Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998
Question about alcohol drying
Carole in VA
>Is there any simple way to tell when you have left it in soak long enough? When it stops releasing tiny, tiny bubbles could that be an idication, or as I suspect, does that simply mean the air is gone but water may still be there?
Re: Question about alcohol drying
Jonathan Spool
>Carole,
I have just been following Daves suggestion of a 24 hr soak for all projects, and it hasn't failed me yet. I imagine if you have a particularly thick piece you might want to soak it longer, but for the typical roughed bowl 24hrs should do it.
Jonathan
Define simple, kinda hard its't it.
Dave Smith, Longview, WA
>Hi Carole,
When I did testing I concluded that a thin, 1/2", small bowl needed to soak for 2 hours to ensure it had enough alcohol absorbed to moderate drying stresses. Longer is better but I was trying to find the edge of the envelope. Most of the time I let stuff soak for 8 or more hours out of convenience. A lot of turners report they rough out bowls in the evening after work, then remove them from the alcohol the next night after work. In this case the pieces have had ample time to absorb alcohol and thus speed the removal of water. Not that simple but close enough.
The only way I could figure out how long was long enough was to try different woods and thicknesses then see if the pieces self destructed in X amount of time. After a while it became apparent that I didn't have enough time, wood, or money the get a definitive end point. So I took the time for successful soaking, which was 1 hour, and added 100% safety factor and came up with a SWAG of 2 hours minimum soaking. Of course I had to obfuscate the issue but saying the time was for small thin bowls and larger bowls would require longer soak times. So take two fingers of Jack and call me in the morning.
Dave Smith
I'll have a new answer in the morning in Longview, WA.
LOL The Jack will help!
Carole in VA
>Thanks, Dave. You're right, nothing is simple. I had been leaving them overnight, but I turned a few blanks today and ran out of container room. The one I took out was probably 3/4". It had been in there for about 5 hours so we'll see. The latest ones left for 24 hours (maple) were perfect...no cracks and very little movement when dry. I kept a log of weights from the point of bagging to equilibrium, but then I spilled DNA on the paper and can't read it. One (the smaller) was dry after 4 days and the other after 5 days. Sure is a life saver for impatient beginning turners! :)
Re: Define simple, kinda hard its't it.
TomW In SouthJersey
>I've got some Walnut flatish shaped hollowforms that I soaked overnight. The thickest edges are around an inch thick. Walnut seems to take longer to dry based on my limited 3 piece experience. I don't have an accurate scale so I'm also using feel as a gauge for dry and ready to finish turn. It looks like at least 3 weeks is needed for walnut the dimension I'm using.
It still beats waiting months.
