drying cedar

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seawolf

seawolf

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Oct 2, 2007
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436
Location
Tulsa, Ok., USA.
I have some great looking cedar but it was just cut a month ago. Can it be dried with denatured alcohol soak method? Thanks in advance for the help.
Mark
 
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Mark -- there are several different woods called cedar - some are and some are not really cedar. The alcohol works on western red cedar and yellow cedar (really more related to the cypress) - Eastern Red Cedar (a member of the Juniper family) is not one I am experience with for drying this way.
 
Will denatured alcohol dry Hickory or Maple?? I soaked them in Crystal Lite Raspberry and I am excited about getting started on them but I need to know they are dry in the middle.
Maybe if I drilled them out it would speed the drying.
 
Pre-drilling IMHO will speed up the drying process since the material removed increases air flow and reduces wet material a bit. Hey, anything helps ya know.

You should have good r4sults with an alcohol soaking of several days. I use Steven Russell's boiling method and have had excellent results with my green wood drying. I have experienced a HUGH reduction in checking of my bowl blanks. The process even speeds up the drying time.

Steven has an excellent article spelling out his process and you can read it here: http://www.woodturningvideosplus.com/woodturning-education-articles.html

Look down the left side for the Boiling Wood link.

Gary - another IAP fellow - uses the process and he also often offers up his testimony on his success with boiling green blanks for his shop.

Have fun! :biggrin:
 
Thank you Fred. I think, after reading about the paper bag, that I will pre drill, soak in alcohol (drink the remains) and put into brown paper bag to dry.
 
Hey John, You can always just send the blanks to me. I will let them set aroudn for two or three days and they will be dry as your favorite martini. No kidding the water around here gets thirsty. I had to fill the dogs water bowl twice today and the dog ran away last week. Ahhhh maybe I am getting a bit tired, better go now.
 
Jgrden said:
Will denatured alcohol dry Hickory or Maple?? I soaked them in Crystal Lite Raspberry and I am excited about getting started on them but I need to know they are dry in the middle.
Maybe if I drilled them out it would speed the drying.
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I always prefer to use the lemonade Crystal Lite when presoaking the Juniper family. The ambrosia of the cedar works better with the lemonade than the raspberry giving it an overall complex taste found in most oak barrell fermentation processes. It stains the wood less as well. The plus side is, that by presoaking in the Crystal Lite, the drying time is doubled, so a good thick log will be ready in say 5 or six years. Another plus is, you can turn with your mouth open, because the chips are SUPER YUMMY TASTING! Plus those who stick pens and such in their mouth, will appreciate the extra effort by you to make the pen munching experience a refreshing one.


On a serious note, I have not soaked a Juniper family member in alcohol yet, but I am fairly certain that it will work just fine (I have an entire 2500HD truck full of the stuff as we speak that I will be milling very soon into bowl blanks and soaking after rough turning into bowl blanks, so I will let you know for sure). And you will end up with some really cool smelling alcohol...but watch out, it looks like a few around here will end up sticking olives in it.....

For those contemplating soaking anything in Crystal Lite, please dont.....we are having a bunch of fun....now alcohol on the other hand is serious.....
 
I got a small cedar tree from my daughter's school last fall; I cut some in to blanks. I microwaved 4 of them to dry them so she could give them to her Principal and a teacher. 1 also turned a couple of small bowls, also and still have plenty left in the shed still drying. So if you want to keep the alcohol for more important thing:biggrin:, try the microwave.
 
I am sooo glad that I findly found this comedy site. Its always good to start the day with a laugh, and right now I laught so hard , my side is hurting. Have a somber Vetrans day and if you get a chance listen to " A pitance in time "
 
Crayman said:
I got a small cedar tree from my daughter's school last fall; I cut some in to blanks. I microwaved 4 of them to dry them so she could give them to her Principal and a teacher. 1 also turned a couple of small bowls, also and still have plenty left in the shed still drying. So if you want to keep the alcohol for more important thing:biggrin:, try the microwave.
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DAMHIKT, but if you leave the wood in the MW on too high for too long, it stinks to high heaven.... when I was working I forbade the girls in the office to make microwave popcorn because it stunk so bad... it smells very pleasant when compared to wood that has been burnt from the inside out. :wink::wink::biggrin:
 
TellicoTurning said:
DAMHIKT, but if you leave the wood in the MW on too high for too long, it stinks to high heaven.... when I was working I forbade the girls in the office to make microwave popcorn because it stunk so bad... it smells very pleasant when compared to wood that has been burnt from the inside out. :wink::wink::biggrin:
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But when you have done this once you no longer need to carry the wood from the shop to the kitchen. The wife insists you get your own microwave for the shop. :biggrin:
 
Rick_G said:
But when you have done this once you no longer need to carry the wood from the shop to the kitchen. The wife insists you get your own microwave for the shop. :biggrin:
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Oh she insisted from the get go... I was NOT to use the kitchen microwave... I could just buy my own. :biggrin: So I went to the local goodwill store and made a deal for an old MonkeyWards MW and a small toaster oven.... they were both marked for $20 each... I offered $20 for both and they took it.... my microwave is bigger than the one in the house.:cool:
 
I did it once, in the house and got my own microwave the next day; and I did it once on high :redface:. That worked better than the old toaster oven I was using for powder coating, with the broken thermostat, put them in on low, can any one say charcoal, now I have a new toaster oven
 
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