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Drying round blanks

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Nige7:
I have obtained some beech. 2 weeks ago it was standing upright in the woods now it is in rounds, 3 to 5 inches thick, in my workshop :)  I have coated the edges with paraffin wax but now wondering where is the best place to keep them and the best way to promote drying.  The piece of walnut I picked up at the club last month has made it out of the car and has been cut through and also had its ends waxed.  Again what is the best place to store it and promote drying?

Any advice please?

Nigel

Bryan Milham:
Somewhere cool and dry, is the basic answer.

More particularly is;

Don't let the sun get on them - it will cause force drying of the surface and cause surface cracking.
Don't stack them directly on top of each other.
Don't let them get damp.

Do keep them in the shade
Do put small bits of wood (called sticks) between each blank to allow the air to circulate
Do keep them somewhere dry.

If you have it a good place is in the pitch of a Garage Roof and better yet if there is a through flow of air.

Now I don't know your facilities or workshop size but I have seen small humidity driers made out of 1/2 chest freezers (old and not working) fitted with a 60W or 100W light bulb. Never tried it myself but am told it works.

Roger Groom:
Hi Nigel
My advice would be to rough turn them. They will never dry out properly in the round and they will dry out a lot quicker. Maybe 5 months instead of five years.
Roger G

Nige7:
Thanks Dr4g0nfly, I can find somewhere like that but I'll take Rogers advice and get them roughed out as well. See you tomorrow at the club Roger.

Nigel

Nige7:
I rough turned a couple of theses blanks today; what a  experience that was. First time I have turned wet wood on a power lathe and first thing I discovered is that wet wood is noticeably out of balance. It didn't matter how round or flat the sides were it was a wobbler :)  Not surprising as it had a large wet bit in amongst the drier stuff:)

Realised also that I had to remove the huge pile of wet shavings from the workshop or I would make the humidity problems worse and promote more of the corrosion I am fighting in the place.

I have weighed the blanks and sealed each in a black dustbin bag and put them in a cool room.  Planning on weighing them every couple of weeks until the weight loss slows right down.

Anything else I should be doing?

Nigel

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