Dish Soap versus DNA

[Perry Higgins]

Interesting to read all the support for DNA treatment for bowls. I've only tired it a cople times and both blew apart on me when they dried. By comparison I have had total success with the dish soap soaking method using it on green madrone, green pear and green oak. Admittedly, the wood moves some but no splitting or cracking. Anybody successfully used DNA on Madrone?

[Mark Cothren]

Yep - two times so far... Madrone burl, that is...

[Paul Engle]

You know there has to be so many variables in these methods.....one may want to consider some testing to see what you arrive at.Like your method of dish soap soaking ( for bennifit of new and veteran people alike), unfortunatly scientific methods may escape us for one reason or another.It's like the lacquer/oil thing..... one so thin you can see clear thru it , the other looks llike aged honey...all depending on which way the particles line up when applied....kinda like polarizing the sun. If you do a test remember to list all the variables you can that you did or did not do and maybe some of them will apply to the conditions we encounter and some to others. Did not mean to swipe your thread, but am very intrested in investing time and materials to finding a reliable drying method for myself , one that I can understand and get predictible results, vs something somebody said but may not have ever seen a piece of wood.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Have used both but have just stayed with DNA. I know but I am going to say it anyway. Works for me. Like my granddad said if it ain't broke don't fix it.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I've tried the DNA method several times, always on fruitwood. Haven't had a single one turn out:confused: ......I left them in for a day......5 days.....wrapped them in newspaper....2 layers.....left a little hole at the top.....But when I see Peacock, Cothren, Stinson, Ketron, Weishapl and many others having success with it...........I'll keep trying........I just hope those guys don't all have stock in the company making DNA and are using me to run up the price of the stock!:D

[TYLER WOOD]

Why the light print Ken, you worried they'll read it. I have not tried the dna but the soap will not allow some types of finish because it never really dries. It also gums up sand paper a lot more. I would rather turn green than use soap again. Ruined a cup with it, would not take a oil finish.
Also I could only blow bubbles after drinking from it:p .

Just personal expertice, I mean experience, here.

[Bernie Weishapl]

But when I see Peacock, Cothren, Stinson, Ketron, Weishapl and many others having success with it...........I'll keep trying........I just hope those guys don't all have stock in the company making DNA and are using me to run up the price of the stock!:D

It doesn't make any difference Ken we do own the company. So keep it up. We need the money.:eek: :o :rolleyes: ;)

[Reed Gray]

I have used both methods (a couple hundred DNA, and thousand plus LDD), and now use the LDD. I turn to final thickness, soak, then dry, then sand and finish. When I take the bowls out of the LDD, I do rinse them off with water, not real well, but just enough to get the surface stuff off. There is no difference I can detect in drying time, movement, or cracking. The LDD bowls do sand out a lot easier and the DNA ones harder than air dried ones. One of the rubber cleaning sticks will remove any build up. The only time I had any unusual build up was once when some soap dried on the wood. The dust from the LDD soaked ones comes off like big wet snowflakes. I have had no problems with finishes (solvent based oil like Deftoil), or walnut oil. I do not spray. A little messire than DNA, but worth it.
robo hippy

[Reed Gray]

Oh yes, the woods: Myrtle, Madrone, Black and English Walnut, Cherry, Pear, Chinkapin, Elm, Maple (silver, norway, and big leaf), ash, osage, dogwood, red bud, golden chain, black and moraine locust, and maybe a few others.
robo hippy

[George Tokarev]

Glycerol (glycerine). That's the triol humectant in hand dishwashing liquids. You can buy it straight and undyed in the pharmacy department if you like. Since it has a higher boiling point than the water it mixes with, it stays behind, unlike its lighter relative, ethanol. It's going to be friendly for sanding because it lubricates and keeps things cool as it boils away. It will also have some adverse effects if you soak long enough to get good dispersal without heating it away afterward. It likes water, so it will act similar to glycol, and pick up water on humid days. This can expand your surface outside the elastic limit of your finish, making tiny cracks.

Soap, which isn't detergent, though there seems to be some confusion here, is used as a sanding lube as well. Stearated paper is but one example. Sodium stearate, the product of the old-fashioned lye soap process is one which should be familiar.

[Scott Oldfield]

Any Idea of any benefit of using Glycerol/Glycerine in a pure form? or mixed with anything else? For some strange reason, I happen to have a couple of gallons of pure food grade glycerine.:confused:

Or any other great uses for it in woodturning?

Thanks in advance for any ideas! Scott

[George Tokarev]

Mix with water, the way they do in making the detergent, I'd say. Remember you can overdo it, so I'd just brush it on as a sanding lube, diluting by trial and accidental success to get the right concentration which wouldn't clog the paper, but would control the heat and dust. Suppose that favors fairly dilute, given the physical characteristics. http://www.dow.com/glycerine/resources/physicalprop.htm