in drying time due to the small opening which inhibits air exchange. It is not necessary to record the weight every day but initially you may want to check the progress to satisfy your curiosity. I keep my shop heated and dehumidified year round so my drying time may very from what you may experience.
Nearly every turning I have posted on this forum has been dried using this process. There have been some failures but they have been rare exceptions. So don’t use a priceless irreplaceable piece of wood to test this drying protocol.
I owe a big think you to the many people who helped me test the alcohol drying process during the past year and those who encouraged this project. They validated my findings, edited text and gave me the confidence to publish the results. In no particular order these people are David Propst, Bill Grumbine, Dominic Grecco, Jennifer Shirley, Mark Kauder, Larry Hancock, Scott Greaves, Sean Troy, Barb Siddiqui, Mike Schwing and Ellis Walentine.
Good luck.
Dave Smith
With a shop full of dry bowls in Longview, WA.
Fred Holder was kind enough to publish an article I wrote about drying bowls in More Woodturning. I am not sure where you can obtain a copy of the November issue or if Fred has extra copies available for purchase. The process is something I have worked on for many years and it has proven very effective.
In the interest of turners who would like to turn bowls from green wood and give them for gifts this coming Christmas I am posting the process in a nutshell. Please let me know your results, good or bad, so I can write a followup article about the general use of the process.
************************************************** ***********************
ALCOHOL SOAKING GREEN BOWL BLANKS IN A NUT SHELL.
Turn the bowl to a thickness of ½"for small bowls(< 6 inches). Larger bowls may need to be thicker to allow for distortion.
Place the bowl in a container of denatured alcohol.
Let soak for 2 or more hours.
Remove the bowl and place it on a rack upside down for 1 hour to let the surface dry.
Wrap the bowl in heavy paper such as a grocery sack. On a bowl simply gather the paper around the rim and secure with a couple turns of masking tape. On a closed form the paper can be tucked into the opening and held in place with masking tape across the opening. The opening must be open to allow air circulation.
Place the bowl upside down on a rack so air can circulate into the opening.
Record the weight and date on the bottom of the paper. When the weight stops decreasing it is ready to finish turn.
************************************************** **************************
Small bowls will stop losing weight in one week or less. Large bowls will take about two weeks. Hollow forms very in drying time due to the small opening which inhibits air exchange. It is not necessary to record the weight every day but initially you may want to check the progress to satisfy your curiosity. I keep my shop heated and dehumidified year round so my drying time may very from what you may experience.
Nearly every turning I have posted on this forum has been dried using this process. There have been some failures but they have been rare exceptions. So don’t use a priceless irreplaceable piece of wood to test this drying protocol.
I owe a big think you to the many people who helped me test the alcohol drying process during the past year and those who encouraged this project. They validated my findings, edited text and gave me the confidence to publish the results. In no particular order these people are David Propst, Bill Grumbine, Dominic Grecco, Jennifer Shirley, Mark Kauder, Larry Hancock, Scott Greaves, Sean Troy, Barb Siddiqui, Mike Schwing and Ellis Walentine.
Good luck.
Dave Smith
With a shop full of dry bowls in Longview, WA.