Turning Green wood & Dry Time

[Eric Apple - Central IN]

I've read a few postings on turning green wood bowls on the lathe. It seems like the dry time a lot of people take before finish turning are incredibly short. With the green wood I turn, it sprays water out and the bowl is basically soaking wet. A few days latter if you turn it again, it's still very wet and won't sand. The wood basically doesn't get hard and dry for at least weeks. If you do manage to sand it, it dries further and gets bumpy on the growth rings. I think about 2 months would be a good dry time before finish turning and finishing.

From what I've read, several people turn green wood, soak it for a few days in LDD, let it air dry for a day and then finish turn and put a finish on the bowl.

What am I missing ? Maybe the green wood they are using is "seasoned" for a while. I have basically gathered green wood the day the tree is cut, and then slab it, and turn it within a week of being a tree. A few months latter, I have a bowl.

[Garrett Lambert]

Go to http://www.ronkent.com/RKhome.html
click on Techniques
Scroll down to Experimental Technique i.e. LDD
Ron Kent is the guy who discovered the process.

Then read this by Ernie Conover:
http://www.conoverworkshops.com/ww/news/ww1_6.htm

Other quick drying techniques include microwaving and boiling.

The truth is that none is perfect but all help. A lot. You will still get some cracks and warping not always, not necessarily together, buit you will find some bowls just don't do as well as others.

Cheers, Garrett

[Keith Harper]

The Ron Kent "soap soak" method is very popular just now, but I've not tried it yet. I rough out my green turnings then dry. In case of a bowl, turn walls to athickness of 10% of the diameter; put the turning into a paper grocery sack and close top with clips of some sort. Weigh bowl and record. Repeat weighings about every month until weight is constant. Mount on lathe at this point and finish turn, sand and finish.

[Eric Apple - Central IN]

The couple of months in the grocery sack is what I'm used to. I was very surprised to read of others finishing green turned bowls in a matter of days without the microwave method. I'm going to go read the LDD links Garrett posted above. Must be magic, I can't see how the wet wood could dry out in a couple of days. It seems like it would be worth trying.

For Keith and Garrett - have you guys used the LDD method with wet green wood ? If you did, how long did the rough bowl take to dry befor finish turning and finishing the bowl ?

Thanks

[Ron Smith ... Richmond, VA]

when you finish turning from the LDD ... it just prevents a lot of the cracking and distortion. You still have to wait for it to dry before applying a good finish sanding and finish. Just my 2 cents ...