Mold on Drying Bowl

You guys know I turned a Buckeye bowl a few days ago. Not having a suitably-sized box for it to air dry in, I decided to use the sports section of the local newspaper instead. I simply spread the newspaper out, brought the corners up around the bowl and taped them together loosely.

I checked the bowl this morning and found it partially covered in a white velvety fuzz........mold!

I went back to the shop after work and sprayed the bowl inside and out with denatured alcohol until it was sopping wet. Will this kill the mold? I seem to recall this being a remedy, but can't recall where I heard it. I'm sure a Clorox bleach solution would stop the mold, but I don't want to bleach out any of the color. The bowl has little enough color as it is. I left the bowl unwrapped to dry. Apparently, the sports section was doing too good of a job. Tomorrow, I will try to find a suitable box.

Has anyone had this problem? How did you fix it? Thanks.

Barry

Reply to
Barry N. Turner
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"Barry N. Turner" wrote: (clip) I decided to use the sports section of the local newspaper instead.(clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Barry, you should have used the Business section. It's much dryer.

Reply to
Leo Lichtman

Mooooooaaaaaaaann!

Barry

Reply to
Barry N. Turner

Barry, where the sports section is involved, that white velvety substance might not be mold. Let us know if your bowl bulks up.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

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Reply to
Arch

I fix it by not confining the piece in high humidity until the surface appears dry to the eye.

Key numbers are 30% and 20% Moisture content.

Until the wood reaches ~30% MC, no bound water is released, no checks form, no deformation takes place. Obviously we want to get the wood to 30 ASAP. I don't consider the 10% "rule" as valid, preferring to cut a little thinner on regularly-grained pieces while they're wet and easier to cut. I use the average shrinkage figures for the species as my guide, which normally ends up with something approximating a 7.5% "rule." The thinner the start, the more rapidly the piece can shed moisture. I help it out by spinning up after roughing to centrifugally extract all the unbound water I can. Then I leave it in the open until the surface appears dry. Depending on RH, this can be four hours or two days.

Until the wood reaches ~20% MC, molds will still grow. That said, what you have is probably mildew, rather than mold. Mildew will grow anywhere where its feet are wet, so open drying generally limits it pretty well. Of course, alcohol may set it back temporarily, but if the moisture's available, it'll be back. Since the mildew is on the end grain of the piece, you'll probably cut all evidence of it away when you turn for round. So get the paper off for a while and help your cause. It's likely, if you're heating, that the low RH will dry the surface within hours to a point where the mildew won't grow.

If you've got some way to actively control humidity, you're looking at ~75% RH as ~15% MC. 75% has proven slow enough to prevent drying degrade of all save the worst case wood at my place.

Reply to
George

put it in the microwave for about 30 seconds on high 3 sessions should do it. Preferable if you use a $5.00 microwave from the goodwill as it avoids static from she who really is in charge of how we live.

Reply to
Bill Gooch

See, there's the problem, you used the sports section. The white fuzzy stuff is the cotton fuzz you get between your toes from athletic socks.

-- Chuck *#:^) chaz3913(AT)yahoo(DOT)com Anti-spam sig: please remove "NO SPAM" from e-mail address to reply. <

September 11, 2001 - Never Forget

Reply to
Chuck

I shoulda known that..............thanks. Barry

Reply to
Barry N. Turner

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