olive wood

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egerm

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Dec 3, 2007
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Chico, Ca, USA.
how long does it take to dry
I have fresh cut olive wood 1x6 the tree was blown over in a storm the first week in Jan. blanks were cut two weeks later. my question is how long do they take to air dry
 
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edstreet

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Aug 12, 2007
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No longer confused....
olive wood will crack during the dry so don't forget to seal the ends with stuff like ancorseal. As for duration goes in a kiln it takes something like 3-4 weeks. Air dry I think the proper answer would be it can take up to forever, depending on your location. humidity, heat, size of the block and other stuff plays a big role in that. You could cut them up into 4x6x2 blocks and let them air dry, would take less time. Some of the bowl turners will put the block into a paper bag and run a fan over it untill it's dry, it is suppose to dry faster that way.

Ed
 

egerm

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Dec 3, 2007
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Location
Chico, Ca, USA.
Thanks for the info Ed the blanks are 1inch by 6inch pen blanks i was told by an old woodturner to put them into the frezer for a week then put them in a brown bag and forget about them. So far I have done all of the above except i can't seem to forget about them [:p]
 

Dario

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Apr 14, 2005
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Austin, TX, USA.
If you want to work on them now, try this.

Drill the hole, microwave for 10 seconds, let cool for 10 minutes. Repeat until dry.

10 seconds can be decreased if the blank heats up too much.

My test for dryness is by standing it on a plate and checking where the hole was afterwards. If there is "mist" there then it is still wet.
 

JohnU

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Jan 31, 2008
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Ottawa, Illinois
In the past I had some olive wood sitting near an open oven door on low heat to dry my lacquer and the wood cracked on me. Not a small crack but a very wide open crack, and this wood was dry and ready for turning. I was told it was because of the excess oil the wood has. Not sure if the microwave will cause the same problem or not. Just thought you might want to know.
 
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