Quote Originally Posted by BlankBrain View Post
Mine is 1750 watts and I do it in a minute or two intervals. It hasn't happened to me but I've been told by a couple guys, that they have had pieces (log sizes) rupture pretty violently or had pitch pockets in Pine explode and really tick off mamma bear with the resin coated microwave. That's why I use 2" slabs and do it patiently.
To avoid things going BANG it's a good idea to place your blanks in a plastic bag, spin it shut and tuck the twist underneath the blank (to keep it shut) when put in the microwave.

I only nuke until the plastic bag begins to puff up, then shut off the microwave - the wood will still "cook" for a minute or two more. Then remove the wood from the bag, turn the bag inside out and wipe off any moisture from both wood and bag.

Give the wood time to cool down - 5 to 10 mins on a cake rack is good - then weigh the blank & repeat the process until the weight loss nears zero.

This process helps to: prevent over-cooking the wood, resin pockets going BANG and minimises the mess in case things don't go as planned.

I find that 2" is too thick, as the moisture in the middle can't escape... you're better off at around 1" thickness. Large pieces such as bowls can be nuked this way, provided that they're rough-turned to 1" wall thickness first. (And will fit in the bag. )

(You might guess that I've nuked a lot of wood over the years. Too impatient to try out samples from the trees I fell, I guess. )