Need help with a disaster!

[Psychmike22]

Hello,
I am a new wood turner in NYC. I live in a town house and set up shop in my garage under a neighbors apartment. She was having work done to her floors and the contractors turned off her radiators. Then it hit well into the freezing temperature and the pipes busted. Raining water into the garage and everything I own for turning. I was able to save the tools by quickly drying and oiling them. I have not started the lathe yet. That is tomorrow's project.

I had about 500 pen blanks of various specie of wood. It was all i asked for for christmas and everyone thought it was funny to buy me wood . Iwas looking forward to trying them all out . All of them are soaked. Completly submerged. How do I dry them out? Or, are they a lost cause.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[OZturner]

What a Bummer Michael,
Without seeing them, I would say that the wood will probably be fine, depending on what it is.
Wood in its natural state contains a lot of water. So it will not be a problem in the short term.
Now to dry it out.
I don't know what you have, but I would try a few blanks in the microwave.
I would put a plate with some kitchen paper on it and place a few blanks on the paper.
Set the microwave to low or defrost for short bursts.
Start with say 2 minutes, Watch the end grain and see if you can see any liquid coming or steaming out of the ends.
If so clean off the blanks, and the plate, then repeat the process.

Only go slow on a low setting, you don't want the microwave to heat up so much liquid to steam, that cannot get out of the end grain of the Blank, and explode on you.
Also a word of caution, be careful handling the blanks out of the Microwave they will be very HOT and you could get BURNT.
Give it a try.
But remember BE CAREFUL, YOU CAN and PROBABLY will get BURNT.

Some locals may have a faster and better suggestion to help you out.

Let us know how you are getting on.

Brian.

 

[djncas]

get one of those wire shelves used for organizing closets. and some Popsicle sticks. (AC Moores) Put the shelf in a draft free area, stack the blanks on the shelf with the Popsicle sticks to keep them separated. Let them dry naturally.

 

[TimS124]

I just went through something similar last month - pipe burst in my garage while we were away. Insurance company took care of the majority of the damaged items (minus our deductible).

For the blanks, I'd go with stacking and sticking the blanks (as djncas explained). If they weren't submerged for a while, the water likely didn't penetrate excessively deep. Weigh them with a kitchen scale and check them again in a couple weeks…as they dry, they'll get lighter…when the weight stops changing, they're dry and ready to use.

Hopefully, you can weigh them in grams since the blanks are likely very light to start with and seeing a weight change in ounces likely won't work very well.

 

[kovalcik]

I agree with the previous posts. Let them dry naturally on wire shelves seperated with the popsicle sticks. The only addition I would make is to put a fan on low blowing on them to keep the air moving. The biggest issue you will face is mold and the moving air will help prevent that.

If the wood was already dry the moisture will come out much faster than when drying green wood and you should not have to worry about checking.

 

[PSNCO]

I'm not an insurance expert, but wouldn't HER insurance cover a claim from you since it was HER fault for the pipes bursting into YOUR garage space?

 

[SteveG]

It is probably the contractor's insurance, but they will sort that out, and you might loose. But the slow, air dry methods are probably your best way to go. Some woods are more prone to splits in the micro, and what works for one may not work for another without getting a few splits.

 

[ashaw]

As far as the Lathe goes. Get some WD40 Spray all of the metal parts. I would also spray the pulleys if they were wet as well. I would also talk to the contractor to pay for any damages. Otherwise put a claim against his insurance company. Again this was his fault not yours or the neighbor. Sorry to hear about the damage.

 

[commercialbuilder]

You can take a 5 gal. bucket with a good lid, get some denatured alcohol, place the wet blanks in the bucket cover with the DNA, put the lid on and they should be good as new in 4-5 days.

 

[Curly]

If they were my blanks I would stack them in little piles of 4 or 5 per layer with a blank width or a little less apart. Each layer 90 degrees from the one below criss-cross fashion. You can put some weight (brick) on top to help keep them from warping or twisting. If there isn't a lot of air moving around the shop then the small fan suggested earlier is a great idea.

If you want to dry some quicker put a few on the racks of your kitchen oven and heat it to the lowest warm setting. Once warm turn off the oven and turn on the oven light and it should be enough to keep a nice temperature that will dry them over a few days.

Also if there isn't a way for the moisture to escape the room easily the increased humidity will make for rusty tools.

 

[CHARLES STOPCZYNSKI]

Dehydrator

Michael,

In the past I have been somewhat successful with a food dehydrator. A LOW HEAT DEHYDRATOR!

Do not recall the brand. It's round, beige color, purchased from a supplier that advertised in Organic Gardening Magazine, perhaps 25-30 years ago. May still be made. Aprox., 12-14" diameter. Trays stack on top of each other. There is NO heat source other than the small motor that drives a fan for positive air flow.

I was very successful with some of the wood. What was only partly successful was my fault, how the wood blanks were milled by myself. In both cases I was able to make excellent pens from this wood. Except for a few of the severely warped pieces. This tree was cut only a day or two before I was given a couple of pieces.

Wishing you success,

Charlie

Charlie

 

[BigE]

As others have said, a food dehydrator or similar would work. Even an oven at 150 degrees (warming mode) would work.

I would still put in a claim to the insurance on the full value of the wood, though, and then buy back the "damaged" wood. That would compensate you for your time to restore it.

You will get discoloration, etc., on the wood blanks, and you'll probably lose some due to cracking and warping. This goes back to placing a claim with the insurance company.