Drying wood

[Dave_Junior]

Hey guys, new to the forum! I am relatively new to pen turning. I have turned about 30 slimlines and 2 cigar pens. A friend gave me two hickory logs that he cut down and wants me to make some slimline pens for him. I milled them to 1"x1"x36". If I leave them like that, how long should they take to dry before I can turn them. I heard that since you turn the wood down so thin, it is dry by the time you are finished turning. I also heard that you can place the blanks in the microwave to dry them. How long should I put them in to get them ready to turn? Thanks in advance,

Dave

 

[robutacion]

G'day Dave

You can use a microwave, there is the right way to do it, if you search this topic on IAP, you get more results than you can poke a stick at.

You can also use the oven, I do prefer it, less room for stuffing up, the oversize blanks you cut at 1" square is normally what I do when cutting green wood, the length can be cut to fit in the oven but, the shorter it is, the less chances it will bow.

I use my fan forced kitchen oven quite a lot, set at the minimum temp setting (mine is approx 60 degrees C) depending on the type of wood, it can take 2 to 4 consecutive days, you just put it there and forget for a couple of days.

Fan forced ovens do a much better and faster job at drying wood, for example, I just took some Olive root out of the oven, that I cut from the root a few days back, the wood was still green, it took 48 hours and it is dry as a bone.

I had 2 of my "drying towers" and many lose pen blanks, I have weight each of those 2 towers before I put them in the oven, when I toke them out and re-weigh them, it was obvious the weight loss the wood have, nearly 2/3 of the wet weight lost, see pic I took about an hour ago.

Hope this helps,

Cheers
George

 

[low_48]

You can start with the microwave right away. Weighing the wood is the most accurate method of measurement. When the wood stops loosing weight, it's dry. Don't overdo it at the end, or it burns from the inside out. Looks okay, then it starts to smoke. That doesn't make you too popular in the house! Lathe turning the wood to dry it sets you up for failure from cracking. The wood shrinks around the brass tube, and cracks. Especially on slim lines since the wood is so thin. Turning bowls is a whole different story. Other heating methods, I would wait a month or two. If you pump radiant or convection heat to green cut wood, the outside and ends dry first. You still have a wet core. That sets up stresses and that means cracks. Hickory is not the easiest wood to dry. With your location listed as USA, I can't give you a lot of help with local conditions. Wood dries a lot differently in Arizona compared to Oregon. If you aren't in a great hurry, I stack my wood in the house attic during the summer here in Central IL. In a month, it's bone dry. It's a gentle drying since the wood cools off each night, and then slowly builds heat each day. The cycling pulls out the moisture nicely. I've dried thousands of wood blanks, it works for me. Leaving them 36" long also slows the drying time. I cut mine 1x1x6.

 

[Dave_Junior]

You can start with the microwave right away. Weighing the wood is the most accurate method of measurement. When the wood stops loosing weight, it's dry. Don't overdo it at the end, or it burns from the inside out. Looks okay, then it starts to smoke. That doesn't make you too popular in the house! Lathe turning the wood to dry it sets you up for failure from cracking. The wood shrinks around the brass tube, and cracks. Especially on slim lines since the wood is so thin. Turning bowls is a whole different story. Other heating methods, I would wait a month or two. If you pump radiant or convection heat to green cut wood, the outside and ends dry first. You still have a wet core. That sets up stresses and that means cracks. Hickory is not the easiest wood to dry. With your location listed as USA, I can't give you a lot of help with local conditions. Wood dries a lot differently in Arizona compared to Oregon. If you aren't in a great hurry, I stack my wood in the house attic during the summer here in Central IL. In a month, it's bone dry. It's a gentle drying since the wood cools off each night, and then slowly builds heat each day. The cycling pulls out the moisture nicely. I've dried thousands of wood blanks, it works for me. Leaving them 36" long also slows the drying time. I cut mine 1x1x6.

Thanks for the response, I am in NY. I am in a hurry to turn 5 pens but the rest I can wait to let it dry naturally. How long should I leave it in the microwave for each "session"?

 

[low_48]

Depends on the power of your microwave and how many blanks you put in it. I'd start with a defrost cycle, maybe 30 seconds. You want just a little sizzle at the start. Let them cool off, then repeat. Not enough sizzle, extend the cycle time or increase power. After a few cycles, start weighing them on a good scale. I'm conservative with wood drying, so I wait a couple of days before I drill them.