Tool Talk
Woodworking Forum => Woodworking Forum => Topic started by: Branson on January 01, 2012, 09:06:36 AM
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Twenty-odd years ago, there was a process for drying small pieces of green wood by putting it in a microwave. I knew a fellow who tried it with good results, but I don't remember just how he did it. Has anybody heard of this? Tried the process?
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I've heard of it several times. It involves paper bags and lots of short bursts.
But I have boiled green wood in water for years, with nearly perfect success.
Most woods can be boiled for one hour per inch of thickness and come out great! Even bad ones like manzanita which is very dense and hard to cure.
The wood needs to be "just cut" green though! If its been around for a week or so, it won't work.
Just a simmer will do, you don't really have to boil it hard the whole time.
Another trick I use for green wood, if I am not in such a rush, is to keep a coffee can of wax around. old yard sale candles and such are ideal.
When I cut green sticks or whatever, I'll heat the wax over a camp stove (outside) until it melts and dip the ends for a minute or so each. Then just stack in the woodshed. I get good success this way even with dogwood and locust. Hard one to cure with no cracks.
Of course it helps to have a woodshed. The more wood you have in a small space, the more evenly water will move around. It kind of keeps itself stable.
A single piece of wood all alone never has a chance unless its so small you can boil or microwave it.
yours Scott
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Branson, I microwaved some small pieces of Blackjack Oak once. This wood came from my Grandad's place, and I was going to turn some keepsake pens for family members. It wound up dry enough to use, but took a while to get the smell out of the house. My wife laughs about it now, but she was not very pleased at the time.
Lynn
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Hey Branson,
I do a fair bit of greenwood work and regularly use the microwave to force season pieces. It's just a case of short bursts, say 10 secs in the oven 15 secs tops, leave it to stand for a minute or two and repeat the process as required. The density of the wood your using will dictate exactly how many times you need to cook it, for european Ash, Beech, Cherry etc I tend to blast them through 5/6 cycles. It's not an exact art but has always given fairly good results. Also invest in a cheap microwave to use instead of the domestic one, I can sympathise with Lynn, my wife wasn't impressed either!
Best Regards
Thom
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Thank you Thom!
I've got some maple that I want to work *right now* More to cure more slowly.
But hey, maple smells good, eh?
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Hmm... for some reason, no matter how many times I
microwave this 2x4 it still doesn't taste like a cheeseburger...