drying green bowl blanks

[duckkisser]

hey i started making some bowl blanks from green lumber. what is you favorite way to preserve you blanks for storage. i think that im going to put in paper bag and suround it in wood chips.from the turning to keep it from warping, checking and spliting to bad. also how thick do you usualy allow your bowls to be i dont want to be so thin it warps but i guess if its too thick it tends to split. has anyone used boiling, alcohol or soap to get the wood cells to rupture and dry faster how well does it work?

[jwatson]

for a ten inch bowl the wall thickness needs to be 1 inch while drying this is around 10 percent of diameter. even then you will still experience warping that you can return out later. putting it in a bag of shavings is a good way to go mark it with the date you turned it.

[duckkisser]

thanks is this the easist way to make bowls as im not planing on doing too many this year would rather rough out a ton of them and batch out lots of bowls next year with my kids.

[sbarton22]

Take a step back. What do you want these bowls to look like?

If you don't know, rough turn to round, and to the bag thing. You can even slap on some anchorseal and go that route.

If you do know, then you go the rough out the form and do the bag thing.

The point is that the intended end product should dictate the process. You are more likely than not, going to get warping. Warping isn't just caused by the directional shrinking of the wood. Once you turn it, you are releasing internal forces. That may actually exaggerate the warping process.

Also keep in mind, if you turn a mortise to hold the bowl, when you come back, it may be out of whack as well.

[duckkisser]

i have been just turning a loose bowl shape with the end goal of thinning it down and making some flair for it. the end goal is for more advanced students including myself to make bowls next year if they have shown they can pick up the turning lessons and can turn successfuly and safely. these bowls that i have made so far have been prity simple so the kids can decide if they want a rim, some ridges or line cut into them. also its great practice for when i want to make a thin bowl and i dont want it to explode on me as its turning. the bowls that i have made started to crack along the rim so i dont think just baging it will work very well. and since i just got some anchor seal i coated it and then baged it. goign to try one with just end grain sealed and another with entire bowl covered see which changes less.

[SandSWoodcraft]

I was reading somewhere to take and put the rough turned blank in the microwave.There are various opinions on proper time/power ratio, but lots of people claim decent results. Haven't tried it yet myself.

[duckkisser]

ya i saw something similar to that low heat for short amunts of time so it does not crack havent tried yet but soon. nice thing is if the wood is heated especialy with steaming you can bend the rim and make a spout. at least in theory.