drying waxed blanks

[Bill Campbell]

Hello all- I recently purchased some blanks for turning various things. Two of the woods, bloodwood and padouck came waxed over (the website stated they were not dried). I am storing them in a room of the house that is about a constant 71 and fairly dry. When I turn them, should I get them to their final thickness or should I add about 10%. They seem fairly dry already. What are the chances they will crack after being turned. Thx all

 

[hockenbery]

You might be interested in a thread I started on working with green wood in the tutorials and tips section.
It references an article by David Ellsworth and has links to a PowerPoint I use in a demo and links to videos from the demomof turning a green bowl for drying and returning a dried bowl
http://www.aawforum.org/community/index.php?threads/working-with-green-wood.11626/

For you particular blank knowing the moisture content would be useful. If it under 10% you can turn it final thickness and New cracks are very unlikely existing cracks may open up.
Wood cracks for all sorts of reasons but at 10%MC it won’t be because the wood is trying to move as it dries.

If the MC is greater than 20% I would use the 10% rule for wall thickness.
Between 10% and 20% you will get a lot of movement when drying so using then10% and returning when dry is save.

You can almost always turn a thin walled ( less than 1/4” wall thickness) bowl with a nice curve and get. Cracks.

Keys to success in drying are:
Even wall thickness.
Curves that allow the wood to move as it dries - hemisphere shape is a good one for drying.
Don’t let the wood dry out on the lathe
Control the drying

Good luck with the paduk
Paduk is a favorite wood. It goes through color changes but all the Colors are great
Goes from orange to deep red to almost black. Always nice to look at.

 

[Richard Coers]

Exotics are a whole different ball game. They get shipped like that because they are very difficult to dry. There are many worse than those two species though. Seeming like they are dry gives you no idea what they really are in the center. Get an accurate scale and weigh them every couple of months. Then you could cut off the wax on the long grain and let them dry some more. Then I would still plan on them moving when you turn them.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Exotics are a whole different ball game. They get shipped like that because they are very difficult to dry. There are many worse than those two species though. Seeming like they are dry gives you no idea what they really are in the center. Get an accurate scale and weigh them every couple of months. Then you could cut off the wax on the long grain and let them dry some more. Then I would still plan on them moving when you turn them.

Richard and Al both have great advice. My experience with tropical wood drying affirms what Richard said. I also would suggest getting a small digital scale that weighs in grams to weigh the wood every month or two. Write the weight on a piece of paper. When you get two consecutive readings that are the same you can turn the wood, but don't be too surprised if you find that there is still some moisture near the center. Leave the walls thicker than normal to allow for a bit of movement over a couple weeks. When you are satisfied that the wood is stable you can finish turning it.

 

[john lucas]

I had this discussion with Pete from Big Monk lumber. Most of his smaller blanks come completely waxed. He gets them that way and doesnt know the moisture content. What I do is scrape.the wax off the side grain areas and weight them and put them.up. most of the time I just let them sit for a year or more but if I want it soon I weight it monthly until it stops.losing weight. Then it's ready.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

I traded a turning with a guy that was selling Italian olive wood the biggest blank was 3" thick x 10" x 10" that was about a year ago. Knowing that a block that size could not possibly be dry. I turned 3 bowls from it and weighed each one, than after about 2 months of periodically weighing they stopped loosing weight I then finish turned them. About March I saw the guy again and he asked me if I was interested in the last piece that he had, which had been stored in his home in north western Minnesota, the pieced had been waxed but it had still dried and had major cracks so it was ruined. The moral of this story is don't expect to be able to dry it with out it cracking, it ain't gonna happen.

 

[Matthew Ferriter]

I generally find that the exact drying time required is the same that it takes for the labels to fall off my blanks and me to forget what the heck they are.

 

[Bobby Smith]

I bought me some 6x4 bowl blanks off ebay a while back. All are wax covered. Didn't pay attention whether they were kiln dried or not. Didn't really know the difference for turning. Lol After doing some turning on the first blank, I realized it was not dried. Luckily the guys at the woodturning chapter said it was ok to work it. I bought me a moisture meter the other day and just got it in today. I tested the blank I'm working on and it shows 14%. The other 3 that are still sitting wax covered are showing about 24%. I read that its best to leave the wax on until I want to turn them, otherwise they may dry out and just crack and become firewood. lol

 

[Odie]

I bought me some 6x4 bowl blanks off ebay a while back. All are wax covered. Didn't pay attention whether they were kiln dried or not. Didn't really know the difference for turning. Lol After doing some turning on the first blank, I realized it was not dried. Luckily the guys at the woodturning chapter said it was ok to work it. I bought me a moisture meter the other day and just got it in today. I tested the blank I'm working on and it shows 14%. The other 3 that are still sitting wax covered are showing about 24%. I read that its best to leave the wax on until I want to turn them, otherwise they may dry out and just crack and become firewood. lol

Bobby......Even at 14%, I'd still rough, weigh monthly, and finish turn after 3mo unchanged weight. Depending on the species, and gut feelings about it, most of the time I don't wax roughed blanks with this low a MC. (I usually don't wax/anchorseal, until it's 16%, or over.) Nevertheless, even at this low MC, there will (many times) still be some warping. Then again, it depends on what you want to do with it......if it's a plain simple bowl, the chances a small amount of warp will not be a problem. But, if you plan intricate turned details, then ANY warp is a problem.

I've been on these forums for quite a long time......time and again, I see other turners who are anxious to put a bowl blank on the lathe and get on with it. They go to extremes to dry faster than should be, or are disappointed to finish turn too early.....and face failures that could have been avoided. There are only two solutions to this.......either get lots of bowl blanks in progress, or have a lot of patience!

One thing any new turner can do, is take a trip to the local lumber yard that has some 8/4 KD hardwood lumber.....walnut, ash, maple, etc. Most of this is 10-12%, and ok to turn right away.......perfect for practice, and honing your skills. You can safely laminate this KD lumber to practice on taller bowls, too! Save those air dried roughed blanks until you can proceed with a level of certainty that you will not have problems.

-----odie-----

 

[Bobby Smith]

Thanks Odie! Yea I'm starting to learn a little more about turning/using green wood from y'all here on the forum. I wish we had a lumber store around here. Believe it or not, here in oilfield country, all they have is Lowes and Hm depot. They don't have crap for lumber. I think I need to start looking for wood that has already been dried. Patience is not one of my virtues when it comes to making something Odie. Lol

 

[Mike Johnson]

Bobby,

If you don't have access to readily available green wood from cut trees, you can always cut big box store lumber into any size segmented billets and turn out amazing looking pieces. Maple and Walnut is a good combination and is usually readily available in the big box stores.

 

[Bobby Smith]

Mike, y'all must have some better big box stores there. I've been buying from the 2 big box stores since I've lived here. There is a hardwood section but besides pine, the only other hardwood they have are some Oak planks. I find wood easier and in the long run, cheaper on the web than the local stores. At least now, with y'alls help, I know more what to look for.

 

[Arkriver]

Bobby, you have access to some of the best turning wood there is == mesquite. And you don't have worry about it being green or dry because it is very stable. Just find a place here you can cut some

 

[Mike Johnson]

Bobby,

I have a local Menards "big box store" which carries walnut, maple, oak, cherry along with a few other types in the 1x dimension stock. Have not been to a Home Depot or Lowes for several years which are a 30 mile drive away compared to the local Menards which is 2-minutes away. I have purchased a number of wood billets from several sawmills that sell via the Internet and Ebay. Some of these sawmills will cut any size billets if you give them a list of what you are looking for. These custom sawmills will select the trees and cut them into various sized slabs and have to make decisions while cutting each tree into the dimensions they have a demand for or an order for. This takes time so you need to plan ahead or build an inventory of wood that is in your shop drying and waiting to be turned when it is ready for turning or gluing into segmented billets or flat work. I also spent several years harvesting trees and logs when they were available and processed them into various sized bowl blanks and spindle blanks for future projects. That can turn into a lot of work if you get carried way with the number of logs or trees you bring home. Try to pace yourself or you will have too much wood and not enough time to process them into bowl blanks and spindle blanks or flat lumber. Green wood needs to be processed quickly or properly sealed to prevent checking and cracking. You also need all of the tools and equipment to process logs, so for some people it makes more sense to just purchase from a sawmill.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Pine and "white wood" are fine for turning. At this stage, you will be much better off turning green wood strictly for practice. The mesquite in your area is more like a bush than a tree, but green mesquite is the best wood in the world. Turn it green and it won't warp or crack as it dries.

 

[john lucas]

I scrape the wax off of the side grain areas. It helps them dry faster. If you decide to rough turn them seal.the end grain portions with latex paint if you don't have any end grai sealer. Then Put them in a paper sack and weight them occasionally until they stop.losing weight. Then it's ready for the second turning.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

A few years back I had a request to turn something out of mesquite burl by a man from the Dallas area with family in Minnesota who spent his summers in a family cabin on one of the lakes that the Mississippi passes through. I told him he could probably find a club in his area that would turn some thing for him but for some unknown reason the were not interested. The man normally flew his Stearman Biplane but he had thought he was getting to old to make that trip so he stored it at the Park Rapids airport adn the following spring he drove a pick up truck to leave with the plane and brought the burl along. I made several items for him and received 2 rides in the Stearman plus I kept the scraps. The mesquite was dry but uncracked however it did have lots of worms thus the turquoise infill. The second photo shows a view of my home taken out of the Stearman.

 

[Bobby Smith]

Yea back when I lived in E. Tx, I could get all kinds of good wood. Nothing much here in west Tx. I have turned with some pine from the big box store but unless I glue 4x4's together, not much choice there either. I did try gluing a couple chunks of 2x4's together. The only problem I had with it is there would be gaps in the wood that just didn't glue together well. Plus pine is soo light that it catches easy. At least it did for me. I have a neighbor that has some large stumps on his property and me and the wife are gonna go over there one day and see if he has any hidden treasures in it. To be honest though, I just don't have the room to turn a bunch of green bowls to sit for months. I bought me a kiln dried round blank, 6"x3", and gonna try my luck with a chunk of dried wood. I'm actually getting better sharpening my tools also using the slow speed. I sharpened my bowl gouge at least 3 times during this last small bowl and with very minimal metal loss. That's an improvement for me. Lol Much easier cutting too. Lol

 

[Bill Boehme]

A few years back I had a request to turn something out of mesquite burl by a man from the Dallas area with family in Minnesota who spent his summers in a family cabin on one of the lakes that the Mississippi passes through. I told him he could probably find a club in his area that would turn some thing for him but for some unknown reason the were not interested. The man normally flew his Stearman Biplane but he had thought he was getting to old to make that trip so he stored it at the Park Rapids airport adn the following spring he drove a pick up truck to leave with the plane and brought the burl along. I made several items for him and received 2 rides in the Stearman plus I kept the scraps. The mesquite was dry but uncracked however it did have lots of worms thus the turquoise infill. The second photo shows a view of my home taken out of the Stearman.View attachment 27225 View attachment 27226

There are three large clubs in the DFW area plus some others that aren't too far away.

All mesquite comes with boring mesquite insect larvae pre installed and they shift into overdrive as soon as the tree is cut down. They feel slighted when called worms.

OK, if I understand the story, the gentleman feels too old to safety fly his Stearman, but you went up for a ride.