Originally posted by oldsmokey
<br />moisture leaves the wood through the end grain. drilling a hole will not help much. If you are drying pen blanks that are cut cross grain they will dry faster. I have dried bowls with the microwave. I have a scale. I weigh the bowl first, then put it in the microwave. I usually start with about 30 seconds, but that depends on the size of the bowl. I then wiegh the bowl again. I repeat this until the bowl weight becomes constant. As said before, be careful not to get the wood hot.
Good luck
Though there is truth in this, not entirely so I disagree.
While it is true that moisture evaporate more on the end grain...they also evaporate on the sides. On pen blanks that are much longer than their width (and as thin as they are), most moisture will actually evaporate through the sides....especially if you pre-drill a hole (basically cutting the thickness by less than half).
MC "excites" the water molecule and they expand out...leaving (close to) even/uniform moisture inside and out (the wood) that is why it is very effective in preventing cracking/checking. The excess will evaporate out...side or end.
If you stand a freshly Microwaved, pre-drilled blank on a non-permeable surface (plate for example)...you will see a moisture mark when you take the blank off....most of it will be on the center where the hole is. Want to guess where those water came from? Most of it actually escaped upwards but just to point it out. You can also feel it (steam) radiating out the hole if you want to try and cover them with your fingers. [
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