# Drying wood



## kweinert (May 6, 2012)

I posted something on another site about my first attempt at turning something green and how it didn't work. I got this in response to how this person dried green wood:



> I dried a few tree branches for making tool handles. My technique is to de bark the stick, then put stainless steel hose clamps about every two inches and torque them good and tight. You have to tighten the clamps twice a day for the first week, then once a day until they don't tighten any more which means the stick is shrunk as much as it's going to.



Just thought you might find it interesting.


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## gridlockd (May 7, 2012)

kweinert said:


> I posted something on another site about my first attempt at turning something green and how it didn't work. I got this in response to how this person dried green wood:
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> ...



I can't imagine how this would work. I wouldn't think compression would keep wood from splitting. if you decide to give it a try, please keep us informed on how well it works.


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## kweinert (May 7, 2012)

gridlockd said:


> kweinert said:
> 
> 
> > I posted something on another site about my first attempt at turning something green and how it didn't work. I got this in response to how this person dried green wood:
> ...



Oh, I don't plan on trying it, just thought I'd pass along something I'd read. If compression worked, then why couldn't you dry wood by putting it under a vacuum? That'd keep the compression a lot better/more uniformly than hose clamps. It'd pull the moisture out as well, right?

I know a vacuum will pull out the moister. Back in the early 80s I had a job that involved electron beam welding (deep vacuum) and explosive forming (under water) and my calculator fell out of my pocket and into the water. We pulled the battery out, put the calculator in the vacuum chamber, pumped it down. When we took the calculator out even the instruction manual still worked - the paper was dry as a bone and had suffered no ill effects.

Should do the same for wood, right? :)

To your point - even if the pressure of the vacuum kept the wood from splitting at the time the tension changes would still be present and releasing the vacuum would allow the wood to still move - perhaps even worse.

I'm sure someone has done this before (I've not yet asked the google) but it might be an interesting experiment to try to vacuum dry some small blanks once my chamber comes in (this month at last notice.)


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## arkie (May 7, 2012)

kweinert said:


> gridlockd said:
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> > kweinert said:
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Should be an interesting experiment, and I'll be watching to see how it turns out. You may need to add some heat - water absorbs heat as it evaporates. It may be possible to freezer your sample if it is wet enough and big enough.


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## Mizer (May 7, 2012)

I think vacuum kilns are a accepted form of drying lumber. I know wood-mizer used to make a vacuum kiln.


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## Mizer (May 7, 2012)

kweinert said:


> I posted something on another site about my first attempt at turning something green and how it didn't work. I got this in response to how this person dried green wood:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I wonder what kind of tool he is making handles for? Sounds like a lot of time and work to only end up with a dry branch for a tool handle.


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