DNA or Soap

[Mike Tilley]

I have a cherry burl that I'am starting to turn I don't Turn wet wood very often and have had problems with it cracking after rough out. My question is do you completely submerge the bowl in DNA or soap( what type of soap) and for how long? What do you do with it after it is taken out plastic bag or what? Any help on this will maybe save the burl from me. Thanks mike

[Jim Burr]

Mike...burls are funny no matter what you do! If you are going to DNA it...all the way in and longer is better than shorter. Many thread responses on DNA end in "I forgot to take it out, 2 weeks later it was fine." Since burls can go wacky on you...longer the better totally submerged....nothing wrong with 5-7 days. Pull it out, let it flash dry for 30 minutes and wrap it up in paper...lots like newsprint...weigh it and wait.

[Mike Cruz]

Yeah...what Jim said...

[Roger Chandler]

The info I have read on the soap soak [liquid dish detergent 50/50 mixture with water] uses the Kirkland brand dish detergent from Costco............why? Well it seems to work well, and probably was fairly cheap, so somebody decided that was the way to go............however, it may be some ingredient in that brand that makes it work a little better than most...........who knows.

I hear it will discolor the wood just a bit, but not a deal breaker with most turners who use it.

Personally, I use the DNA method.........so far I have had fairly good success with it.........only several pieces to date, but I have two roughout pieces currently in the drying process awaiting finish turning.

[Mike Cruz]

Hehe, just remembered that I have a roughout that I put in DNA on Saturday afternoon. Suppose I ought to get it out tomorrow...:D

[Reed Gray]

I use the LDD (dish soap) soak. It was developed by Ron Kent in Hawaii for dealing with the Norfolk Island Pine. What it does is make things much easier to sand out. I figure it might have some thing to do with the glycerine in the soap, but don't know for sure. It will pull some color out of the wood, which is not a problem unless you soak some black walnut first and some light colored wood next. I turn to final thickness and let my pieces dry and warp. For a burl hollow form, I would turn it down, sand it first, then plastic wrap the outside, and put some oil or other sealer on the tenon. After it is done moving, the piece will be very 3 dimensional on the outside, lots of ripples, bumps, humps and ridges. If I was to sand them out, it would ruin the texture that I want in my pieces. The soap soak, and DNA soaks do nothing observable or measurable to my once turned pieces, and I say this after soaking 500 or so in DNA, and thousands in the LDD. The most important part of the DNA soak is wrapping the outside, and leaving the inside open. They use newspaper, or brown craft paper, and tape. I use the plastic stretch film. It has the pieces drying under slight compression, which does wonders for drying without cracks. I have never experimented with twice turned pieces.

robo hippy

[Mike Tilley]

Hehe, just remembered that I have a roughout that I put in DNA on Saturday afternoon. Suppose I ought to get it out tomorrow...:D

Thanks everyone for your input hopefully this big ole burl will turn into a nice bowl.
Mike

[Rich Aldrich]

I have made at least 8 cherry burl bowls. I actually think they are more stable than regular cherry and have made 75% of my bowls from Cherry. I normally soak bowls for a minimum of 48 hours, let the solvent flash off for about 30 minutes and bag them for about 4 weeks. I havent lost a single burl. The nice thing about burls the density is more consistent and are easier to turn round (all my opinion, others will vary). I think this makes them dry more evenly, possibly with less stress. The issue becomes inclusions in the wood, which you have no control over.