Microwave drying

[NeilO]

A little help/advice required......
after having a small mishap with trying to dry wood in the microwave over the weekend..(needless to say , i am now banned from the kitchen appliances :shock: )
how do you dry it????
i put a small ( 5 x 3 inch cylinder) of beech? in the microwave for 3 mins resting for 20 mins and then another 3 mins cook/20mins rest for several repetitions but alas it smoked out the kitchen/house...having actually boiled the resin INSIDE the wood to burning point.

is there a set method for this kind of drying???

 

[mr]

Havent been brave enough to try it myself as yet but when I was looking into it ( for bending rather than drying purposes) the suggested times for blasting were more in the order of seconds than minutes. 20 seconds rather than three minutes. Praps theres something in that ?

Mike

 

[NeilO]

Thanks for the reply, mr....
seconds rather than minutes, Hmmmmmm ......maybe thats why I now have not spalted but smoked Beech :lol:
maybe I can convince SWMBO to give up the microwave for wood drying again or nip down Tesco and buy a cheapie from there....and it can always second as a coffe maker

 

[mr]

I knew I wasn't the only person in the world who makes coffee in the microwave

FOund an article here http://www.intarsia.net/e-book/wooddrying.htm which suggest that your timings should have been ok.
Mike

 

[NeilO]

I guess theres possibly more than two of us as well, Mike.....
should i make it a poll??? :lol:

just read that link, mike.. talk about deja vu......burning wood, smoking from boths ends :lol: :shock: still at least the microwave is still intact..

seems you need to reduce "cooking" time as the wood becomes drier, but I know that now... thanks for the link..

 

[CHJ]

Neil, have a read of this recent thread: and the link to one method.

 

[Scrums]

Uh Oh......fame at last, strangely enough I haven't tried it since....though I do have some Crab Apple to dry out........

Chris.

 

[joekid]

A little help/advice required......
after having a small mishap with trying to dry wood in the microwave over the weekend..(needless to say , i am now banned from the kitchen appliances :shock: )
how do you dry it????
i put a small ( 5 x 3 inch cylinder) of beech? in the microwave for 3 mins resting for 20 mins and then another 3 mins cook/20mins rest for several repetitions but alas it smoked out the kitchen/house...having actually boiled the resin INSIDE the wood to burning point.

is there a set method for this kind of drying???

put some mackeral fillets on it next time,

 

[joekid]

ive read lately about microwave drying,2 mins on defrost,let stand for an hour then repeat, several times,full power will cause the (any) liquid to expand to quikly causing presure in the wood whichit wouldnt normally do naturaly/ so giving the wood a vein to split later oncereaching its natural equilibrium with its surroundings, now i can second this as ive turned lots of green wood lately and the only pieces that havent split are the ones put back in the shed once treated