Survey: How do you tell when your roughs are dry?

Re: Survey: How do you tell when your roughs are d

Shawn - in ID

>D & E (date and movement)

Rough turn, anchorseal, let sit in shop ~5-6 months, round it again (taking off the wax), then let sit another 3 months in the same place. Look at it once in a while, just generally get a feel for it - if it feels dry and as light as it 'should be' and hasn't moved in a while then it gets final turned, sanded... Not at all scientific, but haven't had one crack yet - though I have made the call to let some sit an additional month or more.

Re: Survey: How do you tell when your roughs are d

Phil Lieberman

>I use a Moisture meter,thats the only sure way to know

Re: Survey: How do you tell when your roughs are d

adrien

>weigh it every few weeks. when it stops losing weight, it's dry enough to turn.

Re: Survey: How do you tell when your roughs are d

Dick Hines

>I turn them wet and fill the bowl with the wet chips and place in brown bag. Also will the bag with chips. When the bag and chips feel dry, a couple of months, I take them out of bag and put in back of shop for a couple of months. I make sure they are not in the sun. Works for me.

Re: Survey: How do you tell when your roughs are d

John Lucas

>That's what I do. I found that bathroom scales aren't that accurate at poundages under 25 so I put 2 25lb barbell weights on it and set the bowl on this. I seal the end grain and the top and bottom with anchorseal. I write the date and weight on the lip using a permanent marker.

Most of them are dry in 6 months or less. Some woods a lot less. I'm not sure why just some shed moisture quicker I guess. They are stored on the back shelf of my basement shop. I start them on the bottom shelf in a box. Sometimes I have 4 or 5 in the box stacked up. I feel that the box slows the movement of air and I have only lost one in the last year since I started doing this. After a month or so I take them out of the box and move them to the second shelf. I leave them here till dry. I move the dry ones up to the top shelf.

Re: Survey: How do you tell when your roughs are d

Bob Hackett

>All of the above except one.After awhile you get a feel for how long it takes for each different type of wood to dry,just like you learn how each type needs to be treated in order to dry without loss.

I go by a combination of weight,feel(that cool feeling means it`s still not there yet,unless I want "texture" after sanding),and smell.

If all else fails and I`m not sure,afew cycles in the microwave dispells any doubts.

BTW-after I got tired of poking numerous holes in my roughs that came back to haunt me,and found that pinless=worthless I put my moisture meters away in a drawer so they wouldn`t keep reminding me of the other more useful tools I could have bought with that money.

IMO the best insurance is still a garage sale microwave,unless your name starts with Terry and ends with Daniels.I don`t think they make microwaves big enough for the bowls he likes to turn.;^)

Mainely,Bob

Re: Survey: How do you tell when your roughs are d

Bill Grumbine, Kutztown PA

>Mike, I pretty much guess. A lot of times there is no doubt that they are dry because I date them, but every now and then I have to make a judgement call. I hardly ever guess wrong, and usually those instances are "art" so it doesn't matter if they move some.

Bill

Re: Survey: How do you tell when your roughs are d

Duane C.Leach

>Well Mike I put the date turned on it then seal it and let set for 10 - 12 months some times longer if the walls are over 1" thick. I don't bother with meters,scales, or any thing els. After 10 to 12 months per inch of thickness it will be dry and ready to turn to finish. If you worry about how it's drying all the time, and check it with you meter and weigh it every few days , you will go nuts.just set it on the shelf and forget it. It's just wood.

Re: A

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In Jersey

>

Re: Survey: How do you tell when your roughs are d

jared

>I weigh my bowls on a postage scale that I bought when I was selling a lot of stuff on ebay. It is a digital readout and accurate to 1/16 of an ounce. I right the weight and date on the bowl with a sharpie marker. It seems like most of them drop about 1/8 ounce per day when they are first starting to dry and then the weight loss gradually drops off and then finally stabalizes. It works good for me. Jared

Weight

Dave Smith, Longview, WA

>Hi Mike,

I weigh and date the roughed out pieces. Since I don't turn a lot of big pieces a two kilo or 4.4 lb scale works for most of my pieces. I recently bought a 100 lb digital scale in anticipation of getting a big lathe. A spring scale is not very accurate but it is better than nothing. Weight is a good indicator of moisture content being at equilibrium with the surroundings. It is not unusual for a piece to increase in weight when the weather changes.

From data collected for a study on drying bowls, I know how long a piece takes to dry using my method in my shop. I really only need to write the date on a piece but I still weigh them for my own peace of mind. I hope to have the bowl drying information published in November.

Dave Smith

Turn it, weigh it, turn it again in Longview, WA.

Feel and date

Dominic Greco in Richboro PA

>Mike,

I write the date on all of the roughed out bowls I turn. Usually, I let them sit for anywhere from 6 months to a year. Depending on size, of course. After a time, I take them down, and see how they feel.

Funny thing is, I tend to batch my work. I'll get into a bowl turning frenzy and turn 8 or so roughs. Then I'll set them up for drying. If I do this several times, I'm set for the next couple years! I think I have about 20 or 30 or so roughed out bowls of various sizes laying around the shop on shelves and under my bench.

One trick I heard here on WC is to hold the blank up to your cheek. If it's cold, usually it's still wet. If it's somewhat warm, it's dry enough. However, I haven't really tried this trick out in the winter! :>)

Every once ina great while, when I'm not sure of the status of a bowl, I will resort to a moisture meter. However, the Wagner I have is a "pinned type" and more suitable for flat boards. When taking a measurement on a bowl blank, I take the worst one of the lot as the %MC.

See ya around,

Dominic

Bowl kiln

Pete Kekel - Kentucky

>Mike -

I run them through a cycle in a kiln I made from an old upright freezer. Takes about a month for the whole cycle, then I let them sit a little longer in the shop to get the correct MC. After that I'll turn it round again, date it, and let it sit for another few weeks (unless I'm in a big hurry)and then turn it to finish. If you're working on that load of burl, just turn it to finish and appreciate the wrinkles as it dries.

Re: Bowl kiln

Mike Schwing from Md.

>Thanks Pete, and thanks everybody. BTW, I've noticed in the past few weeks that posts get MUCH more response if you pose them as a survey. I figure it asks for response from everyone and not only those more "outgoing" of us respond.

Pete, not worried about the burl so much, but I have a lot of big salad bowl roughs that may or may not be dry enough. Mrs. Schwingding has decided we will be giving salad bowls as Christmas presents this year, and I'm trying to figure out if I'll have enough that are dry.

Re: Survey: How do you tell when your roughs are d

Russ

>Easy, I don't make any rough turnings.

I turn everything to finished thickness and rough sand while the wood is wet. It is dry in a week in the summer, and less than that if I put it in a box with a light bulb for heat. Some wood will be almost dry when it is taken off the lathe.

Warping?? Adds character. Bad warping?? More character.

Cracks? None.

These are the advantages of turning green wood.

Re: Survey: How do you tell when your roughs are d

Bill Hale, Woodspinner

>Mike

Alot depends where you live. I am in very dry country so my problem is drying to fast. I rgh. turn and put the blanks in a large plastic tubs. I open the tubs daily, fan a couple of times with the lid and put the lid back on. If you put some newspaper in with the blanks you can feel the moisture on them. If you use the paper you will need to leave the lid off for 1/2 hr. or so to dry the paper. A couple of months, the paper no longer feels moist to the touch and the wood should be dry. Your area may take longer unless your shop is air conditioned.

Good turning and be safe.

Bill

Re: Survey: How do you tell when your roughs are d

Wally Dickerman at Green Valley, Az.

>Mike, I find that if I rough turn 1 inch or less, the blank will be dry in 6 months. My system is to rough turn, put the date on it, very liberally coat the piece with Johnson's Paste wax, twice if it's very wet, and set it aside. In 6 months it's ready to turn. Right now I have about 70 rough turned blanks in my shop in various stages of drying, and not one is cracked. If I had these in paper bags I wouldn't have space for them. If I were spending time weighing them I'd waste half a day doing it. I've been using this sysem for many years and on many hundreds of pieces. If it works in hot dry Arizona where I live, it'll work anyplace.

Wally

Re: Survey: How do you tell when your roughs are d

Mike Schwing from Md.

>Thanks! Wally, you use glue blocks if I remember correctly. A time or two I've roughed out a wet blank on a glue block and during the drying process the work pulled itself off of the glue block, even using epoxy. They were face grain bowl blanks. Most of the glue blocks I use now are on dry/mostly dry stuff and I haven't had the problem since, but have you ever had one come off in that manner while drying?

I had prepped it by truing the glue block in the chuck, blowing the workpiece dry at the glue spot with a hair dryer, applying epoxy and then bringing the workpiece up to the glue block with the tailstock.

D & C

Barbara Gill, Remlik Virginia

>I usually wait about 1 year to re-turn a bowl. If I have boiled the roughed out bowl I may shorten the time by as much as 3 months depending upon how wet the season has been.

I also feel the blank. If it feels cool and moist to my face I put it back into the paper bag unless it has been there 6 mos. or more; then I just stack on the shelf.

My shop is not heated where I keep the unfinished bowls. It is extremely rare for a roughed out bowl to crack on me.

Re: Survey: How do you tell when your roughs are d

Wally Dickerman at Green Valley, Az.

>Yep, I've had that happen Mike. Wood that is going to warp badly will do it despite a good glue joint. When it happens I find a way to get the piece on the lathe to true up the foot, so that another glue block can be installed. If the same piece had been rough turned using a 4-jaw, the opening or tenon, whichever was used, will be egg shaped and will have to be trued up before remounting the piece on the lathe. A little extra work whatever system was used.

Wally

Other: *LINK*

RevDoug

>Don't worry about it. Let the pieces move if they will and enjoy the process.

Turn 'em round,

RevDoug


Wood Spun Round