What would you do?

[Warren White]

A friend of mine recently went to Israel. I asked him to pick up some Olive Wood if he could, so I could turn some pens. He brought back three pieces, (enough for about 9 blanks). One of the pieces I noted was a tad on the green side when I cut it to size on the table saw. I thought no more about it....

....until I started to drill it. WATER came out of the hole! Not a lot, but still...

Here's what I did. I finished drilling the blanks, cut them to length, glued the tubes in, and sanded them to the final size. Once to size, I put a very thin layer of thin CA on the ends, and then put them in a paper bag with sawdust. I will leave them there for ??? long.

What would you have done differently? I would really like to save these blanks, as they are quite nice.

 

[mark james]

I'd cut to size (oversize), paint the ends and let dry.
Drill the tube holes after they dried.

I wouldn't have drilled/glued the tubes in.

Hopefully you will be successful!

 

[SteveG]

What Mark said, except I might dill an undersized hole (optional). That would allow more moisture loss a little quicker, yet relieve stress as the blank dries. Nice to have blanks hand delivered from half way around the world! :wink:

 

[Dehn0045]

Yeah, what Mark said. But realistically I would've put the blanks in a box and get to them in about 5 years, so my biggest concern would be losing track of them...

 

[its_virgil]

If you just wanted olive wood from Israel then it is available from several sources.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[jttheclockman]

I too would have drilled an unsized hole and then weighed them. I would have set them aside near a warm area but not direct heat Watched and weighed them for a week. If stopped losing weight put them in a toaster oven on a low setting and then proceeded to make the blanks.

 

[1080Wayne]

You might ?? get away with having glued the tubes in , but I don`t think taking them down to finished size was a great idea . Put them out of sight for a month at room temperature , then decide what you might be able to do with any cracks that have occurred .

 

[keithbyrd]

I have turned green wood to size before with no trouble. The wood we turn to make pens is so thin that it can't hardly hold any moisture! But to play it safe drill an undersized hole, turn down to 1/4" thick, leave blanks too long, seal the end and put in a brown paper bag with sawdust for a couple weeks - my bet is they would be fine.

 

[penicillin]

If you just wanted olive wood from Israel then it is available from several sources.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

Sure, but the OP wants to use the wood that was brought back by his friend. It has sentimental value.

 

[Warren White]

Thank you all!

Most of your suggestions will have to be set aside for the next time this happens, since I already have done what I shouldn't have. To be fair, I hope this never happens again!!!

I have just found two more that are wet, but of course after I had drilled them. The wetness isn't apparent until then. The only option I have at this point is to NOT cut them to final length, seal then ends, and put them in sawdust and wait and see.

I really appreciate all of your comments. Never experienced this before, so I went to the talent pool. You didn't let me down.

I will let you know what happens. Bummer, as these were very nice hunks of wood, and especially so since my friend went to all the trouble to get them for me.

 

[Swagopenturner]

Try drying them out slowly in the microwave oven. Sand off the finish first, wrap them in a paper towel and nuke them for a few minutes at a time. Weigh them after taking them out of the oven each time until they stop losing weight.

 

[RVA_Tyndall]

I too have used the microwave with success. You would be surprised how much steam comes out of the wood based on all of the retained water.


https://m.facebook.com/?_rdr#!/rvatyndall/

 

[pshrynk]

Try drying them out slowly in the microwave oven. Sand off the finish first, wrap them in a paper towel and nuke them for a few minutes at a time. Weigh them after taking them out of the oven each time until they stop losing weight.

Obviously don't try this with the brass tubes in...:biggrin:

 

[Warren White]

OK, it has been 77 days since my fiasco, and I thought I would report on what happened. (For details, you may want to look at my first post in this thread.)

I have kept all 12 pieces (equal-sized blanks for 6 Slimline pens) in a paper bag with wood shavings, in the garage. Three of the pens had the tubes glued in, and the ends of the blanks were sealed with thin CA; three had the holes drilled, and I left the tubes in the blanks but not glued, and no CA on the ends.

The results? The blanks with the tubes glued in seem just fine...the blanks shrank end to end just very slightly (fixable with sanding). The tubes which were inserted, but not glued got very tarnished, to the point where I am not comfortable in gluing them in. I sanded them as I always do before insertion, but the tarnish came back. I have plenty of spare Slimline tubes, so allis good.

Bottom line? I think I was able to save all of the blanks. YAY!!!

 

[penicillin]

A couple months ago, we got a windfall from our backyard pepper tree. A small branch blew down.

I cut four oversize pen blanks from it, melted candle wax on the ends, and put them on top of a garage cabinet on tiny strips of wood so that air could flow underneath. Every once in a while I rotate them, although I doubt the rotation makes a difference. I wish I had weighed them when I cut them.

Why candle wax? It was convenient, free, and available in the small quantity I needed. One candle covered eight ends of the four blanks. Besides, candles look and feel like the wax I sometimes find on purchased lumber.

Why protect the ends? Because end grain dries out faster and cracks. The wax slows down the moisture loss at the end grain so that it more closely matches the rate of drying with the rest of the wood.

 

[wolf creek knives]

Glad to hear it all worked out for you. I like the idea of putting the blanks in a paper bag with shavings. I use silica gel that I get from Joann's and it seems to work well. But it does take time.

 

[Woodchipper]

A friend of mine recently went to Israel. I asked him to pick up some Olive Wood if he could, so I could turn some pens. He brought back three pieces, (enough for about 9 blanks). One of the pieces I noted was a tad on the green side when I cut it to size on the table saw. I thought no more about it....

....until I started to drill it. WATER came out of the hole! Not a lot, but still...

Here's what I did. I finished drilling the blanks, cut them to length, glued the tubes in, and sanded them to the final size. Once to size, I put a very thin layer of thin CA on the ends, and then put them in a paper bag with sawdust. I will leave them there for ??? long.

What would you have done differently? I would really like to save these blanks, as they are quite nice.

Did you try to turn the water into wine?