Drying round blanks

[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

[Bryan Milham]

Yes - if you leave them in sealed plastic bags for a couple of weeks - you'll find them full of rot when you open them.

They need taking out and the bag turning daily at the start to let the moisture evaporate/dry from the (now) outside of the bag.

You can slow down a little on the bag turning after a couple of weeks to a month when the moisture content is not so apparent.

If you can't manage to turn them daily fill the bag with the shavings as well but keep the turning blank away from the plastic. Then when you can get to them tip out and re pack. The additional shaving will slow the process down but give you the time you need to get back to them.

When they seem to equalise in weight, then you can leave the top of the bag slight open to let a little more air in for a few days, then open a little more and finally fully open.

Again give them a week (at least) like that before taking and leaving them outside the bag.

Lastly, don't be too disappointed if you still loose one or two - it happens.

[Nige7]

Thanks Dr4g0nfly, ill check them daily

Nigel

[Tim Pettigrew]

Hello Nigel

These are the results of drying a Catillac Pear rough turned bowl blank (turned green) 164 mm (about 6½") diameter.  The tree had been felled about 5 months beforehand.  The weight loss of around 35%-40% is about average for Pear and other fruitwoods although this obviously depends to some extent on the time of year the tree was felled.

Image one shows the readings and the second shows a graph of date against weight/weight loss.

Hope this is of some interest.

Tim

[woodturningpat]

Are paper bags not better than plastic  to keep the blanks in? I have had reasonable results  rough turning, putting the blank in paper bag   (old cat litter  or carrier bag) with shavings  putting it in shed and then just forgetting about it!. On the question of drying Beech  the saw mill guy who comes to our club says that Beech is notorious for  splitting when drying.

[woodndesign]

Hi WTP,  welcome to the forum,  you say about old cat litter bag, I wonder as to if there made of a damp proof paper in order to keep the litter dry, it's whole idea (the litter) is to absorb water, which it would do through ordinary paper bags and you'd get a damp mess.

The mill guy should know or is it down to a size, something in a large form, maybe in a thick board, will be interest to see more about that.

Cheers  David

[woodturningpat]

Thanks for the welcome, hoping to get  a lot of hints and tips from this forum.

The cat litter bags may not allow as much moisture escape as carriers etc but  have done the trick. I stay clear of plastic bags as there is no where for the moisture to go other than stay in the bag so the contents need a lot more management.

I got hold of a large Beech log which the Mill man  put through the saw mill  producing 60mm and 80mm boards. He warned me before doing it that I may lose a lot to cracking even when properly stacked and stickered. In fact  one week at the club I heard the resident professional turner  querying the fact that a Beech board he had bought showed splits. Also I have processed one of the boards and have indeed found a number of cracks so I am unlikely to get the number of largish platters that i was hoping for.

Incidentally the Mill Man, Steve at Elston Sawmill  specialises in supplying timber to Violin makers, carvers and Woodturners and has given us talks on  his dealings with timber.  I trust what he says about wood.

[woodndesign]

Hi WTP, what else are we to call you, something of interest.

Credit to Peter Child, link found on our vevy own website..  so seasoning green wood ...  News paper and warm room ..  http://www.peterchild.co.uk/info1/green.htm ... and a few other things.

Cheers  David

[woodturningpat]

Thanks David.

Sorry no interesting pseudonyms , according to my wife I have difficulty responding to my proper name! Having said that she calls me Avalanche as when I go in the workshop  she can hear things tumbling all around me (I'm a little pushed for space).

For the record my name is Pat Murphy, live in Nottingham and have been turning since late 2004 (well thats when I got my lathe). I worked in the IT industry until February last year when I took retirement.  At that time I set up my Woodturning hobby as a business  which has added to the enjoyment. I am a member of the Erewash Valley Woodturners' Association  which is the club set up by the late Keith Rowley.

Although I have been a member of the AWGB for  a couple of years I have only just come to this forum from which I hope to gain a lot of hints,tips and information.

Regards
Pat

[John]

Hi,
I use a news paper to lighty wrap my part turned blanks in, then put them in a plastic bag. I change the paper on a daily (ish) basis. The paper aborbs the moisture.
I also turn the bag inside out on each occasion. I have been quite successful using this method.
John

[woodndesign]

something of interest.

Hi Pat,    ...    ...   I'd not writen the above correctly ...  should have been ...  Here is..   Had not implied other wise.

Enjoy retirement and will watch for the results of your turning.

Cheers    David