Drying European Olive Wood for Flute Making

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06-03-2017, 8:26 PM
Mike Turner

Drying European Olive Wood for Flute Making

I recently got some European olive wood. I am a flutemaker.These were still somewhat green.They were waxed when I got them.They were for the most 1 3/4" square by 32" long.....4 pieces of them.......Two of them I bored a 3/4" hole from one end to the other.I turned them until they were round which left the walls of the flute about 1/2" think.This was left thick and will be turned to flute size after it dries more...I anchor sealed them and one i covered in sawdust in a long rectangular flower pot the other one I just wrapped a little paper bag around it...totally experimenting....The guy I got the wood from said this is an oily wood and not sure about moisture content in this wood...I have dried a bunch of green bowls of different woods and a few flute blanks...Only had one endgrain turned oak bowl that literally cracked into four pieces...very hard oak..Had a green oak flute blank that the end warped on but I did salvage it....I dont use a lot of oak.. Any suggestions on any part of this.? Ever use this wood for anything before? If I succeed in making some flutes from it I will post a pic!

On some parts of the wood I get a mc reading anywhere from 9 to 13% Some places no reading and the points of the meter are stuck in good on the wood.a cheap Lowes moisture meter
06-04-2017, 9:08 AM
Stan Calow

I have turned some handles out of olivewood. Its beautiful wood. I had no issues with checking or cracking, but my pieces were already dry. I didn't notice oiliness as significant. But my pieces were all 6" length or less. I never came across any as long as yours, so good luck. The wood has such tight grain that it has good hand feel even without a finish.
06-04-2017, 4:12 PM
John K Jordan

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Turner

I recently got some European olive wood. I am a flutemaker.These were still somewhat green.They were waxed when I got them.They were for the most 1 3/4" square by 32" long.....4 pieces of them.......Two of them I bored a 3/4" hole from one end to the other.I turned them until they were round which left the walls of the flute about 1/2" think.This was left thick and will be turned to flute size after it dries more...I anchor sealed them and one i covered in sawdust in a long rectangular flower pot the other one I just wrapped a little paper bag around it...totally experimenting....The guy I got the wood from said this is an oily wood and not sure about moisture content in this wood...I have dried a bunch of green bowls of different woods and a few flute blanks...Only had one endgrain turned oak bowl that literally cracked into four pieces...very hard oak..Had a green oak flute blank that the end warped on but I did salvage it....I dont use a lot of oak.. Any suggestions on any part of this.? Ever use this wood for anything before? If I succeed in making some flutes from it I will post a pic!

On some parts of the wood I get a mc reading anywhere from 9 to 13% Some places no reading and the points of the meter are stuck in good on the wood.a cheap Lowes moisture meter

Mike,

I've turned two different types of olive wood, some European both imported and what I brought from Italy, and some Mediterranean. The Mediterranean was a large slab and dead dry. Some of the European was dry but the imported stuff is almost always coated all over with wax and presumed wet. I use a pinless moisture meter to monitor. If you are cutting it you can use the oven dry method to measure the moisture the absolute most accurate way possible.

I often dry waxed exotics by removing most of the wax on the sides of turning squares with a cabinet scraper but not the ends then let it sit up for several years. You can use the weigh-and-record method to monitor dryness to equilibrium.

I do find olive on the oily side but that varies with the individual wood. It is an absolute joy to turn, fine grained, cuts cleanly. I haven't had any crack yet from mostly 2x2 squares and smaller. The Med. stuff from the slab seems quite stable, but of course it is dry (many years in the air).

The numbers for Oak are much worse than Olive for stability. The Wood Database puts the Southern Red Oak Radial, Tangential, T/R ratio and Volumetric shrinkage at 4.7/11.3/2.4/16.1 while Olive is more reserved at 5.4/8.8/1.6/14.4. Oak in larger pieces is notorious for cracking. Always dry as slowly as possible. I wax all rough-turned surfaces and dry for months before final turning. I see no reason to wax and sawdust or bag - the wax seems to work well by itself around here, perhaps not in the desert.

I haven't made anything like the flute tubes you mention but rough hollowing then drying before final turning is the best way I know. As I mentioned, I like to wax a green piece entirely but usually only on the outside. The theory is shrinkage on the inside will tend to pull the circumference into compression and minimize the tendency for surface cracks. A lot of people do dry in shaving or paper bags so I suspect that will work too.

My gut feeling (without testing) is a 1/2" wall on a 1.5" cylinder is thicker than needed. If you didn't need it perfectly round, the thinner the initial wall the better. Since I suspect you do want it as round as possible, you might calculate the worst case movement based on the 1.6 T/R ratio to figure the minimum rough wall thickness then add a little for safety margin. This assumes the wood has green-wood moisture so wood partially dry should be much better behaved. Your pin reading of 9-13% is pretty low already but the pins, of course only read quite near the surface. If you can possibly cut a slice away from the end, measure it with the pin meter, then measure with the oven-dry method it might give more confidence concerning the expected shrinkage.

If you have good scales, you could also periodically weigh and plot each of your test pieces you should be able to easily tell when they are completely dry.

Are there other flute makers to ask?

JKJ
06-09-2017, 9:24 PM
Mike Turner

Thanks John.I dont have any scales yet..Need to get some...I did manage to bore the 2 others Wed. and turn them down thinner than the others..... about 5/16" wall thickness..Then sealed them with anchor seal.One has up to 20% mc. There is another flute maker that makes branch flutes that dries them in a homemade kiln and weighs them until they quit losing wt.He has done this for yrs. everything still looks good at this point...Thanks again for chiming in!!!
06-09-2017, 10:24 PM
John K Jordan

homemade kiln instructions

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Turner

Thanks John.I dont have any scales yet..Need to get some...I did manage to bore the 2 others Wed. and turn them down thinner than the others..... about 5/16" wall thickness..Then sealed them with anchor seal.One has up to 20% mc. There is another flute maker that makes branch flutes that dries them in a homemade kiln and weighs them until they quit losing wt.He has done this for yrs. everything still looks good at this point...Thanks again for chiming in!!!

A number of woodturners dry blanks by this method. Some build an inexpensive kiln from an old fridge or freezer.
Pro woodturner Cindy Drozda has a document: http://www.cindydrozda.com/handouts_...rying_kiln.pdf

If you search for "Cindy Drozda kiln" for other instructions including a video someone made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE2z4q0fcJI

You can dry with a microwave (carefully, a little at a time) and weigh to determine when the moisture is gone. I bought some good digital scales from Amazon that would be perfect for checking the size of wood you mentioned. The scales were pretty cheap.

JKJ