Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998
? for alcohol soakers
Mike Foster
>I've followed this discussion with keen interest, but I don't seem to remember anyone discussing distortion during drying. So, do you seem to experience less distortion with the alcohol soaks? How thick do you turn a bowl to allow for finish turning once dry? (say a 12" bowl of hard maple).
I can't turn that big very easy.
Dave Smith, Longview, WA
>Hi Mike,
Most of my testing has been with 10" and under bowls. For a bowl that big I figure 3/4" to 1". A lot depends on how thick you want the walls of the finished piece. For pieces that you expect to move quite a bit like crotch wood stay on the safe side with wall thickness. No I can't tell you exactly how thick for every situation.
I had an email this morning saying some birch crotch bowls distorted so much that if finish turned the walls would only be 1/8" thick. For some turners that would be about right. Other birch bowls he turned which were not crotch wood were not distorted very much and he was able to finish turn to a thickness he wanted. He rough turned the 10" bowls to 3/4" wall thickness.
I expect more information to trickle in over the next couple weeks.
Dave Smith
Lunch time in Longview, WA.
I have been
Mike Schwing from Md.
>I have been roughing things as normal, soaking, and letting them dry. In fact, this evening I'll post a pic of a 13" bowl done the alcohol method, soaking wet when roughed, 2.5 weeks later, totally finish ready. For a 13" bowl, I leave the top/rim about an inch thick, and slightly less so as it nears the bottom because it won't distort so much as it does at the rim. I don't see a noticeable difference in the distortion factor with air drying vs. alcohol.
Thanks (Longish)
Mike Foster
>Thanks for the response. Can't wait to get home and try it. I am in Alaska right now and brought with me a hastily turned form to carve on (trying a technique I learned from a Clay Foster demo at the Totally Turning Symposium). I roughed a maple form and really pushed it drying by mirowaving. It was an end grain piece and I got significant checking at the botttom of the bowl where it dried out before the sides of the bowl. I was going to consign it to the burn bin, but my wife said she didn't care about the cracks, and I wanted to give a go at the carving. Will post a pic once I'm home and finish the piece. I can't wait to try the alcohol soaks to help avoid such problems. (I guess I could have planned better and turned a piece several weeks before leaving, instead of the day before)
