spin dry?

[hughie]

I came across this at the World of Woodturners. Its a different method of drying again.

Anybody had a go at this method????

[Toasty]

...Spin drying is running the bowl at high speed in the lathe to force the moisture to the surface... ...This usually takes no more than an overnight spin...

All I see is unwanted mileage on my lathe...

[weisyboy]

:mad: i would be woried about leaving my lathe going for that long. all that extra wear and tear could not ba good for it

[Gil Jones]

Hughie,
I use an old microwave oven to dry wood in the shop (NEVER use the one in our kitchen for wood); it does an OK job on some woods and cracks others.
I also use the denatured alcohol (meths) soak method with OK success.
Lately, I have been testing 'freeze drying' in our old refrigerator (which is now in my shop). I do not know how well freeze-drying will work, but none of the wood has cracked yet. This wood is bowl blanks, not rough turned pieces.
I believe I will pass on leaving my lathe spinning at hi (or any) speed overnight, and/or unattended. Sounds like a fine way to accelerate wear, and shorten its life.
As for the oven drying method, it sounds like, (1) a fire hazard; (2) possible bad smells in the house; (3) I doubt that my wife would go for it in HER oven.
I have good luck turning green wood to a finished piece in one session. If the walls and base are uniform in thickness, and fairly thin, the wood will usually warp instead of crack (sometimes it cracks ).

[rsser]

I admire Gil and others who have the patience for these techniques.

And while I have none for some things (like my partner's driving style :mad: ) for turning I'm happy to rough turn, end seal and wait.

Sure, it doesn't work for everything ... thinking of fruitwoods, almond (the nut variety; lovely figure btw if you come across some) and a lot of green plain Tas myrtle. But for the rest it sits quietly drying in what I like to think of as my bank (cf. Peter Temple's novels).

That said, the garage is too hot in summer and I fear that makes the stuff a little on the brittle side. So the crawl space under the house will this summer host the bank as well as a solitary case of red.

Regardless, your quest for knowledge is impressive Hughie; hope you might record some of it in a more durable form. Have suggested to the forum owner that a wiki is worth considering.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Patience? ROFL! It's lack of patience (I want to turn my new acquisition now!) that moves me to try these things.

Like Gil, I microwave. Yes, it will destroy some woods but as with anything, experience helps. I don't nuke "important" projects but if I just want to play on the lathe and the only cured blanks I have to hand are exotics, which is usually the case, well... nuking something from one of the stacks outside provides near instant gratification.

My fallback method is LDD (soaking in soap) but the smell started to get more than a bit rich and I dumped the last lot. I'll probably start another batch next winter, but over the summer months I'm content to rough and shelf cure.
So long as I have a working microwave anyway.

I don't think I'll be trying the spin-dry method either. With the sawdust, timber & asstd. chemicals scattered around and the amount of powercords/double-adapters lying around in my shed, I kill the power at the fusebox every night for what I think is good reason.

[rsser]

Well, yes, when I'm impatient I'll turn in one session. Had some good results that way.

Had some no-name brand once, turned it thin then sanded. All very wet and hot (ah, yes, this is the right forum ) and darn me if the stuff didn't start flexing like heavy plastic. Most impressive. Then I screwed up (oh dear!) by trying to buff the sanding sealer with steel wool. Flecks everywhere (figured that's why Neil always says DON'T USE STEEL WOOL).

[TTIT]

Good - it's not just me! Once I start turning a piece, nothing else matters until it's finished. I hate waiting for Danish oil to dry let alone the wood itself so I'm also a notorious 'nuker'. There's always something on the kitchen bench getting cooked a bit at a time. BUT, this week I decided to do the right thing and just rough a heap of stuff down and throw them in the shavings for a while - now if I can just stay away from them until they're dry....

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Yeah, me too. There's times, though, when turning green just won't do the job. Experimenting with new forms for lidded boxes, for example.

Not worth risking a "good" blank for, but if I do manage to turn out something I'm pleased with I'd like it stay the right shape for at least a fortnight... even if only so I can take it the next club meet, etc. for a brag session. It doesn't quite feel the same when you show off your latest pierce of "trick" turning and they say "Very nice, but how do you get the lid off?"

[TTIT]

Skew - I sometimes see myself more as a 'performance artist' than a 'producer of heirlooms'! Get a finish on it and a photo before it all goes to hell! Remember the Budgeroo flitch a couple of weeks back...

[hughie]

[.

Have suggested to the forum owner that a wiki is worth considering

Ern Not a bad idea, it could develop in to some thing quite encyclopedic as to volume and depth.

As for patience I like to go at and finish it asap. This waiting months for some thing to dry, nah gotta have my instant gratification Instant, goes with my 'Bull at the Gate' policy of turning.

Soap, meths and some nuking is about my lot! Other wise I get it dry some body else who has the patience.

I just chucked this thread in to see what turned up.....sori for the pun

[bikerboy]

[.


Ern Not a bad idea, it could develop in to some thing quite encyclopedic as to volume and depth.

As for patience I like to go at and finish it asap. This waiting months for some thing to dry, nah gotta have my instant gratification Instant, goes with my 'Bull at the Gate' policy of turning.

Soap, meths and some nuking is about my lot! Other wise I get it dry some body else who has the patience.

I just chucked this thread in to see what turned up.....sori for the pun

what about if you were to put some wood to dry inside the old ladys tumble dryer,that might clunk a bit, and make a bit of bangin,hell might give it a go, mind you I better wait till her indoors has left the building

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

I vaguely recall someone else thinking about trying a tumble-dryer in a similar thread to this one. Apparently there are racks designed to hang inside the front door for "delicate" items.

I don't recall seeing any results from his experiment... and I doubt "success" would've been a part of it.

[weisyboy]

its decided

this is the stupidest idea any of us have ever heard:mad:

[Ray153]

I would love to be the fly on what would be left of the wall of the now smoking ruined house when the insurance assessor came around. "You had WHAT doing WHAT inside your tumble drier????????