Taking care of apple

The "recipe" is to control loss from the end grain to keep it equalized with the interior.

structure ofthe tree and wood moisture andwood Boiling and microwaving will weaken the wood, though probably of little importance here. Of boiling, I know and expect little. Of microwaving, I prefer to evolve the moisture from within slowly, using lower settings and longer times - e.g. 20 % and three minutes. Warm times are separated by twenty minutes or so of cool. It will muddy the already subdued figure, so I rarely do.

All that said, the fact that people like to pick apples, and they don't like to reach makes for wood from pruned trees with all kinds of internal stress exacerbated by any drying, so don't expect the world.

I would take the pieces, after spinning them well to throw away as much unbound water as possible, let them surface dry in open air for an hour or so, then wrap in a couple of layers of newsprint. Two-three days later, remove and rewrap, discarding the wet paper, repeat. Once the paper's not damp to the touch, leave alone for a couple of weeks and then store open.

John, A couple of months ago, I read an article in More Woodturning about soaking bowl blanks in denatured alcohol for about 2 hours and then drying. I have tried it and it seems to work. My style is to green turn to finish thickness, let it dry and warp, then sand and finish. I just tried it on some Madrone, which as one friend says, " that stuff starts to split when you fire up the chainsaw." I left these bowls about 1/2 inch thick, instead of 1/4 inch or less, like I normally do for this wood. The bowls moved, there was no color loss, and there was no cracking. Under normal circumstances, I would guarantee that a Madrone bowl that thick, green turned would split. This is easier than boiling, and the smell is gone by the time that the bowl is dry. I have to try it sometime and leave the bowls (like madrone or cherry) about 1 inch thick for a real test of how this works. robo hippy

How do you store the denatured alcohol in large enough amounts to soak a bowl?

I used to use it as a solvent for shellac but got c> John,

What you want is denatured ethanol. The real nasty alchohol is methanol (aka, methyl hydrate, wood alcohol) which causes neurological disorders, blindness and death. Unfortunately this is perhaps the most commonly available alchohol and you are quite correct to be concerned about it. Sometimes the denaturing agent (so you can't drink it) is methanol but is around 10% and there are other denaturing agents used but it may be harder to find such alchohol. I was told on a forum that your liver prefers ethanol such that it won't bother with the methanol if they are in your system together, FWIW. Billh

Not to worry, Bill. Evaporation will take away the denaturant with the ethanol. The "secret" is not the alcohol, it's controlling moisture loss by tenting in paper. That should be familiar territory to all turners. If you're interested in the suppositions upon which it's based,

he plays fast and loose with physical chemistry, and doesn'tseem to understand much about the process of seasoning wood. Has somecelebrity endorsements, though. Anyone for a Q-Ray Ionized bracelet?

Before starting on all this palaver with boiling/chemicals/microwaves, ask yourself whether it's worth it, even if the wood is free. I've done it; in my opinion, it isn't.

Richard www woodstockturning.co.uk

I seem to recall reading somewhere that most wood won't split if you leave it about 1/2" thick per foot of bowl diameter. I've had some success with that formula, although I've had issues with some woods, such as Elm & Box Elder. Both start out really wet & are weak.

Personally, I like the microwave for drying bowls. Turn them to finish size & nuke. Apple & Dogwood can do some pretty cool warping if you make the shape right for it. I haven't noticed too much of a hit on strength.

Jim

Shhhh! Spread the word! LDD!

yes but inhaling a poisonous methanol denaturant along with the alcholol can be equally poisonous as drinking it or letting it absorb into your skin. There is a new thing out I have seen on TV where they give you shots by inhaling it. The stuff gets into your blood faster that way.

my c>

> Unfortunately, he plays fast and loose with physical chemistry, and doesn't> seem to understand much about the process of seasoning wood. Has some> celebrity endorsements, though.>

Let's see, where was I? Oh yes; The author of the article that I read figured out that the ingredient in LDD that makes it work the way it does (he called it a surfactant whatever that is) is alcohol. For experimental purposes, I didn't want to buy 20 gallons, so I black bagged it. I took a large heavy duty contractor's trash bag, the same ones that I use to store shavings in until I recycle them, and poured a quart or so into the bottom. I put the biggest bowl in first and sloshed it around coating the outside. I poured more alcohol inside the bowl and added the first core. More alcohol, and the next core, etc. I gathered up the sides of the bag around the biggest bowl, and tied it off. After soaking for a couple of hours, I took them out. I let them dry on an open wire rack in my shop. In western Oregon this is our humid season, and I have not found in necessary to brown bag my bowls. In about 2 weeks, the bowls had moved, but not cracked. There is no loss of color. I did several sets of bowls with less than 1 gallon of alcohol. I am still experimenting. I discovered a few years back that with some woods, I had to turn them thinner than I wanted to keep them from cracking. This method seems to offer a simple and covenient alternative. robo hippy

Leif Thorvaldson wrote:

====>All this is interesting; however, this was discussed sometime before and a number of people tried the alcohol bath method and were unsatisfied with it. My experience with LDD was that there was little to no movement nor cracking. Plus, alcohol will dry out your hands leaving them rough and chapped; whereas, LDD will leave them soft, smooth and clean and enhance your love life.*G*

Leif

It's been a while since I posted this, but Leif, you ARE the Madge of RCW.

;)

For those interested in more boiling info, look up Steve Russell. He's the Madge of the boiling technique.

Just trying to carry on her good work!*G*

Leif

Depends on the wood. Remember my eucalyptus bowl that turned into a potato chip?

Sorry, Gerald! I don't remember that occasion and have lost most of the emails I had carefully put in a separate file!! I don't remember if I replied to that email notifying me of this LDD disaster. I would imagine that my reaction /reply would have been that you didn't follow the procedure as outlined. Most of the failures that I was notified of were of that nature, and there weren't many of them. I have had two failures myself of the LDD procedure because I didn't follow the procedure. They were of madrone which is famous for its ability to crack and warp at the merest thought of turning it! I blew it with the two fresh pieces that I had and have not been able to obtain more of madrone to try using the proper procedure. Have never tried eucalyptus. Anyhow, have you persisted in using LDD or have you abandoned the process? I don't get much feed back from folks as to their success or failures, so I can only state my own continued success with it.

Leif

I don't get much feed back

Here's some. I have had some fresh cherry branches soaking in LDD since, roughly, October.

As an experiment, I took one goblet sized piece out and turned it into, well, a goblet. I got no cracks on the vessel portion but some lengthwise cracks on the stem portion (about 1" dia).

Now, since I've had this stuff soaking in detergent for MONTHS, how do I finish it? Do I simply finish over the residual LDD (oil-based varnish is envisioned here) or is there something I should do to leech the LDD out?

I intend that the goblet should actually be used for wine.

Bill

Did you keep the goblet in the LDD in-between working on it? What I have suggested is that when you are ready for the final turning and sanding, that you do so and immediately apply the finish. If you did the goblet in one go, then you should have applied the finish immediately. Leaving the piece out to dry before applying finish is not advised.When you are done with turning and sanding, you shouldn't have significant amounts of LDD remaining in the wood. I haven't had ANY finishes fail due to residual LDD in the item. Hope this helps.

Leif