Drying green wood with Denatured Alcohol

[Eugene Wigley]

I plan on turning some bowls using green wood in the next few days. I have never done this before. I know that I need to rough turn the bowls to about 1/2" thick then let the wood dry before I finish turning the bowl. My question is how long do I soak the bowls in DNA and how long do I let the wood dry after I remove the bowl from the DNA? I know that dry times for wood can depend on a lot of variables. I will be turning Sweet Gum and can store the bowl in what ever way will work the best while I wait for it to dry.

Thanks in advance

[Steve Schlumpf]

Eugene - I use the DNA method all the time and find that it is best to leave the thickness around 10% of the diameter of the bowl. If not - you may run out of wood when you go to finish turn the bowl!

For lots more info on this subject - check this out: http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/readarticle.pl?dir=turning&file=articles_473.shtml

Hope that helps!

[Eugene Wigley]

Steve, thanks for the help. I read the article. I don,t think I will have any problems.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Eugene I use it DNA. I soak my bowls a minimum of 48 hrs. and have left them in for a week with no problems. I wrap with a brown grocery bag like the article. I find most blanks are dry in 2 to 4 weeks. Like Steve said leave the bowl 10% of the diameter.

[Dan Oliphant]

Also keep in mind that the time of year plays into the length time the item needs for drying. When the Rh is low the piece will dry faster, even when double baged (the method I use). Don't be in a rush when using DNA/Bagging methods, more drying time the better. Even with this method, if your piece has some portions that are thicker than others, the thinner areas will be more likely crack.

[David Pearson]

How long do you soak your bowls in DNA? I've read anywere from two hours to two days.

[Steve Schlumpf]

David - from what I remember - 2 hours is the minimum soaking time for a small bowl - anything larger requires a longer time. Leaving the turning soak for longer periods of time doesn't seem to hurt the wood at all, so, whatever you soak, make sure it is for at least 2 hours.

Last year I soaked bowls (ranging in size from 8" to 14") anywhere from 2 to 4 hours and didn't have any problems. So far this fall I have been leaving the bowls or hollow forms soak until I have another turning that needs to go into the alcohol - usually once a day.

[Larry Charlot]

I just use masking tape around the edge after wrapping with newspaper doubled up. dna for overnight and only get a nasty crack in about one in 20 pieces.

Larry

[alex carey]

would you mind showing a picture of that sweetgum. I turned some wood that some people thought was sweet gum. Never found out for sure if it was or not.

Alex

[Bernie Weishapl]

How long do you soak your bowls in DNA? I've read anywere from two hours to two days.

David I soak mine for a minimum of 24 to 48 hrs. I have left them in for a week when I forgot with no problems.

[Eugene Wigley]

Alex I plan on turning some of it today. I will post pics this eve.

[Pat Watts]

Ok guys I'm new to turning so what is DNA, how does it work and where can one get it?

Thanks Pat

[Joshua Dinerstein]

A second to Steve's comments/ I have turned a few to 1/2 " thick to soak and dry. I lost them because the warp got so bad that there was no wood in that middle land. So I now target 3/4" to 1" depending on type of wood. The thinner it is the quicker it dries. But at the same time if you can't use the results what is the point?!!? :)

Good luck. I have had great luck with DNA drying bowls for finish turning.

Joshua

[Michael Mills]

Hi Pat,
You will have to go to a lab to have a sample taken. They can then reproduce it so that everyone knows whom the bowl belongs to (after you soak it in your DNA).
NOT. Denatured Alcohol from a hardware store. Displaces the water in the wood.
Now if I can just find some of that California glue.
I was in the same place about six months ago. Every group (industry, trade, etc) has it own euphemisms.
It’s so nice to provide an answer to something about woodturning for a change.
Mike

[Brian Novotny]

95% of what I turn is green wood. I turn it completely and IMMEDIATELY apply a liberal ammount of spray lacquer. The lacquer seals in the moisture and only maybe 3% of the pieces crack. I have never rough turned a bowl only to be put away for a year. This method works, and it works well. No need to rough turn....but the books won't tell you that.

[Reed Gray]

I am another warped bowl fan. Turn it to final thickness, 1/4 to 1/2 inch, do a 24 hour minimum LDD soak(half cheap brown dish soap, half water), wrap the outside with newspaper, wrap the rim with a couple wraps of the stretch plastic film that you use to keep boxes together on a pallet, cut out the paper on the inside of the bowl, and let dry. Max drying time before sanding, about 2 weeks. On the thin bowls, the soaking with either DNA or LDD does nothing to speed the drying. The alcohol does make the wood harder to sand out, and the soap makes the bowls a lot easier to sand out. My success rate is almost 100% with bowls that have no defects. Never tried the twice turned method.

robo hippy

[Chris Struttman]

Reed,

I have tried the soap soak before and it comes out with a pretty thick film of soap on the piece. Do you scrape the piece off before you wrap it or do you clean it with water first?

[Scott Hackler]

I have been using Dna and am seeing a good amount of success. Before, I was rough turning, coating with anchorseal (outside and rim only) and leaving it for months on the shelf, open air dying. This works pretty good but requires ancorseal and patience. Using the Dna, I turn the thinkness to 10% and soak for minimum of 24 hours. Fruit bowls I have been trying a 3-4 day soak and for my recent monster (15" dia 7.5" high) I left it in the Dna for 6 days. I remove the peices and wrap the whole thing with at least 2 layers of newspaper and use masking tape around the rim. (several layers of tape). Finally, I cut a few holes in the paper exposing the inside of the bowl. I recently unpacked several maple bowls I did in the middle of June and they were fully dried and ready for returning and finishing.

The paper sack method caused a litle mold problem on the really wet bowls, as well as the shavings method. That really molded the wood.

I think that both of my methods have proven to work real well, Its all about how fast you want to finish your roughed out work and if you can splurge on a gallon of anchorseal to coat the bowls. Of course Rh and heat in your self area has a big effect.

[Reed Gray]

I do rinse the bowls off. In the sink in the cooler weather, and over an ant hill in the summer with the hose. Just rinse off the excess. If the soap dries on the bowl, it is kind of gummy, but will come off your abrasives easily with an eraser stick.

I have tried the masking tape and found it to be more difficult to use than the stretch film. With my experimenting with drying and soaking, the keys to keeping the bowls from cracking are first, turn out ALL cracks and wood defects. CA glue will help stabilize cracks, but it doesn't always keep it from cracking more. Then round over the edges of the rim (sharp crisp edges dry quicker than the rest and can start cracks where none were before). The paper and the plastic film on the rim of the bowl, with the inside open is supposed to make the bowl dry slightly faster on the inside rather than on the outside. This pulls the outside 'inward' so that the bowl dries in a compression mode. I have used just the plastic on the rim on a number of bowls and this works very well. I use the 6 inch wrap, and about 1 to 2 inches of it overlaps the rim towards the inside of the bowl. When you do a couple of wraps of the plastic on the rim, stretch the film fairly tight. This keeps the rim, which is the most likly place for cracks to start under compression, again making the drying process more successful.

robo hippy