For those interested in DNA bowl drying

[Dave Smith]

I have been documenting the drying of several bowls on my Alcohol Soaking blog. Lots of pictures and some graphs. I will be adding more as time permits.

If you know this process doesn't work then don't bother viewing to the blog.

Dave Smith

Sunshine, is this really Longview, WA?

[Bernie Weishapl]

Started using it as soon as read the info on your site. Have only lost 1 bowl since compared to about 50% before. Thanks.

[Jim King]

Dave:
As turning blanks are a very important part of our business we take everything seriously about drying and handeling wood. We have a small lab for simple chemical analysis of woods to assist in determining if look alike species are the same or different . With our test we get a rainbow type reading using special chemicals and a silicon paper very simalar to what you see on TV as a DNA test.

Now to the point, we have boiled, soaked in the soap method and used alcohol. IT APPEARS that they all do the same thing to wood in their own way. The chemical analysis of wood is different after using all of the above methods. This leads me to beleive that all three methods remove the sap from the wood and replace it with water thus making the wood easier to dry as water is removed faster than sap.

I am no scientist, just reporting what we have found with our primitive studies. I found it very interesting yesterday that on the photo display of the AAW Symposium in Louisville there was a booth selling just super glue. Seems as until that guy has no reason to show up we need to keep trying everything we hear about.

[Dave Smith]

Hi Jim,

The alcohol exchanges with the water in the wood. Alcohol and water are miscible which means they are capable of mixing in any ratio without separation of two phases. The best example is alcoholic beverages. If the alcohol and water were not miscible you would have to shake the bottle to mix them. It is the difference in alcohol concentration of the soaking solution and the water in the wood that causes the exchange to occur. The evidence of the exchange happening is the drop in alcohol concentration in the soaking solution. In a perfect world I could run chemical analysis on the soaking solution to see what, if anything, is removed during the soaking process. This sounds like a Masters or PHD Thesis to me.

I suspect there are other things besides alcohol/water exchange that are happening but the testing is beyond my resources. The only money I have derived from the years of research and data collection is from a couple club presentations and the sale of a few tee shirts. But some people react like I am selling snake oil and I am going to make a fortune convincing turners to use the process.

The CA glue guy is very important. I have been using his product for years. There are uses for CA glue that have nothing to do with drying a roughed out bowl. Like palm pen blanks.

I wish I could have made it to the AAW Symposium this year and had the chance to meet you. Will you be in Portland next year? I am submitting a demonstrator application to present the alcohol soaking process and other methods of drying wood.

Dave Smith

Sunshine, life is good in Longview, WA.

[Ernie Nyvall]

Thanks for the update Dave. I'm really liking the alcohol method.

Ernie

[Jim King]

Dave: I wasn´t at the symposium either. I just saw the photos on the AAW site. I would like to go next year also as it will be only a couple of hours from our warehouse in Seattle. http://www.woodturner.org/sym/sym2006/

I have had the same experience talking about boiling which has been very successful for our exotics. Trying to help people and get some responses as if I did something horrible.

I too have about run my limit as to the different drying techniques but in a couple of weeks our wood ID expert and researcher from the U of SC will be back for three weeks and I will run him thru the hurdles. I think all of the confusion and lack of knowledge about drying blanks and in general about turning just goes to show how the hobby has just recently become so wide spread.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Dave and Jim, as a member of the ASPCWB (American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Wooden Bowls), I feel it is my duty to report both of you to the Society. Drowning poor, helpless wooden bowls in booze, or boiling them alive is simply taking things too far. You should be ashamed.

And what's the deal about CA glue? Why is it worse than glue from VA or WA or any other state?

Seriously, thanks to both of you for the useful education. I'm DNAing my first bowl right now. In my house, the DNA bath is easier to arrange than a long boil, but the info both of you have provided in the past (and I'm sure will provide in the future) has been very helpful to a newb like me.

Thanks again -

- Vaughn

[Jack Wood]

I have tried the DNA method and feel that it works, but my problem is the cost of DNA! Is there a good source for inexpensive DNA? Lowes sells it at about $11 a gal if I recall correctly. Thanks for any tips!

[Dick Strauss]

Jack,
Check your local Ace hardware store. They were selling it at about $8/gal. You can also check a paint store like Sherwin Williams to seee if they will sell you 5 gallons. I bought 5gal/$35 the last time I made a buy. The prices may have gone up given the demand for Ethanol from changes to gasoline mixes.

One gallon allows you to soak over a dozen medium size pieces before it loses it its mojo...

[Dennis Peacock]

Dave Smith.....THANK YOU for the DNA method. I have used it for a while now and the success rate of the bowl blanks have been outstanding.

I'm about to experiment with a home brew from a local guy here who is making his own Ethanol (190 proof) and add some methanol to it, and use it for my DNA (since DNA is Ethanol with Methanol added to make it DNA). This way, I can get it for about $3 per gallon. I'll let you know the results.

[Cecil Arnold]

So Dennis, why would you want to mess some perfectly good moonshine by adding methanol, it will soak just the same and you can drink your mistakes.

[Dennis Peacock]

So Dennis, why would you want to mess some perfectly good moonshine by adding methanol, it will soak just the same and you can drink your mistakes.

ROFL!!!!!!! They can't sell it to me without the Methanol added to it. It WOULD be moonshine then, and that's illegal in this state.

[Gary Max]

Heck I bought some stuff off that guy selling just CA. What's wrong with someone selling CA? I ain't getting the jest of the story.

[Rob Bourgeois]

Dennis..ask the guy with the still if he could.."redistill" your used alcohol. In theory you can but I dont know if it would be cost effective.

[Dennis Peacock]

Dennis..ask the guy with the still if he could.."redistill" your used alcohol. In theory you can but I dont know if it would be cost effective.

Haven't thought about that....but that's why they pay you the BIG Bucks. I'll ask and see.