Thread: Drying Camphor Laurel

CL is very stable and as to the final shape after cutting, depends on how it was cut out of the tree. If you rough turn and leave a good 25mm+ wall thickness, presuming your doings bowls or some such. Then you should be ok

After that there many opinions on how to store them. What I do is to store several rough outs in cardboard boxes closing up he lid to preserve its own atmosphere. Also I coat the outside with BLO [ boiled linseed oil ] this seals the outside to some extent and forces most of the drying to occur inside out.

Store in the coolest spot out of the wind and direct sunlight, mine go in the back of the garage on the concrete floor. In about 6months all should be dry and ready to rough turn.

Another alternative that works with CL well is to turn to about 10% of final thickness and then soak in meths [DNA] for about 24hours. Then dry of the excess meths, takes about 30mins or so. Then cover/wrap loosely with paper such as news print and leave for about 4-6weeks and finish turn.

Hi torchwood,
what size are these blank's I believe by saying you don't want to rough turn the blanks because you haven't decided on a design shape for these blank's so can't rough out a shape so you want to dry the full piece what thickness and dia are they. Size may determine what methods can be used.
Regards Rod.

Torchwood,

General rule of thumb is one year of drying time per inch of thickness from off the stump to dry.

If you ask 10 turners how to dry timber you will get at least 15 BEST ways.

Do a Google search and search on the forum, there is lots to read about drying.

Hi Rod, The blanks are 10" x 3" and 8" x 3"

hi harry,
i have never bother to worry about drying a blank i have bought
as they normally have been cut for a while,
camphour is very stable timber so i would just turn it
at the end of the day it is only a piece of wood if it doesn't work out
you can always throw it in the fire,and just enjoy the experiance and the smell
sometimes too much science goes in to turning ,sharpening,polishing etc
isn't it more about having fun and enjoying it,unless your a pro !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
cheers smiife