drying spindle blanks

[Dan Forman]

I would like to lay in a supply of spindle blanks for peppermills and such, up to 3" wide and up to 12" long. What do I need to do to allow them to dry without splitting, and how long will it take? At the moment, I have green maple, locust, and elm. Thanks.

Dan

[Curt Fuller]

I've only made one peppermill but this is what I used to do for duck calls which are a similar process. Pre-drill the blank before sealing the ends. That will allow the moisture to escape from the inside and outside of the wood and dry a little quicker than just a plain end sealed blank. But the other thing is that the wood moves much less in a long square blank for something like a peppermill than in a wide flat blank for a bowl.

[Dale Miner]

Rip them into 3 1/4x 3 1/4 x 2 inches longer than you will need when dry.

Put between centers, and rough to 3 1/4 inch rounds. Anchorseal the ends. Allow about 2 years for drying, maybe a bit longer for the locust.

The extra length is to allow for removing any checks that might occur and still yield the length needed.

[Jeff Nicol]

Dan, Just like any turning you can rough them out some but leave plenty of wood for finish turning. If you can get the inside out it will dry faster and will relax any of the stress that may be in the blank. If that is not an option you can put them in a small fan kiln to move air over and around the blanks. Make sure to seal the ends not matter what and that will stop the checking. If you have a warm attic in your house or garage the extra heat from the summer sun will dry them faster too.

Lots of things that might work for you so good luck!

Happy New Year!

Jeff

[Bernie Weishapl]

Dan I don't use green blanks for peppermills anymore. They just don't work for me. I buy my 3 X 3 X 12 blanks at the big auction site that are kiln dried. I have found that using green takes to long to dry and a lot of them crack even when sealed.

[Dean Thomas]

Two thoughts come to mind:

The pre-drilling sounds like a dandy good plan except that we know the hole ain't gonna be round when you go to finish it up. Getting your Forstner bit to recenter over an oval hole is not easy and is often not repeatable.

Slathering the end grain of any green wood with AnchorSeal or your personal favorite concoction to seal it up good will help reduce or eliminate end checking for most woods. Some woods are just going to check. Leave your blanks longer by 1/3 than you might otherwise.

Oh by the way, and the rule of thumb is one year per inch of thickness. The other rule of thumb if you choose not to use that one is to spend $$ for either a gram scale (and weigh monthly until stable) or a device that will tell you the moisture content in the wood.

Random thoughts cuz I can't rub two of 'em together right now.

[Dick Strauss]

Dan,
Get rid of the first few growth rings in the center of the log if possible. Splits usually start there...

Seal them well with anchorseal and be patient (wait a few years)!

[Scott Conners]

Avoid any of the pith (center of the log) in the blanks, it will almost always check and begin splits. Put them somewhere to dry where air can circulate in and around them. A lightbulb or two can help keep the immediate area warm and air moving, especially if the wood is semi-enclosed with ventilation.

[Dan Forman]

Thanks for the replies. Looks like it's a long wait for drying. Anyone have a specific ebay dealer to recommend in the meantime?

Dan

[Greg Just]

Althought I have not tried this yet, why couldn't you rough out the pepper mill blanks including drilling an undersized hole, soak in DNA and dry like you would a bowl. When dry, remount, re-drill and turn the finished pepper mill. Do you think it would be too hard to drill the hole again?