soaking wood in Used transmission grease

[lubbing5cherubs]

HI I was wondering if someone can help us out. We were told by a person that lives out here that this is the best way to prevent cracking. Another person said ti will rot the timber. But the pieces we did to has only surfaced cracked, Has anyone done this and do they know if it will work? or rot the timber

Toni

[echnidna]

I'm sure it won't rot timber, I have seen quite a bit of timber hanging around that is oil & grease saturated and it seems to be well preserved and withoiut cracking.

However oil won't readily soak into many of our dense timbers such as redgum or ironbark. It does seem to soak into pine etc.

As far as using it as a means of eliminating cracking I just don't know but it does make the timber messy.

[PAH1]

You also have to be absolutely certain that the grease does not have contaminants in it that will be a problem later eg food uses. If you want to get a good seal on it before turning I think that the polystyrene methods would be better.

[TTIT]

HI I was wondering if someone can help us out. We were told by a person that lives out here that this is the best way to prevent cracking. Another person said ti will rot the timber. But the pieces we did to has only surfaced cracked, Has anyone done this and do they know if it will work? or rot the timber

Toni

I reckon it will stop the cracking while it's in the grease but sooner or later it has to come out and then you're back where you started with a horrible mess. Some wax, paint or anything that will stop the air getting to the end grain is all you need.

[echnidna]

As a matter of interest what do you want to make?

[lubbing5cherubs]

As a matter of interest what do you want to make?
Hi Echidna, I am asking this question for my Father in law. He just been cutting green wood and having awful trouble with cracking so he desperate like he is only beginning his wood turning journey and he says if he lets it dry naturally he will be dead before he starts. He is a newly retired man using turning as something to do but was getting really disheartened by the gidgee or gum cracking on him. He tried microwaving, freezing, borax so he mainly searching for a way that he can work the wood with no cracks.
Toni:)

[echnidna]

Some of the things done to dry timber are,
Microwave (seal the endgrain first)
Soak in Alcohol (some people add some soap )
Boiling the wood in water for a few hours

Probably worthwhile doing an advanced search of the forums on "drying wood"

The latest "Woodwork" magazine from the US has an article on building a small dehumidifier kiln out of a couple of sheets of plywood

[soundman]

Soaking timber in various mineral ( and other ) oils can be a reasonable thing to do if you wish to turn machanical parts or you dont mind ending up with an oily lump of wood.

For example
It is my understanding that hardwood windmill bearings are still made by machining the wood when it is not yet completely dry then immersing it in oil for an extended period.

I too have seen pieces of hardwood that have been soaked in oil and have been arround for many years totaly uncared for and abused.

What you are probaly looking for is the detergent treatment discussed some where arround here, and very recently. do a searck it will pop up.

cheers

[powderpost]

Soaking the timber in oil or grease will stain the timber heavily, and will not rot the wood. Cracking on the end of the logs is caused by pores on the end drying out, shrinking and cracking. Try coating the end with two or three layers of a water based paint. Many of our hard timbers do not distort much when drying, so that articles do not move much. I have turned a fair bit of cooktown ironwood and many of the dry country acacias, and they didn't distort that much after drying. In fact they are easier turned green than dry. The microwave routine, I have found is not good on timber over one inch thick. Seems that the water vapour can not get out quickly enough and causes internal splitting. If bowls are the end product, why not turn them green to about three quarters of an inch, and finish them off later. Weigh the turned blank and write the weight and date on the bottom and check it again in a monthy. When there is no weight loss, it is dry, or microwave it. Keep the turned blank in a box of shavings between weighings.
Jim

[Slow6]

are we talking transmission grease or transmission fluid?

grease wont do much for anything I wouldn't have thought.
tranmission fluid on the other hand is nasty stuff.. takes the skin off my hands every time. I can see how it might treat the timber somehow.. but I wouldn't want to try turning it.. at least I'd use a decent mask if I did.

interesting thought tho Toni.. let us know how it goes if you try it.

[TTIT]

Toni - he's picked a very difficult timber to start his journey on!:eek: Gidgee is as hard and heavy as the hobs of hell but it does come up nice :D Even freshly felled, I don't bother trying to slice it as in conventional turning, better to use a toothpick cutter (Oland tool?) and scrape it almost to the finished shape and thickness. There will inevitably some fine cracks but they seem to be unavoidable and will not get any worse as the piece dries:(. Microwave it or just let it dry for a few weeks, CA the fine cracks, give it a final scrape, sand and finish. Beauuuuuudifuuuuullll:D
You should have some Emu Apple out that way - it's a pleasure to turn and beautiful color. Would be much better off learning on that instead of Gidgee.

[lubbing5cherubs]

You should have some Emu Apple out that way - it's a pleasure to turn and beautiful color. Would be much better off learning on that instead of Gidgee.

Is that not a protected tree? We were under the impression that emu apple and sandalwood were no touches big fines involved. Right or wrong?
thank
Toni

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Tell him to seal his wood as soon as he gets it, no matter whether he wants to turn it almost straight away or leave it to dry. PVA glue, paint, primer, almost anything like that will do if he doesn't have a "proper" sealer. Preferably not an oil (or transmission grease! ;) ) as they tend to penetrate and stain the wood. The most important thing is to do it quickly, before the wood starts cracking... as soon as the tree is felled is ideal. Seriously!

For "fast drying" the best way is to rough the timber into approximate shape with walls about 3/4" thick. Even if he put these rough blanks aside to naturally dry, they'd be ready in around 12 months. I think they should either be sealed all over or packed into a bag of their own sawdust if put aside this way. Green turning is also one of the most enjoyable parts of turning... green wood turns sooooo nicely. ;)

To speed the rough blanks along even more quickly I like microwaving, which takles around an hour. The detergent method also works well but isn't as quick... it takes a few weeks.

The problem with force drying is that there will be more failures. Some woods just don't like it. [shrug] But the only way to find out which is what os try, eh?

[hughie]

Toni,

I don't think soaking it in oil/grease will be very good for turning. It certainly wont crack but it wont be much good for anything else either other than fence posts.:(

Theres a lot of wisdom in the previous posts on this thread in regard to timber choice and sealing. All I would take on board as it will save quite allot him making allot of firewood....been there and done that :D

There are numerous posts on treating green timber by either soap, soap/meths mix, meths. Microwaving will work but not real thick timber as the water cant get out fast enough, so 1" is fine but any thicker and it seems to crack.

Soap, is what I have used allot of with great success but only on soft timbers. Hardwood does not seem to soak up the soap to any great degree.

Maybe meths will be the better way to go. If you use meths I would suggest roughing out the bowl, say and 1" thick and then soaking it in the meths. How long to soak....well I soak my Camphor Laurel for about a week then dry it for about 4-6 weeks or until its very light. No probs to date.
Hardwood, well its much denser so it will need some experimenting with...the longer the better I guess :) your kinda in unknown territory.

Failing the various links and threads etc you can pm me I will be glad to share what details I have.
hughie

[Hickory]

Like Skew says...
Tell him to seal his wood as soon as he gets it, Us old Latex paint or one of the manufactured sealers.

He can turn the Green piece to approximately 10% of the final thickness, Soak in Alcohol. Wrap in brown paper and allow to sober up fpor a couple of weeks, then finish turning. I do this all the time with wood either straight from having leaves to some that had lain on my wood pile for a month or two. Works well with very little faiure.

The oil notion seems a bit messy and probably comes from the old idea of soaking Railroad Ties in Oil or Telegraph poles in oil. The latex paint is simplier and cleaner (soap & water cleanup when done.... )

[Underdog]

Couple of points - some of which have been covered.

To prevent cracking, you must control the drying. What you don't want is uncontrolled drying. The outside of the log wants to lose moisture, and therefore diameter, more quickly than the center, so then it cracks at the perimeter.

So you leave the bark on to prevent the perimeter from drying so fast and seal the ends of the logs with paint, wax, primer, or something (I've not used any oil, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it) and let it dry. It usually dries an inch per year with this method.

Another way would be to slice it up into slabs and seal the ends, stack sticker it and let it sit until dried. This may be problematic if you don't leave enough extra to account for warping, cupping and for milling, plus it dries more quickly this way. You'll want to be careful doing this.

What hasn't been mentioned is removing the pith (the center of the tree) from the equation. Usually turners recommend cutting a log in half lengthwise to get the pith out of the equation. You would want to immediately section the log and rough turn a bowl to (as a former poster said) 10% of diameter. Then of course you'll want to control the drying of the blank by wrapping in old newspaper or papger bags or sawdust or something so it won't dry so fast as to crack. Then once the blank has dried enough it's not losing weight or moisture, finish turn it.

Or you can turn it green to a very thin section (3/16 or so) and let it dry if you don't care about it warping on you. It usually won't crack if you turn the whole thing the same thickness, because the pressures are all the same.

[lubbing5cherubs]

most of this talk is for bowls drying or is that all turning?? Doug loves to make pens, candle holders, salt and pepper shakers. Does the same way of drying apply?

Plus we have another issue that we are dealing with our summer goes up to 40-45 degrees temperatures so our wood is dried out quick. Does that help with any suggestions for that situation.
bye
Toni

[Hickory]

You can use the Alcohol drying process for any turnings, Just turn to close to the finial diameter and soak over night, Dry a couple weeks and be back at it.

I have done it on sawn wood projects as well. I am currently making the wood pieces for a Model T Ford. Ash was Henry's wood of choice. I am Cheap as well as the car owner buddy of mine. So I am using local cut firewood and one tree we felled last year. (you would not believe the compound curves and strange cuts necessary to make the tack rails around the seats. Anyway I cut the pieces a little proud of the pattern (I made from old rotten original) soaked in Alcohol (Whilst my buddy & I soak up a bit as well) Allowed to dry wrapped in Brown Paper bags for a couple of weeks and then Sanded to the final size. all fits like a glove and impressed the other hacks in the car club. So a little of the devil's brew (I used Denatured alcohol, for the wood, which is a little Methanol mixed into mostly Ethanol , here in USA) (Bourbon for me) allow to set over night and then wrap in brown paper and set aside. If you wish to test the drying. weigh and record the wrapped piece every couple of days, you will see a considerable drop in weight. When the weight drop has halted for a few days, then it is as dry as it will get. un wrap and have at it.

You can't use a moisture meter with Alcohol dried wood as the electrolites are screwed up after a good dunking in Gin, and will render false readings.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

most of this talk is for bowls drying or is that all turning?? Doug loves to make pens, candle holders, salt and pepper shakers. Does the same way of drying apply?

Yes, it applies to all tunrings. The thinner the wood, the better the results... if the wood is more then an inch or two thick, the odds of it cracking go through the roof.


Plus we have another issue that we are dealing with our summer goes up to 40-45 degrees temperatures so our wood is dried out quick. Does that help with any suggestions for that situation.

That's part of your problem: it's drying out too quickly. I can't stress this enough... seal the wood as soon as he can!

[TTIT]

Is that not a protected tree? We were under the impression that emu apple and sandalwood were no touches big fines involved. Right or wrong?
thank
Toni

Just depends where they are growing Toni. Under the new 'vegetation management' laws, every area in the state is zoned as to what can be done according to the type of trees, soils etc. I have access to several properties where they can cut whatever they like from some parts :Dand are unable to snap a twig in others:mad:.
I'm in much the same climate as you in Emerald and believe me, you have to seal the ends of your logs AS SOON AS THEY HIT THE DECK!!!:D;) Then when you cut them into turning sized blanks - SEAL THEM AGAIN (unless you are turning them immediately). I use Mobilcer 195 which you can get from a Mobil dealer - no mixing or mucking about, washes up in water and you don't even have to clean the brush. I keep a tin of it in the chainsaw box so it's always handy.
Another trick I have learnt out here (the hard way of course:o) is to slip a plastic bag over your work on the lathe if you're going to leave it unfinished even overnight. The air out here just sucks the moisture out of everything so quickly that you have to be on guard all the time.

[rsser]

With temps like yours you've effectively got something like kiln drying happening unfortunately. I find KD makes the timber more brittle than I like.

So cut or rough turn to size asap when green, seal the end grain and stack them in the house if you can find a spot that's cooler or has less temp fluctuations. Leave some space for air to circulate.

[China]

Great idea it won't rot it will stink like a used transmission for years, it will also be useless for anything that requires human contact