Question on Alcohol drying.

1/11/05, 2:56 PM #1

TheHeretic
Guest

Question on Alcohol drying.

TheHeretic

>As far as I can tell from all the posts on the much touted alcohol process I have seen nothing of drying whole blanks. I am wondering about pen blanks specificly. I dont really want to use the microwave method. I suppose I could wait 6 months or more for the blanks to dry but I was curious if anyone had tried to dry whole blanks without the rough turning step.

I already utilize the alcohol method for bowls so the materials are already at hand. I thought of just dropping one or two into the alcohol next tiem I did a bowl but really didnt want to destroy some one of a kind juniper and plum blanks I picked up recently.

Dean

Columbus, OH

Re: Question on Alcohol drying.

1/11/05, 4:19 PM #2

Dave Smith, Longview, WA
Guest

Alcohol soaking works for pen blanks.

Dave Smith, Longview, WA

>Hi Dean,

I have dried many pen blanks by soaking them in alcohol and then putting them in a paper bag. Things like plum root will still twist and warp but there seems to be less cracking after soaking in alcohol. Straight grain pieces dry in a couple weeks or less. If there is a lot of figure in the wood allow enough material to resquare a blank of sufficient size for the final turning. Fruit woods tend to twist and go bananas when drying. I usually cut fruit wood blanks 1" square and coat the ends with wax as an extra precaution.

Good luck and let me know how it turns out(pun intended).

Dave Smith

Looking at some pretty alcohol dried spalted apple pens in Longview, WA.

Re: Question on Alcohol drying.

1/12/05, 2:43 PM #3

Kurt Aebi
Guest

Re: Alcohol soaking works for pen blanks.

Kurt Aebi

>Dave,

I too have tried the alcohol process for pen blanks, Grapevine to be precise and I too have noticed less cracking, twisting has occurred, but I think it is from the wild "twisty-Turney" grain that the Grapevine has.

I have turned 3 pens about 2 months ago and they finishwell and have not experienced any cracking at all.

Re: Question on Alcohol drying.

1/12/05, 5:47 PM #4

Dave Smith, Longview, WA
Guest

Thanks for the feedback .

Dave Smith, Longview, WA

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Question on Alcohol drying.

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