Do you have access to downed green wood but then have struggled with how to begin the drying process? Perhaps you are not sure what steps to take to dry your wood. Or, does your current method produce more cracks or movement than you expected or liked? If so, then this month’s demonstration on different methods to dry wood, through an extended experiment, will provide insights into the many possibilities available.
Turning bowls and other forms from green wood has been practiced for centuries. But, because wood shrinks a small amount along the grain but quite a bit more both radially and tangentially to the grain, bowls turned from green wood are prone to warp to an oval shape as they dry. This difference in drying can make checking and cracking likely, depending on the type of wood and the speed of the drying process.
Over a 6-month period, Karl Koch has tested different methods of drying rough-turned bowl blanks using wood from the same tree (to help minimize variables.) These include boiling, microwaving, kiln-drying, soaking in denatured alcohol, coating with Anchorseal, wrapping with plastic film, soaking in a soap solution, drying in a paper bag with wood shavings, and just setting the rough blank on a shelf.
In this demonstration Karl will share his results with everyone and “MAY THE BEST BOWL DRYING METHOD WIN!”