Anyone using liguid dishwasher detergent?

[Hilel Salomon]

I thought I saw a post where it was mentioned and upon googling it, I found several woodturners who suggested that it was a fine way of speed drying wet wood and helped with subsequent sanding. I've been using DNA, but it is very expensive to use on large bowls and I'm concerned about the breathing and touching of DNA. I would be interested in anyone sharing their experience(s) with ldd.
Thanks, Hilel.

[Al Wasser]

I have had pretty good luck using dish soap. I mix 1 part soap to 1 part water, but I know guys that use 3 parts water. I rough turn and soak for 24 hrs. (or more) and then let dry a day or until I get to it. Then final turn and finish. I think where I have had a failure it is due to preexisting hairline cracks that I did not see when the bowl went into solution. You need to use something like a rock or brick to ensure that the item is submerged in the solution or it will float

[Ted Calver]

Hilel,
I tried it and it seemed to work, but I couldn't handle the mess and switched to DNA. For bigger bowls in DNA I make a thick nest of shavings in a large container shaped to fit my bowl, then place the bowl inside a 3 mil plastic contractor bag and sit it in the nest. Add DNA until it covers the bowl--usually less than 2 gallons--then seal the bag.

[Reed Gray]

I have been using it for several years. I tried the DNA also. Neither method yields any measurable difference in drying times when compared to air dried bowls. This is a conclusion I have drawn after drying several hundred bowls that were DNA soaked, a couple thousand bowls that were LDD soaked, and hundreds of air dried bowls. I even turned 3 sets of bowls and dried with the above 3 methods and weighed them every day until they reached equilibrium. The end results were identical. I haven't noticed any difference in how much they move, or in cracking. I do turn thin (1/4 to 1/2 inch thick), soak, then let them dry (10 days to 2 weeks) and warp, then sand and finish. These results could change if I was turning thick, drying then returning. Don't know, but haven't tried it either. The LDD soak does help sanding, especially on woods that tend to glaze or burn under sanding like big leaf Maple, or cherry. Harder woods also sand out easier. I figure it is the glycerine in the soap, but when sanding, the dust comes off like the big wet snow flakes rather than powder. The sanding discs also seem to stay cleaner. I think I remember reading that this method was developed by some one who did the Norfolk Island Pine bowls to help sand them out. Half LDD (cheap and brown, not blue or green unless you want those tints in your wood) and half water. Soak for 24 hours (soaking longer doesn't seem to make much difference), then I rinse in the sink, and dry as normal (paper or plastic bags, in the shavings, on a wire rack, etc. depending on your local weather).
robo hippy

[John Sheets]

OK, Reed
This is something that I'm sorta hung up on with my sanding regimen. Maybe you can shed some light for me. You turn to finished (or very near finished) thickness apparently and then let the bowl dry. It warps. You then refer to using sanding discs. Are you rechucking the bowl to sand after it has warped? Are you just hand-holding the bowl and sorta freehand sanding it with the discs? If you are rechucking, how do you manage to sand it without just "hitting the high spots" while it's rotating?
Appreciate your input.
JS

[Reed Gray]

I do remount for sanding. I use a recess. Even though the recess has warped, I use the long nose jaws for my Vicmarc chuck. This gives a little more clearance from the headstock for sanding all the way down the outside of the bowl, and with the smaller jaws, they will mount adequatly for sanding purposes. You don't need nearly the grip on your bowl that you use if you are turning. This also doesn't leave chuck marks in the recess, which I don't turn out. Some bowls warp so much that they are impossible to remount and turn the bottom flat. If you rotate the bowl a bit, and expand into the oval, you can rotate it so that all 4 jaws contact the recess. I sand at slow speeds, 10 rpm or slightly above (one plus for the PM3520A model, it will go that slow as the B model shuts off at 50 rpm). Usually for the first time over, I will have the lathe off, and advance the wood by hand, then turn it on slowly for the rest of the sanding. You can't power or hand sand warped bowls at 500 rpm.
robo hippy

[Charles Hannemann]

I read an article in Woodturning Magazine about this got it out to recheck it the issue is June 2000 you may find a copy at your local library! The guy in the article is an hawaiian turner name Ron Kent the stuff he uses is Costco's Kirkland brand $7.00 a gallon color golden. He uses one to one water and dish soap and some times add a Table spoon of isopropyl alcohol per gallon he coats stuff up to six times so it soaks in to the wood deep!

Charles

[David Wilhelm]

Hilel, I emailed back and forth with Ron kent several times before I started using the LDD. I was interested in how it would work for wet from teh woods spalted maple. He was very helpful and in sharing what other turners had shared with him. At the Time he told me he only used it for turning green NIP. Most of what I've used it on has be spalted wet or dead wet. It is messy but you will have clean hands. I have left bowls on my lathe and return ona day or two with little to no warping, end grain tearout is reduced, I love the way the wood cuts when wet with soap. ( you'll need a curtain and face shield if it's really wet. I've used it the same as folks do with DNA and had good results sanding as noted. Cracking after finish turning with a presoak is almost rulled out. I've yet to try an apple bowl in soap but that will be the crack test of all test. And the soap doesn't evaporate like DNA. I use 50/50 Dawn to water and I do not notice a problem with a tinting.

[Hilel Salomon]

Thanks David and All of you who answered my question,

I've used two large bait canisters to DNA soak my larger bowls and have already spent well over 125 dollars on DNA. Moreover I'm always having to weigh down the bowls so they don't float (I guess that'll be true w/soap as well). Here in Cola., the evaporation (even using a tight lid) has been dramatic, and the concerns I have over health issues have grown. I think I'm going to try the dishwasher approach. At least I'll have clean hands and hopefully clean cuts.
Won't be able to turn for two weeks, but I'll post the results when I can.
Regards, Hilel.

[neil mackay]

Hilel,
I find that its effective more on soft timber ie Norfolk pine etc. Aussie hardwoods need soaking for much longer periods of time so there is no real advantage there I feel. Again I have had good success with soft timber re DNA. But not much with the harder varieties.

good luck

[Rich Souchek]

Hilel,
I tried the dishwashing routine for a will trying to dry out wet wood bowls. Used it in a 30 gal (approx) trash can, got tired of all the mess. Then went to drying in paper grocery bags, which seems just as effective. The only woods I have trouble with really is big oak bowls and platers, but I will not go back to the extra work and mess of the dishwashing mixture.
Don't think it really helped the hard wooks, like pecan and oak that I turn a lot of.
Rich S.