Pen blank moisture content

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terry q

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Jun 2, 2004
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301 E. Court St. Roanoke, Illinois, USA.
Hello All

I have some air dried lumber and want to make some pen blanks from the crotch figure. I know the mositure content isn't there yet and I can cook them in the microwave to get there. My question is what is a good mositure content to shoot for so my pens don't end up splitting?

Terry
 

jrc

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Jun 1, 2004
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Location
Bristol, Vermont, USA.
Hi Terry, If it's real green wood I try to get it cut up to size as soon as possible. I just cut them to blank size, or a little longer, 3/4 X 3/4 X 2 1/4 and put them in a sunny window in wire hanging baskets for 3 or 4 weeks. Most woods would be plenty dry enought. I've never had any trouble.

Jim
 

Scott

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Dec 12, 2003
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Blackfoot Idaho
Hi Terry!

I'm real glad to see you over here! There's a lot of us Wood Central (ex Badger Ponder) people around! ;-)

If your wood is air dried, it is close enough to moisture to be cut up to size without worrying about warping too much. I think I would cross stack the pen blanks so there is plenty of air movememt available. If you just let them sit in a nice dry place for a couple of weeks, this should finish them off nicely. But if you want to dry them quicker, I'd try the microwave method.

What do you have? Some nice walnut?

Scott Greaves
 
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