Pen Blank advice

[happydadto5]

Hello fellow turners,

I recently got my hands on some walnut, red oak and cherry pieces that were taken from some trees from a historical home. I'm making some pens for some people with a connection to the home. The wood feels pretty damp. (I don't own a moisture meter). The pieces are about 2X2X10. I'm hoping to make the pens in the next couple of weeks. Any advice on using/drying the pieces? I've general bought nicely dried pen blanks so I don't know much (read any) about drying wood, I thought I'd solicit some advice.

Thanks in advance

 

[jttheclockman]

The very first thing you need to do is weigh them individually. Keep tract of each weight. You do not want to force dry them fast. You can use a counter top oven and set it on a low setting and time it for about 30 minutes. The ones with the convection blowers in it works real well. Or you can use a microwave oven but again nothing in the cook cycle. Maybe a defrost cycle for about 30 seconds (not minutes) let this cool and try again. Then measure weight.

Keep cycling this until the weight of the blanks does not change any more.

That is the best I can suggest. Oh by the way may not be a good idea to use the ovens in the kitchen. Just a warning.

 

[Jolly Red]

One way to dry wood quickly is with an alcohol soak. I would cut the blanks to 1x1x5, which would give you 8 blanks out of one piece of the wood. This would let the alcohol soak in better to the middle of the blank. If you make a through hole, smaller than the blank diameter, this will also allow the alcohol to get into the center of the wood, and it can also dry out more quickly. Soak these in denatured alcohol overnight, just place them in zip lock bags or a covered container with the alcohol completely covering them. Seal the bags to keep the evaporation of the alcohol to a minimum. After soaking, the alcohol can be reused for drying more wood.

Once out of the alcohol, wrap the blanks in brown paper, and weigh them. Let them sit in a cool, dark corner till their weight stabilizes, weighing them after a week, and then every day thereafter. This should take a couple of weeks for blanks this small.

Once dry, re-drill the center to the required diameter for the pen, glue in your tubes and go to work.

Hope this helps.