Cat Litter to dry Rough Turned Pieces

[Thomas Canfield]

A friend says he is now using unscented cheap cat litter to dry his green turned pieces. I says to use a garbage bag and place some litter under the piece and inside the piece and seal bag. The moisture will be down to about 10% in a month. Any experience out there and advice. I need to dry a couple of pieces too big for microwave and don't have year plus for drying.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Unsure of cat litter... Could run into some dollars.
What is your tine frame? Google Cindy Drozda fridge kiln. It's a real cheap way of drying stuff. I run 3 series of increasing wattage bulbs, as she says to do. In 3 or 4 weeks, I get pretty much dry wood. 1 week per wattage rating seems to do the trick. I run 40/60/75..... That is what the local hardware store had. I'm sure you could use others. I can give you some pointers if you want.

[Earl McLain]

"Cat Litter" might get expensive, but oil-dry is a more generic form. Most auto stores should have 30-40 pound bags at $10-$15. Haven't bought any in a while, but a quick search showed a local location with 33 pounds for $10 +/-. Certainly is a thought, and could be used many times.
earl

[Thomas Canfield]

"Cat Litter" might get expensive, but oil-dry is a more generic form. Most auto stores should have 30-40 pound bags at $10-$15. Haven't bought any in a while, but a quick search showed a local location with 33 pounds for $10 +/-. Certainly is a thought, and could be used many times.
earl
Found 25# for under $5 at local grocery store, and was told it can be reused. Guess set out in sunlight in open pan to drive out moisture would bring back some absorbency. I do use the cat litter for oil spots anyway so not a lost investment.

Earlier reply about refrig dryer would work except for space required. I use a smaller "dryer" box to help cure oil finish on pieces to both raise temp slightly and reduce humidity, and box is located in attic where shop space is not critical.

[Mike Nathal]

Looks intriguing:

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS903US903&sxsrf=ALeKk00WMNCqSM01AuzZY-Xr5vwIWCxBMg%3A1593606216155&ei=SID8XuCECeSwtgXnq4WoCg&q=drying+wood+with+desiccant&oq=drying+wood+with+dessicant&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQARgAMgQIABANOggIABAHEAoQHjoKCAA QCBAHEAoQHjoECAAQCjoGCAAQDRAeOggIABAIEA0QHlDxkAFYw LABYKrBAWgAcAB4AIABiAGIAb0LkgEEMTYuMZgBAKABAaoBB2d 3cy13aXo&sclient=psy-ab#kpvalbx=_YYD8XvzrL465tQbo3qjYBQ30

[John K Jordan]

A friend says he is now using unscented cheap cat litter to dry his green turned pieces. I says to use a garbage bag and place some litter under the piece and inside the piece and seal bag. The moisture will be down to about 10% in a month. Any experience out there and advice. I need to dry a couple of pieces too big for microwave and don't have year plus for drying.

Much cat litter is made from clay. It's excellent for soaking up liquids but does it work as a desiccant and absorb water vapor? A test with a hygrometer might be interesting. There has been some discussion here of using desiccant for drying wood.

Desiccant is dried for reuse in an oven so I assume cat litter made from clay could be dried the same way.

Sorry, I have no personal experience with either cat litter or desiccant for drdying rough turned pieces. Those I have done used the were not under a time crunch so I used the anchorseal and air drying on the shelf method. I do have a lot of experience drying desiccant - I either use indicator desiccant or the non-indicator type with a little indicator desiccant mixed in.

[Dave Mueller]

I use Purina Tidy Cats Non-clumping Cat Litter. You can get 30# at Walmart for about $7.00. I like non-clumping because it will not bind much to the wet bowl blank like clumping litter. Have never tried to regenerate it, not worth the effort.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Purina-Tidy-Cats-Non-Clumping-Cat-Litter-24-7-Performance-Multi-Cat-Litter-30-lb-Bag/10308704?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&adid=22222222227010048287&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40341788672&wl4=pla-71494828179&wl5=9027891&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=online&wl12=10308704&veh=sem&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjtWw8-au6gIVWz2tBh1VSgwhEAQYBSABEgJnZ_D_BwE

[Harold Walsh]

Gentlemen, After reading these interesting ideas on drying wet bowls with cat litter and etc., which got me to thinking. Are there or can there be others ways to speed the process of drying bowls? Could it or would it be possible to use Damp Rid moisture bags for this process? I use them in our closets to draw any moisture that might occur around clothing. I envision putting a bowl along with the Damp Rid in a lidded five gallon bucket and let it set for a few days and see what the results might be. I would assume but not sure that Damp Rid is a desiccant ? What are your thoughts ?

[Thomas Canfield]

Well I put a 18"x10"NE & 16" x9" NE bowl/tray and 11"D x5H and 8"Dx5"H thick bowls stacked with cat litter below and layed in the long and inside the smaller in a trash bag. The weight of each piece was marked and dated with combined weight of about 25# and 15# of cat litter used. I plan to check in a few weeks and see how weight change is progressing. Not all surfaces are in contact with the litter so will try to see how that works as opposed to complete immersing which would have required a lot more litter.

The Damp Rid is an interesting though since it works with air moisture probably better than the litter. Then one would likely need to elevate the piece on a rack or spacers to allow air around the piece in a bag. Anyone want to try?






3

[Chris A Lawrence]

Well I put a 18"x10"NE & 16" x9" NE bowl/tray and 11"D x5H and 8"Dx5"H thick bowls stacked with cat litter below and layed in the long and inside the smaller in a trash bag. The weight of each piece was marked and dated with combined weight of about 25# and 15# of cat litter used. I plan to check in a few weeks and see how weight change is progressing. Not all surfaces are in contact with the litter so will try to see how that works as opposed to complete immersing which would have required a lot more litter.

The Damp Rid is an interesting though since it works with air moisture probably better than the litter. Then one would likely need to elevate the piece on a rack or spacers to allow air around the piece in a bag. Anyone want to try?






3
You might not see any weight loss of the entire bag with everything sealed in it. You would probably just get a transfer of moisture if it works from the wood to the litter. The damp rid is mostly calcium chloride with a tiny bit of sodium and potassium chloride.

[Thomas Canfield]

You might not see any weight loss of the entire bag with everything sealed in it. You would probably just get a transfer of moisture if it works from the wood to the litter. The damp rid is mostly calcium chloride with a tiny bit of sodium and potassium chloride.
I put individual weights on pieces and that is what I will be comparing. I realize that the weight of the sealed bag will not change even though the litter is absorbing moisture from the wood. I am thinking that some fresh litter might be needed as the wood moisture goes down. I will also try weighing the "wet" litter when removed to see if I can lower its weight by drying the litter in hot sun on pan.

[Alex Zeller]

You might want to try to put a piece in wood shavings (or something else) to get something to compare to. A microwave would work too. With a microwave you could just dry a similar sized piece from the same tree and see what percentage of weight loss. That way you would have an idea where your target is and how close you are. You could find it works well but only gets it down to, say, 25% and then goes slowly. You might also find that the KL touching the work does absorb the water but once it does it prevents moisture from going further out. If so simply removing them and putting them back in would put new KL next to the bowl and could speed up drying. It could take a few times experimenting to get a system that works. Even if it worked to go from say 50% to 25% moisture in a short time it could be worth it.

[Thomas Canfield]

I pulled the pieces out of the litter Tuesday and weighed. All the pieces had a small weight reduction, but nothing dramatic. The larger pieces with more surface area and contact with the litter had a little more weight loss by percentage but I think that wood shavings in paper would have done as well. Possibly using paper bags versus the trash bags would work better. I will continue with this test, but so far not impressed and more difficult handling the extra weight of litter versus wood shavings.

[Thomas Canfield]

UPDATE - I checked the weights a couple of days back and found still little weight loss, and left pieces in air. Checked weight the next day and found greater loss in one day to air. I am giving up on the cat litter and going back to old method of packing in shavings in a paper bag (deer corn bags work well or lawn multi-layer paper bags) and setting aside for 4 months or more. Do see some cracks, but fast and does not require liquid sealant and cleaner to return. Weights in photo:440458

[Reed Gray]

Dry wood shavings will work fine, and they can be dried out again and reused, unless you are generating a lot more shavings. One bag method you can use is a paper bag inside of a plastic bag and change out the bag daily, at least for the first week or two, depending on if you are doing once turned pieces or twice turned pieces. The biggest advantage I can see with the cat litter method would be with woods that are very difficult to dry without cracking. The reason it is slower is because the moisture stays around the wood, and that makes for much slower drying. The drying process is highly variable. Best one I heard was some one who had a flowing stream on the property and would put blanks in 'cages' under the flowing water. Probably stainless steel because other metals would stain the wood. Leave them there for a month or so, then remove, seal, and let air dry. If you sink them in standing water, things can get kind of funky... If you try to dry it too fast, it will crack. If you try to dry it too slow, it can mold, and/or it can spalt.

robo hippy

[Brice Rogers]

Some kitty litter is made with clay (bentonite) and some with very fine gravel. I do metal casting and wanted to get some bentonite to make what is called "green sand". I took some fresh cat litter and soaked it for a day or two in water. I expected that in a day that it would be kind of gooey. That is when I found out that some of the cheaper kitty litter either doesn't use clay, or it is "fired" clay or there is just clay powder and fine gravel. Maybe the brand way Tidy cat, but that is my recollection after about 15 years. I had my brother do the same test with a more expensive (IIRC..."clumping") kitty litter. Over night it basically absorbed all the water and was fairly viscous. I ended up going to a well drilling supply company and bought the bentonite in a 50 or 90 pound bag for my casting project.

So, for the original poster, before you throw in the towel, take a handful of the kitty litter and dump it into a glass of water and see what happens. Maybe you have the same stuff that I originally bought.

[Jay Mullins]

I checked with the abbreviations and acronyms and didn't see "NE". What does it mean?

[Thomas Canfield]

Natural Edge. NE on a turned piece can have bark or without bark but the natural outer edge of wood. Bark has some appeal, but it is subject to damage easily in frequent use. The natural outer wood shape allows maintaining a normal grain pattern and some free form edges. Some will burn or otherwise enhance the edge without bark.