Drying - just wait?

[Bernie Vail]

A friend gave me a big chunk of green Black Walnut (I know, how can it be green if its black?). I roughed out two 10 inch bowls and put each one in a brown paper bag, surrounded by damp shavings from the turning. What now? Do I just wait? Or is there something that I need to do in the meantime?

Bernie

[George Guadiane]

A friend gave me a big chunk of green Black Walnut (I know, how can it be green if its black?). I roughed out two 10 inch bowls and put each one in a brown paper bag, surrounded by damp shavings from the turning. What now? Do I just wait? Or is there something that I need to do in the meantime?

Bernie
Find another piece of wood and do it again, find another piece of wood and do it again, find another piece of wood and do it again...

[Allen Neighbors]

George nailed it! :D

[alex carey]

and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, BUT THEN, that first piece of wood will be dry and ready to finish.

[Bernie Vail]

ROFL no I meant is there anything else I need to do about the drying!! Do I just let the paper bag sit?

Bernie

(I plan on doing it again and again!)

[Donny Lawson]

Usually, I seal the end grain of the bowl because the end grain tends to dry faster than the rest of it. It just helps to prevent cracking. So far it's done well for me.
Donny

[curtis rosche]

just let the bowl sit.
and then take a couple wet peices and try turning thin. its fun. and when it warps all out of shape it looks cool too

[Wally Dickerman]

Just rough 'em out, seal the outside with wood sealer and store them away for several months.

I don't know why, but some turners seem reluctant to use wood sealer or wax on roughed out pieces...then they are diappointed when some crack.

Unless the wood is really wet I never use paper bags. Right now I have around 70 rough turned pieces in my shop. None are cracked. A few went into paper bags for a month or so. My shop is quite small. If they were all in paper bags I wouldn't have room to move around:(

Wally

[David E Keller]

I've had good luck with walnut doing nothing but letting them dry. There are lots of variables... temperature, humidity, air flow, starting moisture content, thickness of the rough turned piece, etc.

There's no harm in sealing the wood with anchorseal or wax, but it will slow the drying. That means you'll have to wait a bit longer before finish turning, but you'll also be less likely to have issues with cracking.

There are several threads on using denatured alcohol to speed the drying process if that's something you're interested in.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I just totally coat mine with anchorseal. I store them on the floor in a room with not much air flow and it stays around 68 degrees. Let them dry for several months.

[Roger Bullock]

cross your fingers and pray for no cracks

[Prashun Patel]

+1 for anchorseal.
+1 for praying.

Can you take a picture? I love green black walnut. The one time I had such a piece, it faded on me during drying. :(