Anyone here tried to dry wood with the rack in a clothes dryer?

Never seen a tumble dryer with a stationary rack (seems like what you must be talking about) - I have seen "drying closets" intended for ski-wear, etc. You should read up a bit on drying/running a kiln - it's not simply a matter of dump hot and dry at the wood. If you do that, you'll mostly end up with firewood, due to various types of degrade (cracks, splits, etc).

If your stuff fits, a brand-old microwave might be free, and a brand-new one ranges from $50-100 depending on size. Microwave drying is more-like microwave-assisted air drying, but the same would be true of using a dryer, and the dryer does not have the microwave's helpful ability to penetrate the wood a bit, rather than just heating at the surface.

Thanks, Yes this new dryer has a stationary rack(for sweaters,teddy, bears you name it, there words not mine) that sits between the front and rear of the dryer and the drum rotates around it.The rack has not been used at all so far. I have a book called the conversion and seasoning of wood and it is very informative. I kinda think you are right in that it will dry too fast, but this new dryer has more controls and buttons on it than the spacelab. :-) It can dry very slowly which will reduce amperage and cost or blow dry stuff till it burns. I figured the power usage on full blown maximum capacity. My brother gave me some red mulberry that is dripping wet. I have already sealed both ends with green wood sealer. I may cut a bowl blank out of it, seal all six sides with green wood sealer and pop it in there. This will keep it from drying too fast but the moisture will seep out of the ends thru the sealer.It is already doing this so I know the sealer slows down the exiting of moisture but does not stop it. Maybe have to use the delicates cycle. :-) I don't have a moisture meter but I do have a nice digital scale that reads per 1/4 ounce. Might be able to weigh and see the difference. If all goes well then buy a moisture meter. I will let you all know if any green wood sealer gets on my wife's blouses. :-) Lyndell

AFAIK kiln driers work by de-humidifying rather than by heat. I imagine too much heat would simply dry the outside and cause more trouble than it cures.

Is a good place to start. The search feature will return all kinds of information, which will be more meaningful _after_ you read Ch 3 of to find out the basics of wood and water. Having once dried willow in SWMBO's microwave, I would not personally risk a dryer. But, as you'll see, warming the air lowers the relative humidity and exhausting warm, moist air allows cooler, dry air to come in and be warmed. Kilns work this way. You can also let the ocean of air dilute and disperse, though I would favor a microwave. YOUR microwave, not hers. Longer and lower settings are what I've used.

I wouldn't. But I've seen some ways that do work. An old refer with a 40 watt bulb (the owner said anything larger cooked the wood). Oh ya, he also had a couple holes in the side near the top for ventilation. I've also seen a standard fruit dryer used. As has been noted the key is SLOW drying

That sort of potential domestic disharmony is no joking matter, and makes the 40 watt bulb in an insulated box (or the dedicated shop microwave) look like a very sensible investment.

I would also suggest (as others have) at least rough-turning to a thick-walled state your bowl blanks - they dry a lot faster that way, and are more prone to reshape/warp (which you'll turn off when finish turning) rather than split (it's two small bowls - or perhaps a couple of chessmen?...)

Hi Lyndell, Sorry to disappoint, but I have no experience with drying wood in a clothes dryer. I would guess that the risk of fire (from wood, not spouse) would be minimum. Since shirts aren't set on fire, it's unlikely that flitches would be.

Actually at our house we mostly dry our clothes outside on a clothes line. None of the neighbors do, but I'm from the backwoods and there's something about clean clothes flapping in the sunshine, even in the city ,,,,and even including underwear!

I "preserve" my green NIP, a trash tree hereabouts, with an occasional soaking with LDD spray and dry it outside under a shade tree, on a rack and covered with a tarp. The saying that as we grow older our toys get smaller is true in my case. I'm mostly turning small objects on my little Jet Mini or Vickmarc Vl100, so dry offcuts from a friendly cabinet shop are my mainstays.

Patience is the secret ingredient in most timber drying, but I don't have much of it to waste. Hope you aren't considering ironing your blanks after removing from the clothes dryer. That might not be safe. :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

Drying wood is tricky, a guessing game, almost impossible to do with any accuracy without an instrument to measure the percent moisture content. It takes a special know-how skill to dry wood. I prefer the slow air-dry method, but I have been successful using a regular (200 degree or less) oven for smaller pieces. A clothes dryer might work or it might dry the wood too fast, depending on the type of wood and other factors.

I have turned wet wood but not without frustration. After some suggestions and experimentation, I found that putting the turned piece in a bag of sawdust immediately after turning slow the drying process down enough to prevent splitting.

I have dried several pieces of wood in the microwave. If they were turned green and put in the microwave, they all warped. Some a little, some a lot. Some looked neat, some were correctable back to round.

To avoid a lot of fancy equipment, get an old (or cheapie) micro to start with and a postal scale.

A couple of years ago I needed some deep bowls for candy dishes with stands, but didn't want to use any of my good wood stash. They were give away gifts, and I didn't get much for them.

I had a large 10" piece of ash that was given to me, and I cut the diameter to 6 - 8" on all of the blanks, and wrote a control number on them with a sharpie. I put three in at a time, and hit them for 2 minutes on high. Let them rest, then weighed them. I did this while I was turning other things, and kept up a log of times and weights. It worked great!

I knew to quit microwaving when there was no weight loss for two different sessions. If the wood hissed or sizzled during the rest time, I let it sit unitl it quit.

At the end of the experiement, I put all the blanks in two 5 gallon buckets with a lid on it, and left it there for a couple of weeks. When I pulled them open, they had lost a little more weight/moisture, but no much. The point of leaving them alone for a couple of weeks was to let the wood redistribure any remaining moisture.

This method works great, and is effiecient for these larger (6-8" wide and the same length) pieces. But with something as small as a pen blank, I would think you could micro one day and be turning in a couple more.

Robert

Nope... Haven't tried drying clothes in a kiln, either.. Sorry, Lyndell... couldn't resist that..

We do, however, air dry our laundry..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

No Lyndell, it is certainly not true! Lori doesn't need to use a wash board (tho we probably have one somewhere) or pound our dirty clothes with a rock down by the river's edge. I got her a very nice used washing machine 20 years ago! It was out on the curb and needed only a little fixing. Thank Goodness she doesn't read my posts. I'd get no supper. :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

Off Topic advice, my friend.. There are a LOT of trees in your area, but you only have ONE wife. (hopefully)

My experience over the last 30 years and 3 wives is that the song is true: "If momma ain't happy, NOBODY's happy" ;-]

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

I've tried paper bags, plastic bags, saw dust, shavings from the wood, LDD, etc., etc... most split anyway..

I love turning green wood, so I used to turn it very wet and very thin and let it warp.. I think warping can enhance most bowls but never thought a crack did.. YMWV

(back in the days when wet wood was available to me, I sold several bowls that looked like they were made for banana splits)

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

SNIP

Then you should turn something and put it in the microwave. Wanna see some really quick warping and twisting? Turn and sand a green bowl, and put it in the micro - you can watch it change through the window.

Robert

Thanks to everyone who responded to this crazy plan. If I actually get up the nerve to try this I will post the results. It looks like the concensus is that a microwave is the way to go for small loads of wood. Thanks again Lyndell

I must be a good guesser than, as I have very few splitting bowls. And I turn green wood exclusively, at least the first time, return when dry. I've told "my way" several times before, but it seems like nobody wants to hear it. See if you can find any splits or cracks in those bowls, there are at least 300 of them in there.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

Wow.. instant gratification.. lol

When I had access to green wood, we had a LOT of it, so I was in no hurry... Just let them stack up and go through them once in a while.. more fun turning them than nuking them..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Leo - I would love to have the room to dedicate to simple air drying. But with all my other woodworking and contracting equipment, there just isn't any room.

Then too, there are our summers where the outside temps are around 103 for several (two summers ago 39 days in a row) with no rain. My green forms split all over, even ones that were partially dry. Aggressive drying for me isn't anything more than self defense.

I like the webpage you put up a lot. Unlike so many, it was easy on the eyes, and got the point across quite well. Nice job!

Robert