Drying wood with a microwave

[sawdust maker]

Hi

I am quite new to wood turning, done one or two small things. I have just got some green logs, well fire wood really! I have heard that you can turn a bowl with the wood still green and dry it out by microwaving it. I would like to try it. Any one know how long it takes? Does it work without the wood splitting? Will it only work with thin sections? Finally what are the dangers. SWMBO thinks I will blow up the microwave!!! I won't will I.

 

[mr]

You wont blow up the microwave but you might start a fire .
There's another thread about this somewhere on here which you might find useful
ah here it be

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12734&highlight=microwave
Cheers Mike

 

[TEP]

Hi Sawdust.

Turning wet wood, bowls must be turned fairly thin and even otherwise they will split. Better to part turn the wood, then coat with a sealer and let it dry naturally in a cool dark place for a bit. Then go back and re-turn to final shape.

Microwaving, again turn thin and even, I only use seconds on defrost, leave it resting for 15-20mins, then another few seconds on defrost, and so on. You should shorten the time as it gets drier, and they recommend weighing the piece at the start, and weighing as you microwave it to check for weight loss. I've not had much joy at that as the pieces I have done were so light to start.

 

[Wanlock Dod]

I have tried drying a large rough turned blank in a microwave, although it had been air drying for a while and I was getting bored of waiting. I did as TEP suggests, a short go on defrost (10 or 20 seconds) about every half hour or so (basically whenever I remembered) with fairly regular weighing. It lost quite a bit of water in a day, perhaps as much as a week of air drying. After 2 days (the weekend) it was still getting lighter so I left it a week or so then turned it. It had one crack, although it wasn't too bad and turned out OK.

Even just using defrost in short doses I still got a slight smokey smell at one point when I was getting a little too enthusiastic/impatient, this was probably when the split occured, although it was wrapped in a sheet of newspaper at the time so I'll never be sure.

The bowl was poplar, about 10 inches diameter and 4 inches deep, with sides about 2 inches thick when rough turned and a thick bottom.

Cheers,

Dod

 

[Paul.J]

I tried it once.Was working fine.
Followed the instructions i had to the T.
Then it just started to split,and split,and split.
Paul.J.

 

[Dave]

Agree with Tam, Dod and Mike. You may be able to hurry small bits of wood, but a lot depends on the type of wood and how wet it is to start with.
I never had much success and don't bother any more as almost everything I tried to dry split badly or warped itself into a knot, and I came to the conclusion that it's safer to have fires in the woodburning stove!
Funny stuff wood - I once turned a small (and quite thin-walled) bowl from a bit of church pulpit that must have been cut 400 years ago at least. Within two days of bringing it indoors it had split almost in half. You need to be philosophical in this game - and learn to like splits.