Drying Blanks

[pennardesign]

I am in the process of cutting loads of bowl blanks and sealing them with wax (done 12 Silver Birch today), have anyone here made a small kiln to dry their blanks, I will be milling a Yew over the next few week and would love to dry it a little quicker. I have also got a load of Holly, Oak and Sycamore on the go!

[Andy Coates]

google it. There's loads of info online.

Basic set up...old fridge, air holes drilled, light bulb and a few computer fans. (NB: do not cut into refrigerant system and release CFCs)

[ColWA]

Another tip :-   Wire a "Dimmer switch" to the light so you can adjust temp.

HTH
Col

[Roger Groom]

When you say blanks, I assume that you mean the first stage, of cutting round blanks from a board prior to turning. In my opinion you will not be able to dry out say a 4" thick bowl blank in a small kiln. The centre of the blank will always be at a far higher moisture content than the outside, and in fact, you risk damaging the blank. Best to rough turn your blanks first to the recommended 10% of diameter thick and then put them in a kiln. The likes of Glenn Lucas do this on a huge scale. My opinion only, but based on my own experiences.
Roger G

[Tim Pettigrew]

I am in the process of cutting loads of bowl blanks and sealing them with wax (done 12 Silver Birch today), have anyone here made a small kiln to dry their blanks, I will be milling a Yew over the next few week and would love to dry it a little quicker. I have also got a load of Holly, Oak and Sycamore on the go!

This Link from another forum might be of help?  Unfortunately the original photos have been removed but  I intend to build one of these as soon as my new workshop is habitable!

Tim

[ru55ell1]

Am looking into making a small kiln and agree with the idea of a fridge with lamp and fans, plus the idea of rough turning first.

[TONY MALIN]

By coincidence I've just bought Glenn Lucas's DVD on Bowl Turning. After rough turning the bowls he slaps diluted* PVA on the end grain with a brush before stacking them in his kiln. *Diluted with 20% water "to make it easier and quicker to apply. A really good DVD showing the whole process from log to finished article.

Tony Malin

[davidbrac]

There is an article on the Woodturning magazine website that uses a dehumidify
http://www.woodworkersinstitute.com/page.asp?p=1676

Another idea is a Sauno Wood Kiln
http://www.logosol.co.uk/all-products/sauno-kiln/
 

[homeofwood]

Hi.

Thought id comment as we have been doing this for a number of years.

All our wood is air dried... we dont kiln dry any of our wood. Infact alot of turners prefer air dried blanks.. As a rule of thumb you should at least dry the boards for 1 year for every inch of wood.. We dont recommend cutting any blanks thicker than 4inchs ,, We leave all our planks in stick for a number of years before we cut them into rounds or squares.

We also find it is best to wax the ends of the planks when they are in stick this does stop the ends cracking.... Once our planks have been in stick for the right number of years we then cut them into rounds or squares. These are then waxed and stacked up in a warm environment .... We have never had any problems with the way we do this....

Kiln drying is good if you do not have the time to air dry the wood..... we are cutting wood all the time so we have a vast stock to rotate and leave to dry.....

Hope thats useful... you may already know all that.

all the best

Paul

[BrianH]

I also have never found the need for a kiln. Rough turn, store in an airy shed (within a paper bag if you want to slow the drying rate even more), finish turn as and when.
A year for every inch of thickness is the rule but the vast majority of drying problems seem to be done away with in the first half of that time so you could consider finish turning any time after about 6 months or so and accept the risk of a tiny bit of movement in the finished piece.
Seal few of the wet blanks in plastic bags with a bit of bark for company if you want to try spalting.
Brian