Here’s a wood drying question for you all. I have some pieces of apple trees that look like they will make some beautiful bowls some day. Some of these apple pieces are straight sections of the tree while others have lots of knots and twist in them. These trees were cut down last spring. I also have a 3 foot long piece of red oak from a tree I cut down last week that I would also like to make some bowls from. This red oak is a straight piece from the bottom of the tree that’s 9 inches in diameter at the top and 12 inches at the bottom. I could cut it into smaller pieces if that’s the right thing to do. The question is how to dry these pieces so that they don’t split and how long will this drying process take? Thanks for your input.
Drying Apple and Red Oak
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Since they were cut last spring, they may already have cracked pretty bad unless you put some Anchorseal or something on the endgrain. Splitting can happen within a few hours if you do not do that. The best way to prevent splitting of the blanks is to split the blanks in half and remove the middle or pith of the log out of the blank in the process. By removing the pith the worst of the cracking can be avoided.
The quickest way to dry them is to actually rough turn them while green. The rule of thumb is to turn them so that the thickness is about 10% of the diameter. I usually sweep up some of the wet shavings and bury the rough bowl in the shavings in a paper bag or cardboard box. This slows down the drying a little and reduces the chance of cracking as it dries. It is a good idea to sort of fluff up the shavings every few days at first to prevent mold. I usually weigh the blank using an old kitchen scale and write that, along with the date and wood species on the rough bowl before I put it in the bag. I will periodically weight it to see how much weight it has lost as it dries. When the rate of drying slows down you can turn it. It can take from 6 weeks to 6 months before it is dry enough to finish turning to final thickness and shape.
When I am too impatient to wait the full drying time, I will sometimes use the microwave to speed up the drying of rough bowls. It will depend upon how big the bowl is but I usually start wet bowls at 50% power for about 3 or 4 minutes. Let it cool and repeat. As it starts to dry, lower the power % and the time so that you do not scorch the wood. Weigh it before each microwave cycle and when it stops losing weight, it is ready for final turning.
The quickest way to dry them is to actually rough turn them while green. The rule of thumb is to turn them so that the thickness is about 10% of the diameter. I usually sweep up some of the wet shavings and bury the rough bowl in the shavings in a paper bag or cardboard box. This slows down the drying a little and reduces the chance of cracking as it dries. It is a good idea to sort of fluff up the shavings every few days at first to prevent mold. I usually weigh the blank using an old kitchen scale and write that, along with the date and wood species on the rough bowl before I put it in the bag. I will periodically weight it to see how much weight it has lost as it dries. When the rate of drying slows down you can turn it. It can take from 6 weeks to 6 months before it is dry enough to finish turning to final thickness and shape.
When I am too impatient to wait the full drying time, I will sometimes use the microwave to speed up the drying of rough bowls. It will depend upon how big the bowl is but I usually start wet bowls at 50% power for about 3 or 4 minutes. Let it cool and repeat. As it starts to dry, lower the power % and the time so that you do not scorch the wood. Weigh it before each microwave cycle and when it stops losing weight, it is ready for final turning.
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