Alcohol drying - - wrapping sequence

Re: Alcohol drying - - wrapping sequence

Tony Costine

>I'm not saying a word...

well...okay. 50% failure rate is about where I am/was. I thought I was doing something wrong.

In the archives is a picture sequence of the wrapping.

It's up over the rims...just basically looks like the main part of the inside is free.

After further review, I'm still sure this process works--I point to the success of men I trust, like Bill Grumbine and Dom et al ...but I think there are a lot of variables that you'll need to experiement with on your own.

At some point I wonder if total wrapping for the first week might be the way to go.

Or even 2 weeks?

Then open the bottom for a week, then unwrap the bowl? Something like that? So far my best results have been with newspaper wrapping. I use maybe 3 or 4 pages together. I think the original use of paper bags was because that's what he had always used to protect bowls during the air dry?

I don't know about his paper bags, or yours, but the ones from my local supermarket are kind of thin and a little shiny. They don't feel like the paper bags I used to use to make book covers and stuff.

I wonder if that's affecting the water/air transfer?

best,

--Tony

wondering why time goes so fast in the morning and while turning, but not at family gatherings or during "real job" time, in Contoocook, NH.

Here is a link to the Article *LINK*

Dave Smith, Longview, WA

>Hi Pete,

No I don't love statistics but they are useful sometimes.

Please read the Article which has picture to better explain the process.

The purpose of wrapping the outside of the drying piece is to cause the inside to dry faster. The resulting differential stress will cause the wood to compress which helps to prevent cracking and warping as it dries. Wally Dickerman has been waxing only the outside of roughed out bowls and hollow forms for many years. He places the pieces with no additional covering on a shelf to dry. Wally reports he has had very few failures even with the low humidity of Arizona. I didn't know he was doing this until after I started doing the bowl wrapping as a means of reducing failures in dried pieces. His unwitting input to my process testing confirmed I was on the right track with paper wrapping.

Good luck and please let me know how it goes. I have many emails from successful users that skew the statistics in favor of the process.

Dave Smith

Figures don't lie but liars can figure in Longview, WA.


Alcohol soaking method for drying bowls

Re: Here is a link to the Article

Don Orr

>Hi Dave and Happy New Year. I've been watching the various threads regarding the alcohol drying method and have read the very well done article here on WC. Very impressive indeed. I have a question. Do you need to put something heavy on the bowl when soaking in the alcohol to keep it submerged or is the wood dense enough to sink on it's own, or is it even necessary to submerge it at all? I have not tried this method yet but hope to in the near future. Thanks for all your (and others) hard work in order to save the rest of us so much time and material.

Don

Re: Here is a link to the Article

Pete LaBelle

>Thanx for the help !

Pete

Re: Here is a link to the Article

Ron in Drums PA

>Dave

I was reading your acticle and noticed what you use as a cover on your big metal bowl. I think a shower cap would work also. With the elastic band and the curve of the bowl it should make a good seal, at least for the few hours of soaking.

;-) FYI - Just in case anyboby wants to know. I have a 14" dobsonian telescope which I use a shower cap as a cover to keep out the dust. Works well.

Sorry Don, I forgot to answer your ?

Dave Smith, Longview, WA

>Hi Don,

When I started testing I figured I needed to get everything submerged for comparison purposes. I used marbles mostly for weighting down bowls and hollow forms. But believe it or not the marbles chip after awhile. I don't know if the alcohol has anything to do with it but it is probably just from the bumping into each other. Kevin Gersstenecker said he used Corian scraps which makes a lot of sense to me. It doesn't react with the alcohol and doesn't absorb it either.

I am not so anal about making sure the entire piece is submerged now. If I was going to do a short soak of 2 or 3 hours I would probably make sure it was totally dunked. But most of the time I leave pieces in over night, over the weekend, or however long it takes me to remember I have a piece soaking. On New Years day I took a bowl out that I put in on the day after Christmas. I don't recommend doing that but it doesn't seem to hurt anything.

Good luck.

Dave Smith

Getting desperate, I turned some pens today in Longview, WA.