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Thread: Drying bowl blanks

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
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    Knoxville,TN.
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    59

    Drying bowl blanks

    I have called every pet shop in town trying to find Silica Gel cat litter to us as a drying agent. It is hard to find. I think I will order it. Anyway I was just thinking why not use my vaccumn pump to pull out the water? Has anyone done this. I know when you stabilize pen blanks they tell you to run a vacum before adding the resin. Roger

  2. #2
    I would not think a vacuum would be a good idea as it may pull the water too quickly and crack the bowl. If I want to dry them quickly I turn them as thin as I think I can get away with and seal the outside end grain, then take the wet shavings and full up the bowl and put saran wrap over it. but this still takes a couple months
    Dean

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2015
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    San Diego, Ca
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    Go to either Amazon or ebay - - they sell silica gel in all sizes and at decent prices. And better yet? You don't have to drive to pick it up. It'll be delivered.

    Eventually the silica gel will absorb moisture and need to be dried out. Google the oven temps and time required.

  4. #4
    There are vacuum kilns. They do add a little heat to the process, usually through extruded aluminum sheets with antifreeze in them. Water, inside a vacuum boils at a much lower temperature than outside the vacuum. Not sure if the vacuum pump from the presses we use would work for that or not. The wood that comes out of vacuum kilns, and solar kilns works like air dried lumber. If you rip a board on your table saw, you get shavings, not dust. Also, I can rip a 8/4 board down to book match a table top, and get no spring, warp or cupping.

    robo hippy

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
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    Dallas, TX
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    I have considered building a vacuum kiln, however I am sure that I would need a refrigerated moisture trap ahead of my rotary vane vacuum pump. You can get a lot of water occluded in a stack of bowls and that could gum up you pump vanes.

    The practice of pulling a vacuum on wood prior to pressure treating it is to pull the air out of the wood prior to flooding so that the preservative will penetrate deeply into the wood. It has nothing to do with drying.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    E TN, near Knoxville
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    Roger,

    Lots of people use an old fridge or freezer with gentle warming from a light bulb.
    http://www.cindydrozda.com/handouts_...rying_kiln.pdf

    Also, of you can plug the front of the bowl (say with a piece of plywood and a gasket) or vessel you can put compressed air into it and blow out a lot of the free water and it will dry quicker. The other Jordan guy does this with his hollow forms - I was surprised at how much water bubbled out of the wood.

    Walmart used to carry that type of cat litter. I wouldn't use it myself in fear of drying too fast. I might try it if the bottom and end grain (or maybe even the entire outside) were sealed with Anchorseal first.

    JKJ

  7. #7
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    Jul 2018
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    Knoxville,TN.
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    Thanks guys for the information. I found 100% silica gel in Dr. Elsey's cat litter. Small grain in Senior, Medium in Respiratory relief and the largest grain in his longhair cat formula. Get it at Petsmart, Petco or on line at Chewy.com. People say this method works. I will coat the bowls with Anchorseal first, then cover with silica gel. The article says dry in 48 hours with little shrinking or cracking. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DaaTbDTUsg0 and https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QpM_3uTNm5Y I will let you know my results. My old success rate is 75% of turntable bowls after air drying for a year. Thanks Roger

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Greenbush, Wisconsin
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    48
    Roger,

    Sounds like it could be a solution for a bowl "that you can't wait to re-turn". I typically rough turn, anchor seal and record the weight periodically and re-turn one to two years or more later. I have on more than one occasion rough turned a crotch piece that I would like to re-turn "soon".

    Just curious why you chose to use anchor seal and use silica gel? Wouldn't that just prolong the moisture removal?

    As you say....please post your results.

    Ron

  9. #9
    There is a method for using a dehumidifier, light bulb, and fan, with a moisture trap of some sort. It is some what similar to the fridge kilns. Even though I don't twice turn, it seems like a lot of extra work to speed dry when you can put them on a shelf and let them sit. Of course, some woods are a lot easier to dry than others...

    robo hippy

  10. #10
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    Jul 2018
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    Knoxville,TN.
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    Hello Ron, I think maybe Anchorseal will give the bowl a uniform drying. I am just guessing. Maybe no seal will be better. Anyway my success rate with shelf drying is not very high. Some bowls are a little out of round others can only be scraped and sanded. I do not like to sand. I will try the kiln/light bulb in some type of enclosure also. Thanks for the reply,Roger.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    lufkin tx
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    Endseal (anchor seal is a brand name--there are many) all over, inside only on vases, toss in the corner and soon you will have an oversupply of dry pieces with almost no cracks. Remember the 10% thickness thumb rule.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by John K Jordan View Post
    Roger,

    Lots of people use an old fridge or freezer with gentle warming from a light bulb.
    I use a old dishwasher and light bulb

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    E TN, near Knoxville
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    12,298
    Quote Originally Posted by phil harold View Post
    I use a old dishwasher and light bulb
    I need to break down and build myself one of those. What wattage light bulb do you find best? Did you cut vents in the top?

    I'm making a small one from a large roll-around cooler big enough to hold a 5-gallon bucket. Not for drying wood or bowls but to re-liquify a bucket of honey that crystalized from getting too cool.

    JKJ

  14. #14
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    Jul 2018
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    Knoxville,TN.
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    I am going to use a metal garbage can with a 100 watt light bulb at the bottom. I stored incandescent bulbs before they were replaced with LED types. I also have a 150 watt reptile heater type bulb, may be too hot. I have four green bowls and will have two more tomorrow. All of them are going in for a week. I painted some with Anchorseal. I will report my findings then. Roger

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    Cambridge Vermont
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    2,280
    if you don't mind spending a few extra bucks and you can do what I'm going to do. This is a Watlow brand temperature controller. I got it use off ebay for $20. While they have extra inputs/ outputs you can use them in basic form. It has a simple power cord you plug into any 120v outlet, an output (the gray wire going down to the bowl blank), and the orange wire that the end of which measure the temp. The green number is the temp set point and the red number is the current temp. The best thing is that you can set the temp low to start off at a lower temp then keep increasing the temps. Once you get a feel for how each wood dries you can come with a formula that works well. This one is set up to control a heat source up to 500 watts. It'll hold what ever temp you want (as long as the heat source can heat source is powerful enough) with in a degree or two of what you set it at. The heat source can be any 120v source. Light bulbs are getting harder to get but small ceramic heaters are easy to get. I'm trying to find a broken stainless commercial fridge or freezer to turn into a kiln.

    watlow.jpg

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