need help with my alcohol problem

[DWFII]

Fellow woodturners and sympathizers...

I have run into a problem with my first attempt at the alcohol drying process.

Let me set the stage...I rough turned some black locust that had been sitting in the log for about a year. Three blanks.

Then I rough turned one of then to a bowl with wall thicknesses of about one inch. The rim was pretty close to the pith and I cut the bolw to eliminate the pith. I thought I had cut off enough. There is nowhere on the bowl that the ends of the annular rings are less than several inches apart. Nevertheless, I had seen some tiny cracks on the side of the blank before I turned off the pith and roughed the bowl. At which point everything looked good.

So then, I soaked the bowl in DNA for roughly 72 hours, let it dry for one hour, and wrapped the bowl in a brown paper bag as per Dave's instructions. After one day of drying on the rack, the inside of the bowl was severely cracked and when I stripped off the paper bag, the outside was also cracked. I am so disappointed. I wish I had coated the end grain in Anchorseal and let the bowl sit another six months...DNA drying or no.

Now the question(s) is...what did I do wrong?

Is it the black locust? Was it doomed from the beginning either because if its nature or because of the tiny cracks radiating from the pith?

Would other types of wood respond better?

Did I do something wrong in the way I handled the bowl after I soaked it?

My shop is heated but not hot. Should I have stored it outside?

More paper? (I only used one layer) Would Anchorseal work as well as the paper bag?

I would appreciate opinions or advise. At this point, I am reluctant to entrust the two other bowls to the DNA drying process. Guess I'll have to look for some dry wood on Ebay. [sigh]

DW
In the high desert of central Oregon.

 

[William Young]

I beleive your mention of the age of the wood and that it was already showing signs of cracking may have something to do with it but I may be totally wrong about that.

I rough turned some black locust that had been sitting in the log for about a year. Three blanks

It has been my understanding that the alcohol drying method was primarily for use on fresh cut green woods.
I have had excellent results with every piece I have used the method on so far and I have only been using the cheaper methyl hydrate grade of alcohol which some say is not as good as denatured alcohol which you used .

In a recent thread here where we discussed the problem about a couple cracks I had at the top of an ash bowl, those cracks were already there before I rough turned and soaked that one so I didn't expect them to get better and probably worse which is exactly what happened.. But the rest of that bowl that was sound stayed that way.
I have never soaked any of mine more than 24 hours so I dont know if a longer saoking period is beneficial or not.
As I am not the least bit familiar with black locust, I have no idea if that would be a part of the problem.

Hope we hear more responses and experiences on this subject that may be of help to you.
W.Y.

 

[DWFII]

Thanks, Bill,

I have to admit to being very disappointed but I know "it's just wood." Mostly I need to renew my confidance in the procedure and the best way I know to do that is to try to pinpoint the problem or problems.

I think you're right that the existing micro cracks never got turned away...I thought they had been but apparantly not. The cracks that developed after soaking were in the same area and probably of the same kind--radiating from where the pith had been.

I've inspected the other two blanks closely and haven't seen any similar crack (or any cracks at all, for that matter) but I may use Anchorseal after soaking in lieu or in addition to the paper bag.

Thanks again...

DW
In the high desert of central Oregon

 

[Dave Smith]

Sorry to hear that.

Hi DW,

Sorry to hear about your problems with DNA bowl drying process. Soaking the bowl for 72 hours is not a problem. From what you said it appears that you did everything right. Fresher is better when turning and drying a bowl no matter what process you use. My shop is dehumidified and heated year round so I don't think your heated shop is a problem.

How deep were the cracks that you saw? It is not unusual to see surface cracks that will turn away when the bowl is finish turned.

Since unwrapping the bowl have the cracks propagated through the bowl walls?

How large is the bowl? Thicker walls dry slower and have more stress which leads to more cracks.

Please email or call me if you want.

Dave Smith

Processing fresh elm in Longview, WA.

 

[Hugh]

I can tell you about my little experience with Black Locust wood. This did not involve DNA drying though. I recently picked up a few pieces from a fresh cut tree. It was an old tree and had beautiful wood. I turned a small closed vessel about 5" x 8" - finished turned it to about 3/16" thick. I wrapped it in a dry towel and put it into a plastic bag. I changed the towel everyday for a dry one. After about 2 weeks I put the bowl out without wrapping it at all and no plastic bag. It came out fine with very little wood movement. I did get some small groves between the annular rings near the heart wood - I sanded them out by hand after the bowl had dried. Next bowl was an open 4" x 8" bowl - turned to about 1/4" thick - finished size. I dried it the same way and had no problems. Third bowl is a larger 6 1/2" x 13" salad bowl. Turned it to finished thickness of about 1/4" - have been drying it the same way. It has been about 3 - 4 weeks since I turned it and it has no problems. I have been weighing this one every couple of days and keeping track. It is still lossing moisture but much slower now. I measured the diameter with the grain and across the grain - it has very little movement - about 1/8" out of round. I still bag this one up now but I do leave it out in the open for 8 hrs./day.

I talked to a friend of mine - a retired Prof. of Botany - and he said the Black Locust has an advanced cell structure - the cells are end to end rather that overlapping? or something like that - and this makes the Black Locust more stable than other woods.

I do remember that when I cut the log in half - there were cracks in the very center of the wood - like that ash bowl that was posted the other day. One need to get past them all the way when turning - otherwise they will show up later.

Good luck!
Hugh

 

[dkulze]

I'm with the folks that guess that the blank was already shot before you started. If it was full of small cracks you could see, they probably ran much deeper and actually bisected the wood at point. Drying, not matter how carefully, won't stop already seperated wood from seperating further. Just makes sound wood stay that way.

Dietrich