Conclusions after that GOOGLE expedition about drying

Some thoughts - probably redundant but in one place.

Seems, as I thought, that 99.8% of drying research is for commercial operations. A couple of the sites I want to revisit to contact the professor for details on small operations.

Existent processes appear complex and require frequent monitoring using equipment unavailable to the normal woodturner. It is notable that these specific procedural details have appreciable affect on the quality of the end product including even chatoyance. The development of software to control this is relatively new. There appeared some left to do on the sensing devices. There would be some individuals who could downsize all this I would think. Maybe not cost-effective enough to ever resell but sufficient for their personal resources including time and money. Keep in mind Bill Rubenstein's negative experience with a Woodmizer kiln. More on that could be relative. Possibly the rate of drying was the culprit since that is what all the software is essentially about. Further, it could have been designed for softwoods or require pre-drying to perform at its best. Tennessee is notable for trying to specifically handle red oak problems.

The qualified exceptions are solar and air drying. Solar being a little more detailed than air. This is not woodpile air drying though there was a site that addressed that specifically that I want to revisit.

The amount of info available was beyond the time available. Some isn't worth additional time, others have real potential for ideas. Note the application of weight or hydraulic pressure on drying stacks to prevent damage to the upper layers. The principle being to lock the material into the shape you want while drying. The diagrams noting location of the sample within the cross-section of the log and its affect on movement types are interesting.

As Charlie, Arch, and many others have noted there are definite differences in specific woods, even what region the wood comes from, etc. Leading to the conclusion that even with an overall idea/plan/setup there will have to be individual experience applied eventually. There were specific gravity tables by type, etc. George has done much in that regard with FPL but there's other sources to compare any differences in conclusions. I usually prefer private enterprise to government for conclusions unless there's an axe to grind.

There appears to be some substantiation of some of the ideas posted on RCW. Vacuum, heat, dehumidifiers, displacers, solar, and maybe something I've missed thinking of. There are among us some who could assimilate this data and do a better than job than me with conclusions so I have no ego stamp on any of this. I just started trying to bring a lot of the available info to one spot for review. It has been enlightening and even encouraging.

Bottom line: We're where we were with the exception that there's a list of links available in one spot for anyone who'd like to form their own opinion or get ideas. Then if there were a similar list of woodturner's ideas you'd have the best of the rest to chew on.

Just remember that more deer are killed with a 30-30 lever action rifle than any other (ballistically inferior to almost anything but the most USED deer gun). At least, that was the case back in my reloading days.

Bye TomNie

Reply to
Tom Nie
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Having been in the sporting goods business for a lot of years in the Pac. NW I can tell you that we sold more 30-06 ammo there than 30-30. Depends on where you are I guess.

Reply to
Wally

Humidity gage and personal attention would do.

You need to learn to evaluate the data, not disparage the source. Otherwise, you'll have to luck into a reinvention of the wheel. Here's a key piece of data for you - wood loses water ten or more times faster through end grain than through face, and quarter grain is even slower. That's why "an inch per year" is bunk when applied to a roughed turning. That's all you need to know to evaluate some of the alleged rapid drying methods. You're not doing boards, so only the principles apply, not the specifics.

Reply to
George

Tom:

We established a VERY conservative schedule for drying in the Woodmizer. It just was not able to squeeze water out of exotics. We'd go for days with nothing more than a few drops.

We did build a semi-traditional kiln for exotics. I designed it, built it (even welded the lumber carts and the air handler framework), designed and built the computer controls, designed the drying algorithm, and wrote the code to implement it. That was some ten years ago or so and it is still running. For a discussion, see

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I put this page together attempting to explain the logic. Note, this is for 4/4, 6/4 and 8/4 exotic lumber. Anything thicker was not even considered so it does not apply to turning stock, except for spindle blanks.

Bill

Tom Nie wrote:

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Reply to
Bill Rubenstein

Absolutely. You're dealing with a larger creature than a whitetail out there. Plus, you aren't normally hunting in close quarters in the swamp.

Reply to
George

Bill, that site visit was fun. The Rottweiler looks like mine but with gray. The truck bed is cool and upscale as hell! I'd hoped you had some pictures of the kiln. The info on the link was great and I'll review when more time. Have a Godson party for now. Thanks for contributing to the discussion.

TomNie

Reply to
Tom Nie

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