Identifying and Using Dtying of Woods Worldwide. How do I start drying green wood bowls? Any info or advice on using dehumidification equipment to dry out chainsaw milled lumber. Once you cut the stickers, begin stacking the boards as shown below. My pleasure. Yes No. By drying green wood for turning 75 up you are agreeing to receive emails according to our privacy policy.

Simply collect some wet shaving from the shop floor, preferably the ones from the same bowl, and line a paper grocery bag. Place the bowl or roughed blank inside, cover the bowl with more wet shavings and fold over the bag top and loosely tape the bag shut. Put this is a cool dark area that has little air movement. A cabinet or cupboard works well. This is an important note. In moist locations with humidity, plastic bags will hold in moisture and most likely cause mold, bacteria and rot to form, not things we want for our beautiful bowls.

The exception to the plastic bag rule is severely dry, arid locations, such as the desert. In these locations, plastic bags are used to try to retain moisture in the green wood bowl longer and slow the evaporation process. For the rest of us, that live in areas where there is a fair amount of relative humidity in the air on a regular basis, paper bags breathe and help regulate the passage of moisture very effectively. The moist, fresh shavings will slow drying but because they are surrounding the bowl, they aid in regulating or buffering the amount and speed at which the moisture leaves the green wood bowl.

After a week or so, it is a good idea to move the green wood bowl turning to a new fresh paper bag. The fresh paper will prevent excess moisture build-up and reduce bacteria or mold formation. Approximately every week or so, days if the piece is thin check the piece and see if it is drying evenly without cracks.

Remove the shavings if they are dried up. Return the turned bowl to a new fresh grocery bag without shavings, close the top, and return it to a quiet area free from too much air movement. Check the moisture content of the wood as we will discuss below and once it equalizes the process is complete.

If you have access to a dryer or kiln, this can be a great way to dry twice-turned thicker green wood bowls quickly. However, again, I suggest experimenting with this process too. Every species will act differently. One bowl might dry beautifully in a dryer, while another may disintegrate. A homemade kiln can be made out of an old refrigerator, an insulated cabinet, or a box made from foam house insulation. Just cut a vent hole in the old refrigerator base and one in the top and place a light fixture with an incandescent light bulb inside.

The heat from the light will slowly dry the wood bowl blanks. A systematic approach for advancing lightbulb sizes can be used to increase the temperature slowly and gradually over the course of several weeks by using progressively larger bulbs. Start with a 40w bulb, then a 60w and finally a w bulb. Check the moisture content of the wood with a moisture meter or weigh the pieces to determine when they have equalized. Be careful, however. Keep in mind that quick, sudden, unstable changes in the wood structure are what will result in the most problems.

So easy does it and the more even everything is along the way, the better. This method is best suited for drying rough-turned bowls that will later be twice turned to their final shape and form. A kiln or drier can take the drying time for thicker twice-turned bowls from months or even years to only a few weeks. Microwave drying a wood bowl blank can be done with short times in the microwave at full power, around 30 seconds, followed by cooling time, around 30 minutes.

Repeat the process weighing the wood bowl after each session until the weight of the bowl stabilizes. If your bowl or roughed blank will fit into the microwave and if your spouse approves or is unaware you may want to try this technique.

A garage sale microwave, just for drying green wood in your shop might be a better way to avoid domestic disputes. Just saying. Microwave the turned bowl on high for a very short period, seconds. After each session, remove the piece and set it out to cool for at least a half hour. I place the blank on the counter in the kitchen and prop it up on a side so that most of the bowl has good air exposure.

After at least a half hour of cooling, I pop it back in the microwave for another second dose. Repeat this process eight to ten times until the moisture content equalizes and the bowl is dry. During the drying process, this mixture evaporates from the wood very quickly. This process requires that the bowl is completely submerged in denatured alcohol.

A resealable plastic container just big enough to hold the bowl is ideal. High quality denatured alcohol can be purchased in gallon containers, and enough is needed to completely cover the whole bowl. Soak the bowl for approximately 24 hours before removing the bowl from the denatured alcohol. After the excess denatured alcohol is no longer dripping from the bowl, place the bowl in a paper grocery bag and press the paper around the bowl snuggly.

In my research, I found some people take the time to wrap the bowl in brown craft paper, taping it securely shut with tape, like a wrapped gift.

The time it takes the denatured alcohol and water mixture to escape the wood cells in the bowl will vary but can take from one to three weeks. Once the wood does not smell like denatured alcohol, the process should be complete. Use the techniques described below to determine dryness or the equilibrium of the moisture content in the wood bowl.

While I have not tried this technique yet, it appears to be a viable green wood drying solution for both finished once-turned bowls and roughed twice-turned bowls. Think of the little silica gel packets that come in some product packaging to keep the product dry. Yes, you can purchase large amounts of desiccant and use it in the process of drying green wood bowls. I have a link in my Green Wood Resource Guide for buying desiccant in volume.

No need to try to collect 10, little packets from various product packaging. Desiccant drying beads are color-coded, and Drying Green Wood For Turning Curve they change color when they are saturated with moisture.

Desiccant needs to be sealed and not exposed to air ever. If the desiccant beads are left exposed to air, they will suck up the humidity in the air until they become saturated again. To use the desiccant beads to dry a green wood bowl, place a layer of desiccant in a sealable plastic bag and then place the green bowl inside the bag. Completely cover the bowl with desiccant until the wood bowl is not visible, then tightly seal the plastic bag. Depending on the size, thickness, and shape of the green wood bowl, the desiccant can dry the wood in as little as 24 hours.

Check the bowl for dryness and see if the beads have changed color to indicated moisture saturation. If the beads are wet and the bowl is not entirely equalized, bake the beads until dry and do it again. If the particular wood species you are using is prone to cracking, it is a good idea to seal the end grain immediately after turning the twice-turned rough green wood bowl.

Anchorseal is a breathable sealer that allows moisture to slowly escape and it aids in preventing cracking end grain. For the bowls I twice-turn, I seal the end grain liberally inside and out on the roughed bowls.

As the wood drys, it will lose moisture more evenly from the end and unsealed side grain. Without the Anchorseal end-grain sealing application, the green wood pours the moisture Best Green Wood For Turning Vision primarily out the end grain with very little escaping from the side grain. This unevenness, like unevenly turned bowl walls, causes unbalanced stress and cracking of the turned bowl. Think of the cells and grain of the wood like drinking straws.

The end grain is the open end of the straws, and moisture quickly leaves these areas unevenly and causes stress cracks. Later, when the rough-turned bowl has dried or equalized, it can be turned a second time to the final shape and thickness.

At that point, because the green wood has undergone the drying and movement process already, it will stay very close to the final turned appearance with little or no further shapeshifting. However, that can be an elusive and time-consuming sense to acquire. There are two ways to measure for dryness. A standard wood moisture meter can be used to measure the Drying Green Wood For Turning Zone moisture content in your bowl.

The only problem with this method is it can leave small pinprick holes in the bowl surface. Also, readings taken from different areas of the bowl can reveal very different results. However, I do use a moisture meter to determine very wet wood compared to more dry wood. The method I find most useful for measuring the dryness of a green wood bowl turning is weighing the bowl.

Yes, weighing the bowl will give you the best results because you actually measure the amount of water in the bowl. I find weighing in grams is the easiest way to get a precise, and easily comparable weight reading each time. Use a small digital scale , like this one , which has a gram reading and weigh the bowl.

On a slip of paper, write the date and the weight in grams. Believe it or not, I had a twice-turned bowl roughed out and placed in a dryer. I kinda forgot about it until one day I decided to pull it out and turn it for the final finished shape. Everything was fine with the wood, no cracks formed and it turned very well. With the piece complete, I decided to weigh the bowl to measure how much moisture was still inside. As the days went by and I noted the progress, I was quite surprised.

Well, in the time I forgot the roughed bowl in the dryer, the green wood went past the point of equilibrium, and the wood cells held less moisture than the relative surrounding air humidity. When the bowl was removed from the dryer and returned to the relatively moist air it began absorbing that moisture and gained weight, just like a dry kitchen sponge soaking up water. The moisture weight gain was minimal and did not change the bowl shape or structure enough to notice, but it was a great example of how the wood is never truly dry and always evolving.

I hope this article gives you new ideas for how to work with green wood. There are many advantages to working with green wood, but most importantly, remember to experiment. Without committing too much time, simply turn a few pieces and try drying them a couple different ways. Take notes about your drying processes so you can recall what works.

Green wood is fantastic to turn, low on flying dust, easy on tools, and usually very affordable, as in FREE. Awareness of the changes that take place once the green wood is turned is the key. It is important to realize a transformation is taking place from a living structure to a more static artistic form. The transition between these states must be acknowledged and respected.

With a bit of experimenting and knowledge about how wet green wood dries, or equalizes to the surrounding ambient conditions, we can more reliably make fantastic green wood bowls. While it might seem a bit frustrating, while striving for the best looking bowls possible, cracks and mishaps are going to happen. Learn from them. Happy Turning , Kent. Hi, Kent, Great video on microwave drying. I put it in the microwave watts for 15 seconds and it was rather warm when I took it out.

Weighed it, waited an hour, did it again, and it came out with a number of cracks. Two quick questions: 1 Is there a way to tell or guess at how much time should be used for each microwave cycle? Equally obvious, both the wood and the size of the bowl impact the drying cycle. Perhaps I should start with very short times and work up based on how warm the bowl is at the end of each cycle? Supposedly, this treatment reacts with the moisture in the wood and turns it into a stable gel and prevents cracks.

It is marketed by a company called Cedarcide, designed for any type of wood and allows the use of just about any finish once it dries in about 72 hours. It is reportedly used by a commercial company in Hawaii who struggled for years with turned bowls that would crack when moved to a much less humid location in the mainland. I was unable to find a place on your website to establish an account, as the login requires an email address and a password that obviously has to be established before logging on.

Brian, It sounds like you are doing to the right thing by paying attention to the process and keeping notes. Remember every wood is different as well as conditions. I am just beginning to turn green wood mainly maple after several years of turning segmented and solid dry wood bowls and found this information very useful , many thanks for the tips. I live down under in Australia and am a relatively new wood turner March and because of Covid19 am self taught. I love reading your posts and have gained an enormous amount of information on how to turn wood.

Thank you. I am fortunate that I have access to quite a bit of free wood in log form and have been reading your articles on preparing green wood bowl blanks. My question is; Does it make any difference to the drying time, if I remove the bark completely or should it be left on. Great question. The bark is a tricky thing. If it is firmly holding onto the wood, you can leave it.

If it is loose and breaking off, take it all off. I have found that loose bark invites more insects and critters to hide and it also holds moisture.

It really depends on the tree species. Thanks for asking. Thanks for the great info, Kent. For the microwave drying technique, do you also anchor seal the end grain of those bowls prior to microwaving? Or do you just use anchor seal on the end grain for air drying?

No, I would not use Anchorseal if using the microwave technique. This article has been viewed , times. Learn more When wood is cut from a living tree, it is saturated with moisture. As this water dries from the wood, the wood will contract in shape unevenly, due to the differing shapes and sizes of the wood's cells.

Therefore, to keep your woodworking projects from warping, cracking, or otherwise becoming distorted, you need to dry the wood thoroughly before using it. Learning how to dry wood for woodworking is a simple and inexpensive process, but it does require a long waiting period for especially moist wood.

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By using our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Cookie Settings. Learn why people trust wikiHow. Download Article Explore this Article Steps. Tips and Warnings. Things You'll Need. Related Articles. Purchase a moisture meter. There is no accurate visual or tactile test for determining a wood's moisture content. To be sure that your wood is dry enough for woodworking, you'll need a small handheld tool called a moisture meter.

This tool has 2 small metal probes that are touched against the wood to produce a moisture readout expressed as a percentage of the wood's volume or weight. Test the wood's moisture content. Use the moisture meter according to the manufacturer's directions. The acceptable moisture content for most woodworking projects is about 6 or 7 percent. If your wood gives a readout much higher than that, you'll know it needs to dry before being used. Lay out a row of stickers on which to dry the wood.

Lay each sticker about 16 inches 40 cm apart and line them up parallel to each other. You'll need enough stickers to support the entire length of the boards you are drying. Stack the first layer of boards. If you live where it's colder and damper, count on more time. Inside, the drying process can prove slower, taking three or four months before the wood reaches its EMC and can be worked. But achieving workable stock means starting with a proper stack.

Pick a storage spot for your boards that's in the open, but avoid low, damp, or boggy areas. And, keep the stack from under trees that can litter it with twigs and leaves. On the other hand, don't pick the sunniest spot in your yard—your boards might dry too rapidly.

Keep wind direction in mind, too. Says the experienced Robert McGuffy: "The [prevailing] wind should blow through the side of the stack, not through an end. It'll dry much quicker going through the side, and you won't get end-checks. At Anderson-Tully, Robert takes extra precaution so the green boards won't degrade in the drying process. Home woodworkers can do practically the same thing, notes Robert.

Or, put double side-by-side stickers under them. The check won't go past that second stick. The species of the stickers doesn't make that much difference, as long as you make them all the same size. If the thickness varies, even a little but, you'll have wavy boards. Figure on cutting enough stickers per board course to lay them every 2' along the length of the boards.

Determine the length of the stickers by estimating the width of the stack you intend to make. Once you cut the stickers, begin stacking the boards as shown below.

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