Antifreeze for drying wood??

[Jim Dunn]

Has anyone ever heard of this method? A friend asked me to querry this inteligent group of gentlemen for an answer. I laughed and said I'd post the question in the turning forum at SMC:D

[John Hart]

hmmmm...Ethylene Glycol doesn't seem like much of an astringent. Dunno...my gut says prolly not. I hear dogs like it though! It'll kill em....but they like it.:)

[Jim Dunn]

He is a dog lover so he'll probably not use it. He looks for at least 3 to 4 opinions before he ever does anything. Mine is the last he'll use, usually.

[Andy Hoyt]

Jim - google this ----- Polyethylene glycol ----- then search within the 3 buhzillion hits with this ------ woodworking ---- and you'll get a ton of anwsers

[John Hart]

Good one Andy!

Here's a quote from one of them hits...using it as a wood stabilizer.

"Most antifreeze is poisonous ethylene glycol, as opposed to non-toxic polyethylene glycol. They may be similar, but it is important not to confuse the two. Many dogs have been poisoned by lapping up spilled or dripped antifreeze which, while toxic, nevertheless tastes sweet. Fortunately, antifreeze made of non-toxic propylene glycol, another similar chemical cousin, is being sold as safe antifreeze, and also as RV antifreeze."

[Bill Boehme]

Your friend may have gotten antifreeze confused with PEG 1000 (polyethylene glycol). There are a few woodturners who tout the benefits of using PEG. Unlike ethylene glycol, PEG is inert and is used in a wide variety of products ranging from diet drinks to cosmetics and lotions. Depending on the molecular weight, it can range from an almost water-like consistency up to something that is akin to a hard plastic. PEG 1000 has the consistency of paraffin and is dissolved in water to make a solution for soaking wood. I should point out that neither PEG nor dishwashing detergent is used to "dry" wood -- they are used to "stabilize" green wood so that further movement is halted. As with dishwashing detergent (the kind that you stick your hands in and manually wash dishes -- you know, you have seen your mother do it years ago), never actually dries out and is one of its major problem areas -- applying finishes. My experience is that things treated with PEG just don't have the right tactile feel afterwards and most conventional finishes don't adhere to wood treated with PEG. I have two large five-pound blocks of PEG and I am trying to figure out what to do with them. I have thought about taking them to a club meeting as a door prize/raffle item, but I am afraid that they will vote me "off the island" if I do that.

Bill

[Mike Vickery]

Even if it worked I would not want to turn or sand something that had been soaked in antifreeze. I do not have that much confidences in my dust collection.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I agree with Mike V. I wouldn't want to be sanding something soaked in antifreeze. Even with dust collection, air cleaner and Trend on I still wouldn't like it.

[James Duxbury]

I have tried both methods. Save your time. The PEG may have done something but turned the maple wood a mud color. Rough turn the bowl and stuff it in a brown paper bag with wet shavings for six or eitht months. That usually works.

[Dennis Peacock]

Use DNA and you don't have to worrry about sanding away at something that had been soaked in antifreeze. Man...I'd hate to even think about that the wood is like after soaking in antifreeze. Yuck!!!!