Drying rough turned bowls quickly.

Re: A couple of questions

Ron in Drums PA

>I use two flat sheets of PVC that float on top of the alcohol. Seems to keep most floaters from braking the surface. Once I needed to add a little weight on top of the plastic.

Re: Drying rough turned bowls quickly.

Jim Kelly

>Dave:

I saw your article just before I went to Pa. for Dave Ellsworths' 3 day seminar. While there, I turned 3 items-two poplar bowls, one being a natural edge, and a vase of cherry.

dave cut these the day before. we got quite a shower when we started turning!

These were pretty much cut to final dimensions, stuffed in a plastic bag, and put in the back of the Jimmy for the trip back to Madison WI.

When I finally got to deal with them, the bowls were already warped, had mildew on the poplar, and still wet.

i tried the alcohol with these results-remember they were finished cut (more or less)

1. the alcohol did nothing to the mildew (can't have everything)

2. The bowls stopped warping, (quick and dirty measurements before and after)

3. after drying, no bags, just set out in a cold garage,they were ready to sand.

4. the cherry vase had a thicker base than the bowls, so I microwaved that for a short period of time.

Further, I described the results to a friend of mine who retired as a researcher with Forest Products Lab, here in Madison. He was quite interested, and made the comment that there were two types or stages of water in wood; 'free water' which is what we were seeing when on the lathe, and 'bound' water which was trapped in the cells. He wondered if longer exposure would result in the 'bound' water being replaced and the cells collapsing when the alcohol evaporated.

In any case he was kind of excited about trying it himself!

Hope this adds to the discussion-I like waht I saw.

jim Kelly

Good news, bad news, eh.

Dave Smith, Longview, WA

>Hi Jim,

Thanks for the info. If you soaked the bowls in straight denatured alcohol for several hours it is hard for me to see how the mildew survived. If you were talking about blue stain which usually looks black then yes the color would not be effected. I never put bowls in a plastic bag. If you would have wrapped the bowls on the out side with paper they would have done mush better. During my testing I dried unsoaked bowls that way for comparison. They dried slower than soaked bowls but with less distortion and defects than bowls dried using the traditional paper bag method.

You didn't need to microwave the cherry piece with the thicker bottom. I believe the piece would have dried the same after soaking in alcohol. But I am only speculating from my experience.

As far as cell collapse goes it is beyond my ability to test. One of my set of inquires I wrote down before starting the study was if the structural quality of the wood was degraded by alcohol soaking. After several months of testing I concluded the question was not germane to turned wood bowls and hollow forms. If there is degradation of the wood it is not readily apparent to me.

Please advise your friend that I welcome the opportunity to correspond with a Forest Products Researcher about the alcohol soaking protocol I have developed. I am sure his expertise would help me understand the process better.

Good luck with fresh bowls..

Dave Smith

Too many angles to keep track of in Longview, WA.