Alcohol drying - Input?

[alex grams]

I am trying drying with alcohol (12-24 hour soak, then wrap bottom around lip, and sit upside down on a shelf) however I am still getting some (what I hope is) surface checking.

The wood is red oak, about 11" diameter, turned to 1/2-5/8" thickness.

Is the surface checking expected? I am new to alcohol drying, so this is a learning experience. I have read several articles and writeups on drying this way, but want to know if what I am seeing is normal, or a sign I am doing something wrong. They are kept in my garage to dry (north texas, temperatures are pretty moderated in the garage (60-75 degrees). The checking is notice on about the 3rd-4th day of drying.

Thanks in advance.

While I am pretty new to turning, here are a few pics of my 6th and 7th bowls Ive turned (larger is elm, smaller is ambrosia maple) 6" and about 4" in height, and 6 and 4" in diameter, respectively.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/alexgrams/Turning081.jpg

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/alexgrams/Turning075.jpg

[Wally Wenzel]

Alex, Try leaving them in the bath a little longer, i leave mine a little longer like 48 to 72hrs some times even longer if i forget them and it dosen't to bother it at all.
Wally

[Morey St. Denis]

Nice looking 6th & 7th! That's some richly hued spalting in that elm bowl, appears to have a lot of similarity to box elder (aka ash-leafed maple). Regarding the reported problems with larger more recent oak turnings, you may be taking them too close to finished dimension in the green state. For an 11" diameter green wood turning, you likely shouldn't go under 1" minimum wall thickness. Following immersion and a long soak in DNA, suggest you continue your usual drying regime, then mount and re-turn to finish.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Alex - you are doing some really nice work there! Keep it up!

On the DNA drying problem, one of the biggest things to be concerned with is sharp edges. You always want to round over your rough-outs because if you leave a sharp edge, that leading edge will dry out faster than the surrounding area... which means it most likely will start to check. Other thing to be concerned with is to make sure you turn these pieces to a consistent thickness. Once again, if you create a difference in thickness, the thin area will dry out first and the thicker area will crack as a result. Not always... but usually.

On the thickness thing, I turn a lot of forms that are 15" or so in height and at least a foot in diameter and I have very good luck with a rough-out thickness of no more than 1/2". There are others that rough out forms even bigger and leave the piece no more than 3/8" thick! The key is EQUAL and consistent thickness.

Hope that helps.

[Fred Belknap]

Alex I use DNA soak on my bowls and things. It works pretty good most of the time. I coat the outside with Anchorseal after it comes out of the DNA and surfaces dries. Usually I fill the inside with shavings for the first week and I set them on the floor out of direct heat from my shop heater. I seldom have any checking but oak can be a problem sometimes. Others gave you good advise about the thickness. Remember it don't always work and different wood warps differently.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I agree that rounding the edges and soaking longer. Most of mine sit in the DNA for 4 or 5 days. When wrapped with a brown grocery sack up over the bowl lip I sit them on the floor in a cool dry place. I have started getting away from DNA except if I need something quick and when roughed out I paint them entirely with anchorseal. I set them in a cool, dry place with not much air monvement on the floor. Oak can be troublesome as Fred said four sure. Make sure you leave the thickness at least 10% of the diameter. 11" bowl I leave at least 1" minimum.

[Gene Hintze]

Unless I have another green rough out that needs to go into the alcohol I generally let them soak for up to a week. After I take them out I don't wrap or bag them I just check them daily and when I see the little checks/cracks developing I hit them with some thin CA glue. After about two weeks of that any check that is going to occur generally has. Then I just plop them on a shelf in the garage until the moisture meter reading goes under 10 then they are safe to finish turn. In summer with the heat in NC I take them indoors to dry in the air conditioning rather than the 90 degree heat in the garage. This process seems to work for me based on several years of trial and error.

[alex grams]

Thanks. I checked one and it had cracked all the way through, not a wide crack, but a crack nonetheless.

Would it help to hit the end grain with a little anchorseal?

I am letting one sit for a few days then will see how it goes. This was all from a tree my dad and I cut down, and I have a limited supply and want to make him and my mother a few salad bowls, so I am anxious to get this working so I don't waste what little stock I have.

Thanks again.

[Chip Sutherland]

I just did 6 maple plates. Mine started at >22% moisture using a 2-prong moisture meter. With delivery in 6 weeks, I needed quick drying so I used DNA

I rough-turned them to within about 20% of my finished size instead of the 10% rule stated previously. I was thinking about doing a double DNA soak
I soaked them for 12-18 hrs.
Removed them let the DNA evaporate for about an hour
End-grain sealed them with AnchorSeal(?)
Wrapped in heavy brown paper for 3 weeks. Tossing some chips inside is a good idea that I did NOT think of....
Stored upside down because it was easier to stack them and for no other reason
Re-turned them to the 10% rule and got moisture readings from 6-11%. Double DNA soak not required at this moisture level.
While the plates were laying around a couple of days, they continued to warp some. So I re-returned them down to a final shape (so the extra amount saved my butt).
With maple there is always end grain tear out so I was spraying lacquer on the end grain (and sharpening my tools) with almost every pass down to my final shape. This likely helped stop the wood from further movement
Sanded thorough grits 120-400
Turned off the tenons
Went straight to my finish. My delivery for the plates was ~15 hrs away so I used WOP for time constraint reasons.
Buffed using the Beall system and finished with 45min to spare.

I posted the process with pics on FB. Send me a friend request in FB and you can see them. Not my best work but in the middle of all this was Xmas, New Years, my mom died and my daughter burnt up our kitchen so I had some distractions and lost time.

FYI: Choice Woods supplied my blanks. Will do business with them again!!

[Scott Hackler]

I rough to 10% thickness, no sharp edges, soak for MINIMUM of 24 hours, air dry out for about 15-30 minutes, double wrap with newspaper with the folds gathering on the bottom of the piece, tape it up real good and once around the rim, poke finger sized holes in the top of the paper (bowl opening) and store upside down on a shelf in my climate controled shop. I date every thing I wrap up and after 3-4 weeks I start checking for a smell through the holes. Once the alcohol smell is gone, I unwrap it and leave it naked on the shelf until I get to it or take it right to the lathe for final turning/finishing.

I have about a 95% success rate doing this and so I continue to use this process. I used to Anchorseal the entire thing and store on a shelf until dry, but that was taking me about 10-12 months minimum and I am impatient! So the denatured alcohol method works better for me and my climate (which is 70 one day and 30 the next, here lately!!!!)

[Sonny Kemp]

Scotts process worked for me .I was losing almost all of mine and after talking with him I have turned 4 or 5 and not lost any. Thanks Scott