Talk about discouraging...long

Re: Talk about discouraging...long

Wood Spinner

>Bud

Sorry to hear that. Here in AZ. that is a given almost every day. You may want to consider investing in large lidded plastic tubs from WalMart. My rgh work is off the lathe and into a tub. Daily, I remove the lid for an hr. or so and back goes the lid. I can generally dry with little cracking within about 8 - 10 wks.

In your area you may not need to do this but it is a good temp. holding.

Good turning and be safe

Bill in Casa Grande, AZ.

Re: Talk about discouraging...long

Mike Schwing from Md.

>Bud, I think the hard lesson here, and sorry you had to learn it, is that alcohol drying is not magic. Matter of fact, I'm getting very turned off on the idea even though I have been able to make it work. Each week we seem to hear more and more stories about turners failures with alcohol soaking. I'm not trying to start a firestorm or anything, because I know it can be done successfully, but it appears that there seems to be some magical attributes given to the idea of the alcohol soak and it just isn't so.

You will have better success with waxing or anchorsealing your turnings than you will with alcohol drying. I'm quite confident making that statement. It will simply take longer but your success rate will improve. To successfully alcohol dry your turnings you have to take much more care than you do with anchorseal. Alcohol is not a magic bullet. It simply replaces the water in the wood with a substance that will evaporate more readily than water does.

I believe this would tend to INCREASE the rate of cracking if only a small portion of the water is replaced due to a short soak time (and that is relative to the species and % moisture in it at the time of soak), due to the even more rapid moisture loss that will occur once the wood is removed from the soak.

I'm not saying don't use it. I am saying that if you want a better success rate and aren't in a hurry, use a different method. If you rough out a few bowls every month, next year you'll have a few bowls ready for finishing every month.

Re: Talk about discouraging...long

David Propst

>Hi Bud,

My sympathy goes out to you. Bummer.

My experience with Hickory is that I have to split the logs as soon as I can to avoid nasty cracking. If your end grain vessels included the pith through the center I am not surprised they cracked. I've had hickory bowls crack like they had been torn apart. I love to turn hickory/pecan though! It is lovely wood.

Best Regards,

David

Re: Talk about discouraging...long

RonZ

>When life throws you a bunch of cracked hickory vases, turn some pens! =O)

Re: Talk about discouraging...long

Sam Dean

>I've taken cracked bowls and finished them, then (carefully) cut them in half with the band saw. If you sand each half flat and glue a thin board to the back's, it makes some nice book ends. Or maybe a shelf?

Bill, what size...

Paul Porter in Phoenix, AZ

>...tub. If it works in Casa Grande, it should work in Phoenix.

Re: Talk about discouraging...long

Doug Trembath

>Bud, soak them in water,(Iknow, I know, you just soaked them in alcohol). As Mike was saying in the post below, there are no silver bullets. Troublesome woods will cause trouble. No matter how you dry them, you will lose some. Boiling is the only modifier I know of that consistently improves the success rate, but you still have to dry them properly, too.

Nearly every turner that comes along wants to hurry the process, and that's not all bad, but over time, they almost all eventually revert to exercising patience, and drying roughouts over time. Alcohol will allow less troublesome wood to dry faster, and who knows, it may do it with Hickory if you don't bake 'em. Soak the roughouts until the cracks close, let them air dry at a lower temp until the outside is dry, then use thin CA glue to anchor the cracks closed, then dry them a little slower this time. I'd be surprised if they don't end up being pretty nice. Can't guarantee it, but I've done this in the past.

Doug Trembath

Studio in the Woods

Re: Talk about discouraging...long

Bud Gabaree

>Doug,

I'll give a water soaking a try, I thought about rehydrating the vessels and I think you just confirmed what I was thinking.

Another question; I know some folks soak punky wood in a glue/water bath to solidify them, do you think this might work to seal cracks, as opposed to using CA?

Bud

Re: Talk about discouraging...long

Brad Vietje

>Bummer, Bud !

You could also plastic bag 'em, and invert the bag daily, or paper bag 'em for the duration -- but not near the heater. I can definately feel your pain -- been there, done that.

Safe spinning,

Brad Vietje

Thetford, VT

Re: Talk about discouraging...long

Doug Trembath

>Bud, I haven't been too successful with glue soaking anything. It sounds plausible, though, give it a try. If the cracks close with glue inside, they may well stay. As Judy Tenuda used to say, "It could happen!"

Doug Trembath

Studio in the Woods