Soaking my first blanks in DNA

[Donny Lawson]

I spent last night working on roughing out a spalted holly bowl and I made some pen blanks.I put them in a bucket with DNA.I will be taking them out this morning to let dry.Is there any precautions to take when drying to prevent cracking?
Donny

[Scott Hackler]

My process, that hasnt failed me yet is:

1) overnight to several days (several day for fruit type wood) in the Dna
2) take out fo bucket and let sit for 15 - 30 minutes to "drip dry"
3) using 2 layers of newspaper, I place the bowl upside down on the paper
(hole towards the paper) and bring up the newspaper to wrap it up
4) after taping of the bottom of the bowl / newspaper loose ends, I flip it over
and run 2 layers tightly around the rim.
5) Next I run 2 strips of tape, crisscrossing the "top" of the bowl
6) using a sharp knife I cut triangle flaps in the newspaper at open part of the bowl
7) flip it back over and label and date with a marker.
8) I place it top down on a shelf in my shop and wait for 4-6 weeks

I dont weigh mine, just becuase I never have. I usually smell through the air holes and if I can still smell a hint of Dna it gets left alone. If there it no smell of Dna, (after 4-6 weeks) I will sometimes remove the blank from the newspaper and sit it on top of all the rest of the dried blanks.

Hope this helps a bit.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I pretty much do like Scott except I like brown grocery sacks. I also cut the opening in the bowl just to the rim to open it up. I soak for a minimum of 2 days for most woods and 5 days or so for fruit wood. The room I put them stays around 65 to 68 deg and they are stack on the floor till dry.

[Donny Lawson]

Would pen blanks be any different? Mine are 7/8" square x 6" long.Holly and Box Elder.
Donny

[Scott Hackler]

I have dried a bunch of pen blanks and I don't wrap them up after the soak. I just stack them up so there is air circulation between them and let them sit on the shelf. Seems to work just fine.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Donny I don't soak my pen blanks. I dip each end in anchorseal and stack them with shims inbetween them for the air to circulate around them.

[Aaron Wingert]

I soak my 4-1/2" diameter 1-1/2" thick turkey call blanks in DNA. Usually walnut. I let them soak for at least a couple days. Then I remove them, shake them off, and put each one directly into its own paper fast food sack (I eat way too much Wendys). A couple weeks later I open the sack a bit. A week after that I remove them from the sack and set them on a wire shelf, which is great for air circulation. The rest of the drying takes about a month. Two weeks into the drying after removal from the sacks I start weighing the blanks every couple/few days. I record the weights and dates on each blank with a fine sharpie. When they stop losing weight they're good to go.

I don't see any reason you couldn't do the DNA method on pen blanks. Should work fine. I think I'd take it a step further and wrap them in newspaper before bagging them though.

[Donny Lawson]

I've done two different methods of drying after DNA and I'm going to see which one works best. First one I let the pen blanks drain and put 4 blanks in a bag with shavings just like the bowls.The second one was to let the blanks drain and wrap them in newspaper and place on a wire rack.
Donny