Re: drying blanks

[Egon]

Just to clarify the blanks are wet, very wet! I DO NOT plan on drilling them out or turning to final dimension. I'm just curious to know if rough turning them round (and of course sealing the end grain) might help in preventing cracks and splitting during the 2-3 year drying process.

Rough turning them will take me 1-2 hours which I don't won't to do if there is no benefit to it.

Egon can you elaborate more on what you are proposing?

Looking forward to comments and thanks to Leo and Egon for chiming in so far!

Surely: Turn to final dimension and apply the dye, oil and alcohol. While still wet sand it down and repeat the finish application. Go through this procedure a few times till the wood becomes saturated. Then use a leather strop and honing compound. During this stage the work piece should become hot enough so you can’t touch it comfortably. Apply more finish keeping it wet and keep polishing with the strop.

No proof but I think the wood pores get filled with finish and the water is evaporated by heat. It would seem that it is a method that has not been tried by some. On flat stock I also apply the finish when rough, keep it wet, sand a few times and finish off with ROS with a Chamy cloth in plof sandpaper and also keep it wet til I’m satisfied.

Through all these processes alcohol really helps. My finishes consist of clothing dye or food dye, tung oil and alcohol. To get to the colour I want several different dyes may be applied at different times. I’m just in the process finding out how all this works.

[billh]

Thank you for the "why". I suspected cellular changes, but that was the limit of my knowledge. Maybe you knew Bill Neddow? It was Bill who told me of this boiling method. He was a true gentleman.

You are so correct in stating Bill Neddow was a true gentleman, one of the kindest, most helpful people I've ever met and we are the poorer for his passing. Bill turned hundreds of large bowls and certainly was an advocate of boiling.
billh

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I did know about Bill Neddow, but never met him, he did turn some very nice bowls, as I have see pictures of them.

Boiling isn't necessary for most wood, it also leaches out some of the color and with Walnut for instance the sapwood will get darker, this is done commercially to make all of the Walnut wood the same color, but it does lose the other nuances of colors Walnut has, Air dried keeps the color true but then you do also have the light wood.

[QC Inspector]

You could look into making a small Vacuum Kiln. They are supposed to be quick and with little degradation. Here is a link to a little book on them.
https://www.amazon.ca/Vacuum-Kiln-Dr...30306KNVJZ5NX2
Pete

I'll add that I have it and all the basics are there and with a little ingenuity wouldn't be too difficult to make. It isn't a go to theses places and buy this stuff and you are done type of project.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

You could look into making a small Vacuum Kiln. They are supposed to be quick and with little degradation. Here is a link to a little book on them.
https://www.amazon.ca/Vacuum-Kiln-Dr...30306KNVJZ5NX2
Pete

I'll add that I have it and all the basics are there and with a little ingenuity wouldn't be too difficult to make. It isn't a go to theses places and buy this stuff and you are done type of project.

I know about the vacuum drying and frieze drying, microwave drying as well, it is being done commercially, very difficult and expensive for that reason, I knew a person hat bought a very large and special wood log that was totally figured wood in Africa, had it shipped to Germany, sawed and vacuum and microwave dried, something that gets done at few places, but it was worth it for him, he only sold it in small pieces and they where not cheap either.

[Roundhead]

As they are designated to be pepper mills rough turn them round and then bore a 1" hole right through the middle. Seal the outside with some BLO or wipe on poly. Do NOT seal the inside of the hole

[Mike Brazeau]

Scott, I have processed endless numbers of spindle blanks as you describe that would be suitable for pepper mills. I have also turned blanks to reduce volume and they have dried successfully with the exception of apple which is notorious for splitting. Cracks were not huge and would be amenable to filling with epoxy mixes or decorative resins. . I seal the ends with melted wax in an old electric frypan at about 225F sufficient to make a good sizzle when immersed in about a half inch of melted wax. I put them on shelves in my furnace room and rarely had any problems with splitting. In a house 3x3 will dry down easily in one year. In the kiln probably in the order of 2-3 months finishing off the last month at higher temperatures than normally used for bowl rough outs. I have some blanks in the garage that I processed last year that I could probably supply some weight loss data on. I don’t track that carefully any more because I am confident in the process. You must avoid the pith and stay about an inch away from the centre. I have also successfully dried in my drying kiln. If you PM me your email address I can send you a presentation I put together on wood processing a few years ago.

[Mike Brazeau]

Here are a bunch of spindle blanks. The largest on second shelf were honey locust and about 5”x5”. I have about 4X this amount on standby. I call it my Nursing Home wood. The turned blanks were spalted beech which is among the woods that love to crack.

[Scott_ [OP]]

Hi Folks, thanks for all the comments. So far I've rough turned the blanks round and last night I boiled half the blanks then let cool and tonight I've sealed all the ends with LV log wax sealer. I'll put the blanks in a box with some wood chips and change out the chips every week or so for a couple of weeks and then just leave them be. They'll get stored in my garage which typically sits around 12-14C to dry. Then we'll wait a year and see if there's a difference between the boiled and not boiled. The cherry I got has some really great figure and grain. Need to do some chain saw maintenance (chain oiler is clogged) so I can go back and get more before the city hauls away the wood.