tdale51@yahoo.com Posted February 1, 2013 Report Share Posted February 1, 2013 I was stacking firewood yesterday and found a really nice, solid piece of locust (not sure if honey or black). I brought it in the shop, stripped the bark, somewhat squared one face and two sides, cut it into roughly 5" square blanks 2-3 inches thick and sealed the end grain with melted paraffin wax and sat it on the lumber rack. I know that for regular purposes it would have to air dry approximately 1yr per inch of thickness. I would like to use this to turn small bowls or boxes. How long does this need to dry before it's stable enough? Same rule of thumb as with regular lumber? I know I could rough turn it and set it aside to do what its' going to do but I think I'd like to just let it dry then turn it. Thanks for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 thicker it is the longer it takes, do you have any idea if it was dry before you got it or how long ago the tree got cut down, or the time of year it was cut down? depending on when and how long ago it got cut down will give you a idea of how long it will take to dry my advice is eather forget about it for a couple years or rough it out and wait for it to dry out to find out what kind of locust it is the best easist and funest (is funest a word?) put it under a black light if its black locust it glows if its honey it wont. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdale51@yahoo.com Posted February 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 Duck, I believe this was cut about a year ago but I honestly have no idea since I didn't do the cutting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indy Cindy Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 thicker it is the longer it takes, do you have any idea if it was dry before you got it or how long ago the tree got cut down, or the time of year it was cut down? depending on when and how long ago it got cut down will give you a idea of how long it will take to dry my advice is eather forget about it for a couple years or rough it out and wait for it to dry out to find out what kind of locust it is the best easist and funest (is funest a word?) put it under a black light if its black locust it glows if its honey it wont. I did that test recently, honey locust does glow under black light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike M Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 Try tracking the weight. When it stops losing weight over a couple of weeks, it has reached equilibrium with the environment. Use a metric scale to get better resolution. Many postal and kitchen scales can switch between metric and english. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 i stand corrected i went and found the article that i read a couple years ago and it was compairing locust with several other species and cindy yes both species glow just others like mulbery which have a similar grain and color and strength do not glow. so i was wrong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miles11we Posted February 16, 2013 Report Share Posted February 16, 2013 some people use weight to track moisture, which i sometimes do but i picked up a cheap moisture meter a couple years back (basic push pin one) that comes in handy considering it was only 25 bucks or so, and seems to be relatively accurate. For woods that i cut down green to turn i always rough turn (and sometimes finish turn) green. This isnt just to decrease the drying time its also because it seems that the simple fact of "wood moves" is able to take place without as much stress and tension put onto the wood without the excess trying to keep it from moving... in other words you can dry faster, and more importantly dry better as in have better success in having no checking or cracks. i like to keep a hydrometer in the shop and just keep track of the relative humidity and compare it to the moisture meters results and when everything seems to stop drying and is in equilibrium i still wait another month or so simply because as wood dries it seems to slow down its drying at an exponential rate so the amount of moisture that is lost in 1 month at the start of they drying process could take 6 month to loose after it is very close to equilibrium. most of the time i just like to go by the "just turn it and see what happens" idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris H Posted February 18, 2013 Report Share Posted February 18, 2013 I have been experimenting with a lot of different drying techniches, but I would say definitely rough turn the blanks if you know what you want to make, and then worry about drying. Trying to dry before any shaping can be a very long process. So far, and this is by no meeans conclusive... I have gotten the best results by roughing, soaking in denatured alcohol for 8+ hours, and then saw dust in a brown bag. This has produced stable, consistent wood around 5%-8% mc. The only problems I have had came from hickory. For whatever reason, I had a bowl of hickory split pretty bad doing this. So far, Maple, Walnut, and Cherry have been fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indy Cindy Posted February 18, 2013 Report Share Posted February 18, 2013 Chris, How long does the wood take to dry after you do the alcohol soak? Cindy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris H Posted February 18, 2013 Report Share Posted February 18, 2013 Cindy, so far it has varied between 3-4 weeks. The largest piece I have successfully done was a 6x3 bowl that was roughed to a bout 1" thick on average. I did an 8x4 Hickory bowl, and it dried in 4 weeks, I think it was 9%mc, don't quote me on that though. But, the hickory bowl went straight to the burn pile, it checked badly. So, short answer long....4 weeks is a good rule of thumb. EDIT: On a side note, I did rough two cherry bowls the same day, and put one in the alcohol and one straight into the paper sack. The alcohol one was dried about 3 weeks in. The traditional one (Just sawdust and brown bag) is about 6 weeks at this point, and it was about 18% mc this weekend when I was checking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikem Posted February 18, 2013 Report Share Posted February 18, 2013 I say turn them now. At the very least you can rough turn them, let them dry a few months, the finish turn them. For that size, you MAY be able to get away with finish turning them to size if you go thin enough. The heat from the friction of turning will help dry the wood as well. Either way, turning wet wood is very common. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indy Cindy Posted February 18, 2013 Report Share Posted February 18, 2013 How are you determining moisture content? I recall your earlier post looking for quicker drying methods. I recently came across mention of a home made kiln for this purpose made from an old refrigerator, light, and a fan. Ideal temp is around 90 degrees. Those using it says it works well, but I don't have an old fridge to sacrifice for experiments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris H Posted February 18, 2013 Report Share Posted February 18, 2013 Cindy, I have built a homemade kiln. I didn't use a fridge, just some MDF, foam insulation, lightbulbs/sockets, outdoor weather unit, and an old bath fan to circulate the air. I would say all in, it cost me ~$100-$120 to build and is 2'x2'x4'. I have had wildly differing successes with the kiln. I haven't found a magic bullet yet. So far, the kiln is too dry, too quick. Just the fan runing get's the kiln to about 85-90F degrees. 2 of 4 bulbs running it gets to about 130F. RH in the room is about 36 (Basement in WI, heated, 65 degrees or so), when the fan is on it drops to about 20RH in the Kiln, with lights and fan I have seen it go as low as 6 RH. I am testing out air drying for a period (5,10,15 days) before adding to the kiln with just the fan on. So far, the 5d bowl had a small check form. I haven't added the 10 or 15 day sample yet. The alcohol seems like the best, but I guess only time will tell. Obviously the alcohol method won't work on a log or large chunks, so the kiln will still get good use, once I have figured out how to work it well. Oh, and I measure MC with a prong tester. It's not the best but even consistently wrong helps me to dial in. Everyone loves to hate prong MCs, and I honestly don't know why. It seems to work pretty consistant for me. RH is measured with a weather station unit in the Kiln. I have found the kiln works well for baking on a finish too. I just got done making a jewlery box and it was taking ~36 hours per coat of topcoat to dry just sitting in the basement. In the kiln with the fan on, it was dry to the touch in about 4 hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indy Cindy Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 Chris, Thanks for all of your details. Good information to have! Cindy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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