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2022/12/08 - Wood Drying for Woodturners with Dr. Frederik Laleicke

Published on 9/13/2022

Wood Drying for Woodturners with Dr. Frederik Laleicke
Please note that this Guild meeting and demonstration will be presented in Hybrid form.
Members may choose to attend live at the NC State Craft Center or attend via Zoom.
Those who plan to attend in person, will be required to wear a face mask.

Thursday December 8th
NC State meeting room and Zoom call opens a 6:15 for socializing
Meeting begins at 6:45 PM
Demonstration begins at 7 PM

How is your wood supply? Do you have problems with cracking even before you rough turn your pieces? Like to have a bit more of a scientific approach and process for drying your wood?

Well maybe we can help, WGNC is happy to welcome one of our local wood experts and assistant professor from NC State University Dr. Frederik Laleicke.

Dr. Laleicke will discuss some of the methods that he recommends for drying wood for woodturners to help the cracking and defects we all like to avoid. He will share wood samples to help with understanding wood anatomy and the characteristics important to woodturning. He will also provide some recommendations on different moisture meters that can be used including price and quality.

Topics to be discussed:

Wood Anatomy related to Drying
- Including the use of 10x lenses to identify common anatomical features
Wood Moisture and the Environment
- Adsorption/Desorption, the concept of equilibrium moisture content
- Drying defects
- How to measure moisture content: moisture meters and oven drying
Drying Wood
- What is „drying“, what are the factors and how can we control them
- Solar Kilns, DH Kiln
- Non-conventional methods of removing moisture (microwaves and other DIY methods)
+ An overview of what can be found in the literature related to drying and woodturning

Reaction wood, juvenile wood, heartwood vs sapwood

We hope you will join us for this informative demonstration and participate to learn many of these unique techniques.

About our Demonstrator:

Dr. Frederik Laleicke - Extension Specialist on Wood Products and Assistant Professor at NC State University:
Frederik is from Germany where he started his education in wood at the University of Hamburg before achieving his PHD from Oregon State University where he began his teaching career.

He came to NC State University in January 2018 as Assistant Professor and Wood Products Extension Specialist. He focuses on educational programs and assistance for wood waste and reclaimed wood utilization, along with physical properties and durability of mass timber products in North Carolina.

He has taught several classes throughout the United States on wood anatomy and the drying methods of timber to multiple groups with interest in wood products and recycling.

Learn more about Frederik:

Website: https://cnr.ncsu.edu/directory/paul-laleicke/

Zoom log-in instructions will be sent with the meeting notice.

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