Drying Green Wood For Turning

Purchase a moisture meter.

Drying green wood for turning.

Some turners also paint the freshly turned blank with wax based wood sealers used by the forestry industry. Method two paper bags to the rescue. Wrapping a freshly turned green bowl in sheets of newspaper or putting it in a paper grocery bag can create a sufficient vapor barrier to allow face grain to dry at about the same rate as the end grain. Available from packard woodworks.

Thank you for your support i pu. Take a piece of green wood and turn it into a finish shaped bowl or a rough turned bowl. Sorry the audio is a little low i ll switch cameras next week. Lay out a row of stickers on which to dry the wood.

You can brush it on or if you want to make it really easy pour the anchorseal in a tub and dip your blanks. Weighing the stack of wood down helps to prevent warping or distortion which is especially important during the initial drying phase when going from green to an ambient emc. While the ideal place for air drying lumber is in a shelter such as an open shed you can stack it anywhere it is protected from direct sun. Use the moisture meter according to the manufacturer s directions.

Learn more about my woodturning book. Specifically soaking rough turned bowls in a simple solution of one sixth concentrated dishwashing detergent greatly aids in turning reducing tear out from the tools and greatly reducing checking in the final drying. Dry green wood bowls six methods method one hope and a prayer. Neatly and properly stacking stickering and weighing wood will go a long way towards ensuring that the drying process will result in flat stable and usable lumber.

So when selecting wood for turning blanks avoid limb wood and look instead for trunk logs with minimal knots. Simply put you need to build a stack that allows air to circulate around each board keep the stack off the ground to avoid moisture from ruining the wood and keep the sun and rain off the lumber. Brush off the excess let the sealer dry and you re blanks will remain sound for a long time. Yes brown grocery bags work well to allow the wet green wood bowl to release.

There is no accurate visual or tactile test for determining a wood s moisture content. In this video i share a few tips for drying wood for turning. This is my approach. Because the ends of a log start to dry immediately after cutting seal them right away to avoid checking.

You can purchase anchorseal from woodworking specialty stores like woodcraft.