Boiling wood

[MIKE E BEE]

Hey guys,

I thought you guys might find this interesting. Anyone have any experience with this?

http://www.woodturningvideosplus.com/boiling-green-wood.html

[Ron Bontz]

I have heard of it but have not tried it myself. :)

[Bernie Weishapl]

Haven't had any experience with it but have been on his mailing list for a couple of years. Lots of info.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Cracking and checking is caused by wet wood drying too fast and different areas of the wood drying at different rates. It's also caused by internal stresses within the wood being released as the wood is drying.

I live in an extremely arrid area. Our total annual moisture is 12". 2 inches less and we would be a desert. Wood dries extemely rapidly here and thus methods that work in relatively wet areas of the country may or may not work here.

A local turner was trying some boiling. I hope to find out in a month or two if it worked for him.

[Paul Atkins]

I boiled some cherry and black locust bowl blanks and it worked well. The color changed on the outside, but the inside didn't change. These are about 6-12" and a thickness of about 1 1/4" wall and I boiled them about 1 1/2 hours. I wrapped them in multiple layers of masking paper.

[Ron Bontz]

Paul, How long did you let them sit? Or are they still sitting?

[Joe Adams]

Steven Russell is a professional turner who used to do demonstrations at the Woodworking Shows. He lives near Houston in the Woodlands.

I've visited with him several times and found him to be very knowledgeable.

He developed his boiling protocol from years of experimentation so it's definitely worth a try.

Be sure to sign up for his monthly newsletter (Lathe Talk). I have his DVD's and can attest that his videos and e-articles are full of great information.

I believe he is president of the Lone Star Woodturners Association, an AAW chapter.

[curtis rosche]

i boil cherry when i turn it wet. i turn it thin and the boil it, then microwave it for 2 minutes, then boil it for a couple more minutes, the microwave it for 2 minutes, the boil again for alot longer, then microwave for 60 to 30 second periods over a few hours,, the water it is boiled in smells really good and it warps the peice. just make sure you listen to it when its in the microwave, if u hear it start to crack, take it out

[Dennis Ford]

I tried it on some post oak, it helped to reduce cracking (post oak is difficult to dry without cracking). It seems like some extra trouble but it is worthwhile for difficult woods. No problems with color change inside the wood.

[Ralph Lindberg]

Boiling is a well know method. Steve is one of the big promoters of the method

Those of us that turn Madrone burl use it all the time, people that turn wet tropicals use it alot also.

I have had zero failures with the wet woods I have boiled. Not a bad rate.

I don't boil the easy woods (maple, etc). They seldom fail on me

[Paul Atkins]

Two of them I turned after a few months and the others are still sitting ( a year and a half) under the piles of blanks here somewhere waiting for 'spare time'.

[Reed Gray]

The only reason I would boil would be for twice turned bowls (thick turned, dried, then returned), and as said by others, some woods don't need this as they are fairly stable when drying. For thin turned bowls it isn't necessary.

Madrone is the ultimate example of difficult wood, as in "that stuff starts to split when you fire up the chainsaw". I prefer the warped shapes, and the burl does insane things as it drys. In my experiments with drying it, I found the paper bag method to be very inconsistent. A lot of times they would crack, with single and double bagging, and even triple bagging. It didn't matter if they were left on the floor or not. Soaking in DNA, or LDD didn't make any difference either. Wrapping the outside only, with a couple of layers of newspaper, and securing that to the rim with the plastic stretch film, along with rounding the edges of the bowl, made a huge difference. A lot of the time, I don't even use the newspaper, just the plastic film. It has to be the compression on the rim of the bowl by stretching the plastic over it, and covering the rim that makes the difference. Success rate is almost 100% even with madrone that has knots in it. No need to boil thin bowls. You could I guess, but it is an unnecessary step.

robo hippy