avoiding warp in wet turned bowls

Just clean the inside of the microwave with LDD! It works for everything and anything.

I went and checked out a few pawn shops, and sure enough, I picked up a "large" microwave, and I beat the dealer down to $20 bucks, to boot. Now my shop, er, studio that is, has it's own dedicated micro-wave.

Now is the time to introduce your family to the pleasures of collecting dollhouse miniatures in 1:12 scale!

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September 11, 2001 - Never Forget

I've dried elm and apple in mine with no problems. Just leave the door open when you're done, and the steam and smell will dissipate.

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September 11, 2001 - Never Forget

I tried it as a joke. I grabbed a piece cut off a redheart blank and fitted it to a set of smaller jaws and turned a bowl about 1 inch across and 1 inch deep. It was perfect.

Unfortunately >Now is the time to introduce your family to the pleasures of

today I checked a couple of the syberian elm pieces. No cracks. The larger natural edge piece about 9 inches across had about 1/4-1/8th of an inch of warp. It had been in the paper bag for maybe a month. I took it out and coated the outside with sealer to see what will happen. One local turner said he coats the entire piece with sealer and waits 6 months.

I'll have to price soap also to run my own LDD experiment.

As for microwave I'll have to find a time when nobody will be home

Tomorrow morning I'm heading back to the tree service company where I got the elm to see if they have anything. Hopefully they have not spit everything for firewood I'm taking the first bowl from the elm to give to them. Its all sanded and polished and looks great.Hopefully it will help establish a connection for the future. Maybe I can find something besides syberian elm.

George wrote:

Please let us know how it works. As I said, it works great for me, but I don't read about many people using the microwave technique.

Earl

Earl, I guess I should have mentioned that I purchased this microwave oven several years ago. I for what I use it for it works fine. My method of use is quite simple, I use it to heat up freshly turned green-wet rough outs, this drives a lot of water to the surface right now, and I feel it gives the "bound water" cells in the piece a bad time also. Secondly, and my real reason for this initial heat treatment, is to neutralize some of the mold spores and cut down on almost all of the mold-mildew problems one can get from green turnings.

Regards James Barley

I just watched a Trent Bosch video (Decorative Utility Bowls) - he's from Ft. Collins, CO and addresses the various drying methods in this video - I don't recall if he goes into much detail in his other video. It appears he uses a homemade drying kiln with low heat and a dehumidifier. He talks about many other methods and you might get an idea of how to better work within your environment from his experiences.