How long to let spindles dry?

[David Brimm]

Fairly new to turning and I've built up a back log of questions maybe someone here can help me with.

I've been doing quite a bit of spindle work lately with exotic woods picked up at Wood Workers Source, Woodcraft, Penn, etc. I'm getting checking in my finished pieces after they've sat for a bit. The wood all comes wax coated.

Does this mean the wood is too wet? Is there a way to tell besides bagging it and weighing weekly until it stops changing? How long will I have to wait to turn this wood? We're talking spindles 1.5-3" x 12" or so.

[Quinn McCarthy]

Dave,

I usually use only wood I know is kiln dried. I let all spindle stock acclimate to the conditions in the shop. Usually with exotic wood I get finish on the wood asap.

Hope that helps.

Quinn

[David E Keller]

I suppose you could use a moisture meter if you have one available. It's generally best to consider the waxed spindle blanks from those places to be somewhat green.

[David Brimm]

Thanks guys, I haven't been able to find many places that have a good selection of kiln dried exotics for some reason. I'll try and see if putting finish on immediately helps and yeah I think in the future I'll have to assume the wood is greenish.. that isn't any fun though!