Kiln drying roughs?

Re: Kiln drying roughs?

Wally Dickerman at Green Valley, Az.

>Mike, There are many small shops along the Oregon coast where turners are selling bowls and other turnings, all made from myrtlewood. Myrtlewood is unique because it grows only in SW Oregon. Some of these shops have kilns to speed the drying process of their rough turned bowls. The largest of these shops is in Coos Bay. I've seen hundreds of bowls in their kiln. They've been doing this successfully for many years.

Wally

Re: Kiln drying roughs?

Bill Grumbine, Kutztown PA

>Hi Mike

I have a huge kiln. Unfortunately, it is out of action right now, as it is in a barn with no electricity. I had to take it out of the shop to make room for machines, and I have not had a chance to get it back to an outbuilding with power. In the short time I had it running, I had very good results. Bowls could be ready to go in six weeks from rough to ready to turn. I do not have a lot of info on it, but I plan to get it running again this summer. I will e interested to hear how your experiment goes.

Bill

Re: Kiln drying roughs? *LINK*

Fred Holder

>Here is the beginning for an article that I published in the March 1998 issue of More Woodturning. I had submitted a query to Fine Woodworking on the article feeling that it would give Mr. Brown greater coverage than I could do in More Woodturning. This beginning segment describes his kiln pretty well and provides his contact information. I simply don't know if he is still making the kilns or not.

I first met Gilbert Brown at the�Art in the Park� craft fair at Omak, Washington. Several of the bowls on my table were turned from wet wood and

had warped appropriately. Gilbert said, he was working on a project to dry fresh cut wood fast! With his planned system, he said, we wouldn�t have to turn green wood and guess at what its final shape might be. Being a writer, I told him it might make a good article. Since then, we�ve crossed trails several times. Each time we met, he hadn�t perfected his dryer yet. He was still working on it.

Then �out of the blue� he called me. His project had finally been worked out. His system can dry a kiln full of wet (newly cut) fruit wood to 6 percent moisture content in three to seven days depending upon the thickness of the timber, about the best I�ve heard of is almost a month. This new system uses a low temperature (100 to 150 degrees) and a vacuum pump. Gilbert says, he isn�t going to mass produce these units but will make one up for someone on special order.

If interested, you can contact him at: Gilbert Brown, Route 3, Box 336-B, Omak, WA 98841. You can call him at: 509-826-4058.


Fred Holders Domain Site

Re: Kiln drying roughs?

jim reasoner

>Mike there is a guy in colorado who kiln dries bowls for sale. His name is Dan bailey. I bet if you email him he will give you info on kiln drying rough turned bowls. I have bought some of his bowls and they work fine.

Address - www.roughoutbowls.com

Re: Kiln drying roughs?

Don Henthorn Smithville, Texas

>Wally, I must respectfully disagree with your description of Oregon myrtlewood. The stuff sold to tourists in Oregon as myrtlewood is really California laural, also known as pepperwood, bay, bay berry, etc. It grows profusely in northeren California. In fact the biggest speciman known is in San Leandro, California. It can be a pretty wood or it can be pretty plain. I still have several boards from a large tree I milled in Lakeport, California and I use it frequently for replacement spindles for antique furniture.

I really got amused by the stories of the Oregon turners that myrtlewood, as they call it, only grows in Oregon and the Holy Land. It doesn't grow in the Holy Land and it does grow in California.

The US Forest Service speaks

Russ Fairfield

>Like most wood, there are a lot of different common names for the same genus. This argument could go on forever.

The following is extracted from the Us Forest Service website

Umbellularia californica-

Acacia, Acacia Burl, Balm-of-heaven, Bay, Bay Laurel, Bay Tree, Black Laurel, Black Myrtle, Cajeput, Cajeput-tree, California Bay, California Bay Tree, California Laurel, California Olive, California Sassafras, Californian Olive, Laurel, Mountain Hemlock, Mountain Laurel, Myrtle, Myrtle Tree, Myrtly, Oregon Mirt, Oregon Myrtle, Oreodaphne, Pacific Myrtle, Peppermintwood, Pepperwood, Spice Tree, White Laurel, White Myrtle, Yellow Laurel, Yellow Myrtle

Re: Kiln drying roughs?

Mac

>Mike, I have been drying roughs for about 6 years now in a low tech kiln I built myself. I know several others who do the same.It takes about three to four weeks to bring them down to 8 to 10% which is what works best for me.If I take them lower they just have to go back up to that.The kiln is only a cube about 36" square,insulated with foam insulation,a loose fitting door made of the same,a light bulb, a computer fan and a thermostat.E-mail me for more info if you need it...Mac

Re: Kiln drying roughs?

Wally Dickerman at Green Valley, Az.

>Hey Don, are you trying to destroy a whole cottage industry in Coastal Oregon? I've turned a lot of it and it sure looked like Oregon Myrtlewood to me :)))

Wally

18% ??? Still Wet then !

Steve Mushinski

>Mike, if the wood is coming out at 18% it is not ready to finish turn. It needs to be down under 10% to not cause you too much trouble. It may not crack but it is very much going to warp and twist.

Just my opinion and we all know we all have one of them.

Steve

Re: Kiln drying roughs?

TDaniel

>I'll vouch for Mac's kiln. I have seen his work and it does a good job. It is simple enough even a Yank can run it.

TD

Re: Kiln drying roughs?

Doug Trembath

>Well, Mac, I'm not Mike, but I do have a couple of questions about your bowl blank kiln, and would greatly appreciate some info. This is something I've wondered about for years, just never attempted it. I happen to have some steel sandwich panels with 3" of foam between steel skins, and some are scrap. It seems to me this would do quite well. What temp range do you find productive? How much air do you try to contain and how much do you evacuate? Could you perhaps put up a little treatise for the uneducated folks who really want to know? I know I'd certainly appreciate it.

Doug Trembath

Studio in the Woods

agree

Mike Schwing from Md.

>I agree with you, and I questioned that number (to myself as the guy was being very generous). I wonder about his moisture meter, but don't yet have one of my own.

Even so, to get a wet fruit wood rough down to 18% in a few long weeks would dramatically shorten the total time. Still might be worth the trip to the kiln, especially if its free.

Re: Kiln drying roughs?

Brad Vietje

>Mike, et. al.,

There are many people who do this, including some large-volume production bowl turners like David Lancaster, but I'm always wondering why ... ?

Kiln dried wood is a whole lot less enjoyable to turn than air dried wood, and usually requires more sanding. The air drying process only costs time and storage space. I can see production turners trying to get an order out the door for 200 X and 150 Y, but for everyday bowl making ? I clearly see that the turn-around time would go down, but after an initial ramp-up in rough turned stock on hand, I don't see how overall, or annual production would change at all (?)

I wonder if the answer is more rough turning to build up a bigger stock of drying (and eventually dry) bowls from which to turn finished bowls ? There is a lag time to this, but once past it, it should never be a problem again. Here in the Northeast, there's a cycle imposed by the annual cycle of craft shows and the tourism business -- a larger proportion of rough turning in winter & spring (quicker and easier work when shops are often colder), and more fine turning of finished items in summer and fall.

Would kiln drying rough-turned bowls really help ? BTW: I wouldn't advocate kiln drying the blanks at all, but just drying the rough-turned bowls, as a few minutes on the lathe will save a lot of time (and energy) drying those bowls, and lessen the number of pieces lost to checking.

Safe Spinning,

Brad Vietje

Thetford, VT

Re: Kiln drying roughs?

Mike Schwing from Md.

>Brad, I'm a man who likes to experiment. What can I say? I have an idea and I want to give a shot. At this point its not costing me anything.

I have been building up my "inventory" of roughed bowls at a pretty good clip. You haven't seen many pics of finished work from me lately because I haven't finished anything - just roughs mostly. I know in a year or two I'll have things ready just about every month for finishing, but I'm not there yet.