Walnut rough outs into the kiln

[Bob Bergstrom]

Another morning of roughing out walnut. Even with coring there were quite a few curls. The wood was a dream to turn. Took 18 rough out to the club and put them in the kiln. Starting with a 40 watt bulb I wil gradually increase the wattage over the next 6 weeks. Moisture meter says they have about 40% water. Still have a fair amount of room in the kiln so I'll be roughing some more.
image.jpgimage.jpg

[Roger Chandler]

Looks like you have a good process going there for drying, Bob. Question.....do you sell most of your turnings? If so, is it at shows, galleries or other venues?

[Bob Bouis]

Wouldn't it be better to wait a month or two before accelerating the drying?

[David Delo]

After seeing all the work you did here Bob............I think I need a nap.

[Bob Bergstrom]

Wouldn't it be better to wait a month or two before accelerating the drying?

I have 40 watt bulb in the cabinet. After two hours it was register 69 degrees. Colder than the atmosphere. The amount of wet bowls and no fan will be slow for a while. More controlled than my garage.

[Bob Bergstrom]

Looks like you have a good process going there for drying, Bob. Question.....do you sell most of your turnings? If so, is it at shows, galleries or other venues?

Roger, I sell a few by word of mouth, but I give a lot of them away. I tried selling quite a few years ago, liked talking to people, but it got old and I enjoy the surprise when they say how nice they are and then I hand it over. If I were buying wood it would be different.

[Brice Rogers]

I've been wrapping the end grain and/or edges of my bowls with packing stretch-wrap (got the idea from robo hippy) and am seeing less cracking. I did some experiments with a digital scale and found that the end grain loses moisture much faster than side grain. So it makes sense that if you want to keep the object in approximate moisture equilibrium as it is drying that either sealing (anchor seal) or stretch-wrapping the end grain makes sense.

I almost always put my rough turned and wrapped bowls into a paper bag with wet shavings. I measure the weight of the wet wood (both individually and in the bag with shavings) initially and then periodically check it. When it seems like the moisture loss is slowing down a lot then I will open the bag or may even remove it from the bag to accelerate the drying. But I take it slow initially.

[Doug Herzberg]

Bob, I have a lot of cracked walnut roughs from doing just what you're doing. I probably have other issues, but I think the Brice might have borrowed a good idea from robo hippy. With that much moisture, mold has been a problem in my kiln as well.

[Bob Bergstrom]

I usually do wrap the rim, I just forgot. I'll do it tomorrow when at the club shop. Some turnining I do are over 20" and I might get a rim crack 1 in 10. Wrapping is a great technique. I do see you guys are from dryer climates. If I'm drying oak or fruit woods, I'll take every precaution I can. Mold doesn't seem to bother me too much. I would rather have the brown wood leach into the walnut sap wood.

[Steve Nix]

I rough turned six 15" walnut bowl coated them with anchor seal. Bowls were turned two weeks after tree was harvested. Three were placed on the top shelf in my shop about 6.5 ' high and three were placed on the bottom shelf about 6" off the floor. Not a plan but those were the two shells I had enough room on at the time. The three on top shelf after 6 weeks cracked the ones on bottom shelf have not. Hard to believe there was than much temperature difference in the six foot elevation.

[John K Jordan]

...Hard to believe there was than much temperature difference in the six foot elevation.

Could there have been a humidity difference? Block walls or concrete floor, possibly below grade? More air circulation at the top?

I believe moist air generally rises but I can envision a case where moisture entering at the bottom and vented at the top could create a inverted differential. More likely the air is warmer at the top - I know in my shop there is always at least a several degree difference, measured with a Fluke IR thermometer. A few instruments could measure both.

I have no idea what temperature difference would make that much difference in the wood stability.

JKJ

[Bob Bergstrom]

I rough turned six 15" walnut bowl coated them with anchor seal. Bowls were turned two weeks after tree was harvested. Three were placed on the top shelf in my shop about 6.5 ' high and three were placed on the bottom shelf about 6" off the floor. Not a plan but those were the two shells I had enough room on at the time. The three on top shelf after 6 weeks cracked the ones on bottom shelf have not. Hard to believe there was than much temperature difference in the six foot elevation.

My best drying time in the garage is spring it to summer. I like to rough them in early spring, put them in the garage on the lowest shelf and leave them there till June. I move them up as the summer gets hot an many are finish turned in the fall. The big ones end up in the basement with the furnace running.

[Steve Mawson]

Bob,
Any holes for air movement in or out of your kiln. Have a club member that has a simular set up and he is having great luck, even a little faster than what you were talking about. Thanks

[Bob Bergstrom]

Bob,
Any holes for air movement in or out of your kiln. Have a club member that has a simular set up and he is having great luck, even a little faster than what you were talking about. Thanks

Yes Steve, there are six holes in the bottom and 6 in the top. Checked on them this morning and all were fine. I added six more and wrapped and taped the big ones. The thermometer registered 79 degrees with a relative high humidity. The temperature in Chiago reached 91 today. Some of the brown has jeached into the sapwood already. That's fine with me as I am not a big fan of bright white sapwood and brown heart wood.

image.jpg