Several weeks ago, I asked on this forum about drying wet turning squares to make peppermills. The advice was it would be better to use kiln dried wood.
My R&D background led me to run some drying tests on several wet (30% MC) 3x3x12 squares. Sample 1 was maple rough turned to about 2.5 inch diameter and a 1 inch hole was drilled through the center. It was then soaked in DNA for 24 hrs, placed in a paper bag and set aside to dry. Sample 2 was treated like the first sample but not treated with DNA. Sample 3 was a soft wood (red gum) and treated like sample 1 (including DNA). Sample 4 was a 3x3x12 redgum square and then boiled in water for 3 hours (just to see if the boiling water method would work with thicker wood).
Sample 1 was allowed to come to constant weight and at this time (20 days), all the samples were weighed and measured. The results are:
Sample 1 lost 20% of its weight-no cracks observed. The difference between the maximum and minimum outside diameter (outside deviation) was 0.02 inch. The difference between the maximum and minimum inside diameter (inside deviation) was 0.02 inch.
Sample 2 lost 13% of its weight. The outside deviation was 0.06 inch and the inside deviation was 0.04 inch.
Sample 3 lost 22% of its weight and the outside deviation was 0.09 inch and inside was 0.05 inch.
Sample 4-complete failure--checking and very slow weight loss.
Hope you find this info useful. Not as exhaustive as it could have been but it does seem to suggest that drying wet peppermill blanks without excessive checking or distortion is possible. Obviously, returning and redrilling to get the final peppermill would be required.
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