# Drying Small Turning Blanks



## BassBlaster (Jan 10, 2012)

Ive recently found a source for crazy figured small turning blanks of various species. Ive actually referred him to this site. Hopefully he joins. He cuts everything into pen and stopper and other small turning blank sizes while the wood is still green. Some of it is sealed on the ends, some is not, depending on the species. I'm wandering how long I should let this stuff dry? Mostly, I have been buying pen blanks. I wouldnt think it would take long for a pen blank to dry but I dont really know.

Also, if Icontinue to buy this green wood, would it be useful or even economical to build a small kiln capable of drying say 100 small blanks at a time? I have a spot in my basement where I could build something of that size. I'm just dying to put some of these on the lathe. Dunno how long I can force myself to wait!!


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## Daniel (Jan 10, 2012)

Hey there!

Daren, Kevin, JMC, Mandolin, or JoeRebuild will be much more knowledgeable than me on this topic, however:

Estimated Drying Times for Several Hardwoods and Softwoods (USDA government study)

Indicates that for 4/4 lumber, drying times of hardwoods ranges from 70 to 150 days, depending on climate and time of year. :dash2:

Your wood is much, much lower volume than that, and has more surface area, so it will dry quite a lot quicker. There is a very good mathematical formula for estimating drying time on this wiki page:

Wood Drying Wiki Page

That you may be able to manipulate in order to get a better idea - otherwise, get a moisture sensor, measure the moisture in the blanks, and figure out a way to speed the process without ruining the wood.

Others with a lot more experience than me will probably trash my explanation, but I hope they do so that I will learn it too!!


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## BassBlaster (Jan 10, 2012)

That wiki page you linked up has my head spinning, lol. Algebra has always been a weak point for me. By weak point, I really mean I'm clueless.

I did some looking around at moisture meters and what I found is that most of the ones you can rely on are really expensive. I'm hoping there a simpler way without having to make that purchase.


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## Daniel (Jan 10, 2012)

Ok, measure the length, width, and thickness of your blanks. Multiply those together to get a volume.

Weigh the piece, and compare to the equivalent dry weight per unit volume for that wood, which can be found on this list:

Wood species weight at various moisture contents

The weights on that table are in pounds per cubic foot, so you need to measure accordingly.


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## JMC (Jan 10, 2012)

When I get your package together you won't have to do much waiting. Otherwise I think you could get one of Darens plans and downsize enough to make it very economical and still dry a little more than a handful safely in 2 to 4 weeks maybe less.JMO


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## BassBlaster (Jan 10, 2012)

Daniel said:


> Ok, measure the length, width, and thickness of your blanks. Multiply those together to get a volume.
> 
> Weigh the piece, and compare to the equivalent dry weight per unit volume for that wood, which can be found on this list:
> 
> ...



Thanks for those tips. I'll try those and see what I come up with.



JMC said:


> When I get your package together you won't have to do much waiting. Otherwise I think you could get one of Darens plans and downsize enough to make it very economical and still dry a little more than a handful safely in 2 to 4 weeks maybe less.JMO



I think I may try that. I'd eventually like to start harvesting some of my own blanks so having a way to dry it sure would be nice.


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## BassBlaster (Jan 11, 2012)

Joe Rebuild said:


> Microwave, not the one in your kitchen, wife may not approve (at least mine didn't). Apparently microwaved sweetgum will continue to transfer it's "flavor" into food (who knew:i_dunno:?).
> 
> Get a garage sale micro. and start with 10-20 seconds remove from micro allow steam to dissipate, repeat until you are at the desired MC. Since I mill I have a lot of green wood. I do this from time to time for small projects or when I just cant wait to work something special.
> 
> Darens plans could easily be converted to any size you want. Very small Dehu's are available.



I was reading over Darens kiln plan thread over at WWT and someone asked about building a small kiln similar in size to what I would want and he told them its not a good idea and that a heat lamp type kiln would be better.

I think I'll surf CL for a used microwave for now. I think that will work perfect for me for a while. Thanks for the tip, I never would have thought to put would in the microwave!


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## Daren (Jan 11, 2012)

BassBlaster said:


> he told them its not a good idea and that a heat lamp type kiln would be better.



I will go into more detail on that later today (?) when I have more time, I'm typing on my phone right now. I came up with an idea a few years ago to do what you are talking about. (box/heat lamp/venting system) Pretty easy/cheap to make and the guys who are using it say it works well.


.


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## Daniel (Jan 11, 2012)

How about using a fish tank with a sealed top, vented to a dehumidifier and put the whole thing under a heat lamp?


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## Daren (Jan 11, 2012)

Joe Rebuild said:


> Microwave, not the one in your kitchen...



I dry small pieces in the nuker often, just as described short cycles on/out to cool for awhile...in the garage...I stuck some 100 year old sinker cypress in the kitchen one once.  Nasty smelling I tell you, and it had hang time too, the whole house reeked for hours.

On a bigger scale, short of a DH kiln like was mentioned, the old ''light bulb in a box'' trick will work. Racks inside the insulated box to put the blanks on, a simple frame with chicken wire shelving or even old oven racks work. Heat lamp in the bottom since heat rises. Fresh air intake hole near the bottom, hot/wet air exhaust hole in the top. I think it would vent _OK_ by natural convection. But I would make a power vent with *this*. The solar collector goes down by the light (it is on a 6' cord) The fan goes over the hole in the top. When the light is on, the fan automatically comes on (and runs with no additional electric usage. A PC cooling fan or something similar would work too if you had one laying around and wanted to wire it in) I have not built one of these, don't need one for what I do, but dreamed it up and have suggested the idea to several people and it works for them as a small scale ''blank'' kiln.

Pretty basic: Sealed box, racks for the blanks, heat source (heat lamp being the safest), and a way to vent the moisture removed from the wood. I would put a thermometer in the box, just stuck in the side, a probe type like *this* . The venting can be tweaked to maintain temps by restricting the air intake hole (duct tape would work) to keep the temps 100-120.


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## BassBlaster (Jan 11, 2012)

Thanks for the reply Daren. That sounds simple enough and sounds like it would be perfect for what I want to do. I do believe I'll give it a shot!


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