Drying and sanding LDD bowls

[Jim Lee]

Hi all,

I am looking for people using the LDD (Liquid Dish Detergent) soaking method on their turnings. What I am most interested in is their strategies and routines for drying and sanding. Do you wait for a certain amount of time before sanding? Do you sand right after you do the file cuts or wait for it to dry to some degree?
I have tried wet sanding immediately after my final cut and minutes after the piece has been pulled out of the soak. The clogging I can deal with with a bowl of water and the wet/dry sandpaper. It just doesn't seem like the sanding is doing all that much good though. Maybe it is because I am so used to seeing sanding dust all over the place. I am turning about 6" diameter bowls with a pretty thin wall thickness. Less than an 1/8" in most cases. So far I have been using some really pale looking Maple and oak. I really am impressed with how much easier it is to do the final cuts after the soap soaking so I really would like to make this work with the sanding and drying methods that other people are using successfully.

Thanks very much,
Jim Lee

 

[robo hippy]

I have been using the LDD method for several years now. I turn green wood to final thickness (1/4 to 3/8 inch), and then dry and warp, and then sand. I soak for 24 hours or more depending on memory, then take them in and rinse off the surface soap. You can't rinse out till the bubbles stop coming up, but any of the soap solution that dries on the bowls will clog up your abrasives. It can be removed with the eraser sticks. I power sand only. When drying the blanks, I will round over the edges on the rims first, then after soaking, wrap a couple of pieces of newspaper around the outside, then secure it to the rim with some of the stretch plastic film that you wrap around boxes on a pallet. Let about an inch overlap the rim, and the rest on the outside of the bowl. Cut out any paper on the inside of the bowl. This wrapping method came from the DNA soakers, though they used tape to secure the paper. I think I am the one to come up with the plastic wrap. It puts more compression on the rim and has done wonders for preventing cracks for me, in just about any wood I turn. I don't sand when wet, just too messy, and takes much longer. I can put them on the shelf to dry, then do other things while I am waiting. Usually dry in 10 days max. The only thing the LDD does that I can see, or measure is it makes the wood sand out a lot easier.

robo hippy

 

[MichaelMouse]

What softened Madge's skin does the same for the wood fiber. Glycerine(glycerol) is a common humectant in hand diswashing detergents. It serves as zinc stearated paper does when you let the thing dry a bit before sanding. Use an open-coat paper and you'll appreciate it even more.

That super-humectant PEG will do the same, but if you use it in stabilization strength and length, it's hell to finish.

 

[Dave Ogren]

LDD Soak

Jim,
I have been using the LDD method for the last 10 months. After turning I hose off the bowls or even let them sit full of water for an hour or so. then into the LDD submerged for 3 days to a week. Remove from the LDD and hose off again thoroughly and place upside down on a concrete floor out of the way of air drafts. Two or five days later they go into a kraft paper bag. Just started double bagging them. Then into a large cardboard box with other bagged bowls. The box stays on the floor for a week or so then elevated to a shelf but not over about three feet off of the floor. The results have been good. Sometimes I check in the middle of drying and will CA any soft spots or knots that sometimes get loose.
Good Luck,

Dave

 

[robo hippy]

I did try the double bagging, and it didn't always work. Pacific Madrone is the most difficult wood to dry that I have ever experienced. The paper, and stretch film on the rim gives me almost 100% success.

robo hippy