Hey Andy...I came up with a system

[John Hart]

Andy Hoyt asked a while back about how you keep track of pieces in their various stages of drying and finishing and stuff. Well, I think I found my system.
Each piece gets its own box.
I always have boxes laying around and I've found that shavings work really good for drying instead of wrapping in paper. So, after an alcohol soak, I take a box, put the piece in and pack it with shavings all around, leaving the inside open to the air. Then mark on the box, the date and time and stack in the corner and forget about it. (Forgetting about it is the important part...because I'm impatient)
Each stage of finishing, means making a new notation on the box and the piece lives in its box til the end.

Been doing this a while and it seems to work well. Being as disorganized as I am....this really helps.

Just some morning coffee thoughts.:)

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

You sir, not only have boxes but you have space :D

Sounds good.

Cheers!

[John Hart]

You sir, not only have boxes but you have space :D....

If you didn't fill all your available real estate with the entire Japanese forest...you'd have space too Stu!!!!:D

[Christopher K. Hartley]

John, thanks for sharing the system. I'm impatient as well and my question is does this help speed the process? Also would you mind talking me through the alcohol soak process; how much alcohol, what do you do it in, how long do you soak it, allthose kinds of things. I'm just ignorant to all of this. If it's to long a process to write about can you point me to an article or something. Thanks for the help.

[Larry Klaaren]

John,

Do you just pile them up or are you really organized and sort them out by what part of the process they are in?

You'll soon be needing that space for horse feed, salt, tack, saddles, bridles, halters, brushes, towels, special soaps designed for equine hair and skin, a few assorted things you just have to have when you have horses, and your daughters' collection of turned pens and bonkers.

You may be bringing those critters into that heated shop when it gets really cold along Lake Erie and that lake effect snow starts dumping on those poor animals.

You'll also be getting larger shoeboxes when your daughters start buying western boots. Unless you turn them. As Andy pointed out a few weeks ago when Stu was wondering how to use that block of wood, I could show you how to carve out the bottom portion.

Just a thought,
Larry

[Mike Ramsey]

John, do you close the lid on the box or do you leave the top open?

[Bernie Weishapl]

I am interested in the same question Mike asked. Let us know John.

[John Hart]

John, thanks for sharing the system. I'm impatient as well and my question is does this help speed the process? Also would you mind talking me through the alcohol soak process; how much alcohol, what do you do it in, how long do you soak it, allthose kinds of things. I'm just ignorant to all of this. If it's to long a process to write about can you point me to an article or something. Thanks for the help.

Hey Christopher,
Here's a thread from a year ago when I was wondering the same things. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=18598
I believe that it will help guide you in whatever direction you want to go.

[John Hart]

John,

Do you just pile them up or are you really organized and sort them out by what part of the process they are in?

You'll soon be needing that space for horse feed, salt, tack, saddles, bridles, halters, brushes, towels, special soaps designed for equine hair and skin, a few assorted things you just have to have when you have horses.....

Heh heh....No way Larry. I'm barely organized enough to find the shop!!!
I am a hopeless piler. Just piles of boxes that I have to read the labeling. That's good enough for me.

Space for horses? Excuse me while laugh for a minute. I truly believe that horses should be free to roam the plains....unsaddled and unbridled....but mostly....un-Harted. ;) :D

[John Hart]

John, do you close the lid on the box or do you leave the top open?

Nope....I leave them open and when I pile the boxes, I don't pile them neatly. Neat piling would limit air flow. Neat piling would also be contrary to my personality. :o

[Paul Douglass]

My little question is what do you use for chips? The shavings from your turning or do you use some of the cedar chips you are going to have to have to put in the horse stall?? Or, do you mean wood chips at all. Would paper chips from a paper shredder work?

[John Hart]

My little question is what do you use for chips? The shavings from your turning or do you use some of the cedar chips you are going to have to have to put in the horse stall?? Or, do you mean wood chips at all. Would paper chips from a paper shredder work?

Paul...your "little" question deserves a "big" answer. Please forgive me.

Over the past year, I've been watching what the wood does as it dries. Because I had so much trouble with it, I decided to really pay attention and learn....Hopefully, I can pass my observations on to others.
A while back, someone mentioned something about how a round piece is essentially an arch, and that the wood should dry from the inside. That seemed so fundamentally important that I looked into it and fervently believe it.
An Arch is extremely strong because, as pressure is applied to the outside of it, the inside is compressed.
When wood dries, it shrinks...and that's why it cracks. But, if you allow the inside to dry and keep the outside moist, the outer diameter exerts pressure on the inner diameter...making it move toward center as it dries.

This is all theoretical and I have no evidence to prove it...so really, I could just be full of it.:o However....I am happy with my little theory...and as long as I'm happy, I keep taking the garbage out and shoveling snow and doing car maintenance....so I guess I have the family's support.

I digress...

To answer your question....I use the shavings from the project at the moment....because they are moist. The piece dries from the inside out.

[Andy Hoyt]

Thanks, John. The only problem with your method is this:

Since boxes are rectinlinear in shape and since I try (emphasis on try) to be organized I can envision a day where I say, "The heck with that workbench and tablesaw over there - I need some warehouse shelving".

Yup, I'll need a big forklift for the higher shelves and a couple of occasional day laborers picked up from curbside. Some conveyor systems; an infrared scanner thingie; a geek to manage the database for me; and a dandy double knitted Herb Tarlek type of marketing and sales guy to move product.

All for want of knowing what needs what next.

Oh, the abyss!

[Howie French]

John, just to make sure I understand - you are placing the bowl in open side up, NOT upside down ? therefore you can't really cover the rim of bowl in shaving's without them spilling into the bowl. How long do you leave in the box - 2 weeks ?

Is this correct ?

Howie

[John Hart]

John, just to make sure I understand - you are placing the bowl in open side up, NOT upside down ? therefore you can't really cover the rim of bowl in shaving's without them spilling into the bowl. How long do you leave in the box - 2 weeks ?

Is this correct ?

Howie

That's a good point Howie. Yes..I violate the upside-down rule. I violate a lot of rules just to see what I'll see.
Here's what I figgered one day: maybe the upside down rule is to ensure that the liquid doesn't accumulate in the bottom of the bowl......then I said, "hmmm...I wonder if it might actually be better that way". I don't know if it is or it isn't because every piece of wood behaves differently, but...what I have noticed is that I am getting less overall warping on facegrain bowls.

I do in fact, do my best to cover the rim in shavings. The shavings seem to pack pretty well. Some of them fall into the bowl and I'll scoop them out and they'll fall in there again...but really not many.

Time? 10 days to three weeks. The time is a swag, based on wall thickness....3/8" wall 7-10 days.....1" wall 3 weeks. The cherry bowl that I just finished a couple days ago dried for 14 days and the rough wall was 1/2" to 3/4".

I like to experiment.:)