Glen Blanchard
03-31-2013, 5:58 PM
After reading about microwaving green pieces to speed up their drying, I have been experimenting with it. My biggest disappointment has been the checking of the end grain - not catastrophic checking mind you, but enough to be noticeable - sometimes wide enough in which to stick a fingernail. For these I have resorted to CA or epoxy with some wood dust as a filler. Other cracks have displayed no visible separation and required no filling, but were present just the same. I have been looking for a solution wondering if I my technique was inadequate.
A while back I inquired here if anyone has experience with microwaving a piece which has been Anchorsealed. My thought process was that if the loss of moisture in the end grain was slowed down, this might prevent the checking - IF the Anchorseal could withstand the heat cycling. Of those who replied, it didn't seem like anyone had tried it. I envisioned the Anchorseal melting off of the piece while in the microwave, thus rendering the technique useless. Well, I have tried this on two pieces now - both silver maple. My testing is anything but scientific and it might be premature to get my hopes up, but so far it has worked great. The first piece had only some micro-checking. Not enough to even detract esthetically from the piece, although I pyroed over it (the pyro had been planned in my head well before microwaving - it was not done to hide the micro-cracks). The second piece exhibits absolutely no checking of any kind.
Obviously, I am encouraged. Time will tell if this is a fluke or if this method minimizes checking. Thought I'd pass this on in case someone else wants to give it a go.
A while back I inquired here if anyone has experience with microwaving a piece which has been Anchorsealed. My thought process was that if the loss of moisture in the end grain was slowed down, this might prevent the checking - IF the Anchorseal could withstand the heat cycling. Of those who replied, it didn't seem like anyone had tried it. I envisioned the Anchorseal melting off of the piece while in the microwave, thus rendering the technique useless. Well, I have tried this on two pieces now - both silver maple. My testing is anything but scientific and it might be premature to get my hopes up, but so far it has worked great. The first piece had only some micro-checking. Not enough to even detract esthetically from the piece, although I pyroed over it (the pyro had been planned in my head well before microwaving - it was not done to hide the micro-cracks). The second piece exhibits absolutely no checking of any kind.
Obviously, I am encouraged. Time will tell if this is a fluke or if this method minimizes checking. Thought I'd pass this on in case someone else wants to give it a go.