# Drying bowls in a kiln



## Woodbizard (Dec 18, 2010)

Hi All

Anyone have any experience drying out rough turned bowls in a Daren Nelson style kiln? I have a bunch to dry and some advise would be welcome. They are ash, 9" round and 4.5" thick and very chunky. I have sealed the ends with endseal. I'm just afraid of drying them out to quickly and having them all crack.
Thanks
Adrian


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

Adrian
I sent you a PM that should help, the advice I gave works for others. I would prefer any kiln operation questions be directed at me in private, you have my email/phone number. That is part of my deal free tech support, well, for life...I'm just not crazy about discussing the ins-outs and how to's on the open forum, I'm funny that way I guess. Like I said your best bet is just to give me a holler, I'm always here to help. I have helped 1000+ people build and run this plan, so there are not too many (if any) questions I cannot answer off the top of my head.
Thanks
Daren

I see you only have 3 posts, so you cannot send PM's (you have to have 25, we had a spammer problem) But you have sent me emails before, so feel free to do that any time.



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## wildwood (Jan 25, 2011)

I prefer to rough turn and air dry. Could you give more information on the kiln you are talking about.


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

wildwood said:


> I prefer to rough turn and air dry.
> 
> Could you give more information on the kiln you are talking about.


MOST people do, rough out and air dry, finish turning later when starting with wet wood.

He is talking about a contraption I designed for drying milled lumber primarily,(a dehumidification kiln)... but some people are drying turning stock/roughed turnings-limbs/small logs for rustic furniture-all sorts of things I did not expect when I first designed it. (it's a plan I sell and support)



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## wildwood (Jan 25, 2011)

JMHO, building a kiln to dry spindle, bowl, and hollow form blanks, not worth the time and money for average woodturner. Not to mention becoming a master at kiln drying wood harder than it looks. There are many reasons why folks selling you waxed blanks do not run that wood trough a kiln. 

Wood turners have been using simple homemade kilns to speed up drying roughed out bowls and hollow forms for years. Wood turners have been getting by with simply a box with shelves, light bulb for heat, vents holes, and a fan to dry rough outs and small boards. Modified kitchen appliances, to plywood/chip board boxes with doors, holes for wiring and vents seem to work well. Have read novel ideas for drying pen blanks which involve storing in attic, car trunk, closed ice cooler with computer fan just a few.

Hope no one takes offense to my post, looked up "dehumification kiln," too much information for this old man!


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## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

I spent an afternoon with a full time turner who uses old dishwashers with light bulbs in them to dry his work. He produces far more than most of us hobbyists. Still if your impatient and have the space to put in a kiln they are not hard to build. 
It will not stop checking. You still have to go through the learning curve of how to speed up drying without getting the checking. There have been 2 short articles in Woodturning out of England. One on building a drying kiln using a dehumidifier and the other on steaming bowls to speed up drying. 
There have been lots of discussion on speeding up drying by boiling wood and also by Alcohol dunking. 
I prefer to just rough turn them, put them on the shelf and rough turn the next one. After about 6 months I have a continual supply of dry bowls. I rough turn one, put it on the shelf and then pull one off the dry shelf and turn it. Solves the problem quit nicely. If I really need a bowl from piece of green wood I simply turn it thin, and let it dry and warp. It takes a about 3 to 5 days for a 1/4" thick and little longer for 3/8". 1/2" will usually dry in about 2 weeks.


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## wildwood (Jan 25, 2011)

Talked to a man at Statesville, NC woodturning conference many years ago, he used an old refrigerator, have since seen examples of gas stove, and dish washer Also some plywood built kilns. 

Here are some examples: 

A Simple Kiln

http://azwoodturners.org/kiln.pdf

Building a Wood Bowl Kiln
by Dennis Daudelin ​ 
http://www.woodturningonline.com/assets/turning_articles/Kiln/Introduction.html

You can find some articles on micro wave, boiling and alcohol drying at woodturning online too.


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

wildwood said:


> You can find some articles on micro wave, boiling and alcohol drying at woodturning online too.


We have talked about those methods here a lot, I bring up the microwave and boiling often for small pieces myself, as well as attic drying like you mentioned in an earlier post. (search ''microwave'' and ''attic'' here, I have tons of posts about it) 

Yep the old box with a light for heat and venting work just fine, more of a conventional kiln. I like this thing for a power vent. The solar collector is removable/on a longer wire so you can put it down near the light and power the vent fan when the light is on.

Like I said my kiln is primarily for drying lumber/slabs, Adrian has already done that with success.


Woodbizard said:


> Well its been about a month since I had purchased the plans from Daren. He has been amazing at sharing his knowledge with me. Any emails or even phone calls he was quick with responses. I just pulled out my first load of dry wood out yesterday. 2 huge walnut crotches, now nice and dry! Loading up for another charge today. If you are thinking about drying your own wood this is the way to go.
> Adrian


Not to speak for him but I think since he _already_ has a dehumidification kiln he is just looking to use it for roughed bowls. Would I build a d/h kiln for only drying bowls...probably not. I would use one of the other proven methods (and there are many), but if I already had a kiln built for drying lumber I would use it to dry my turnings (if I was a wet wood turner, I'm not).





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## wildwood (Jan 25, 2011)

Daren, have no problem with a guy wanting to build a dehumidification kiln for roughed turned bowl blanks. Merely trying to point out important to rough turn first before putting blanks in a kiln. Did not know such an animal existed before reading about it.

Big blocks of wood run the risk of case hardening in a kiln. Richard Raffan talks about case hardening of bowl blanks in his book,” Turned Bowl Designed.” John Lucas and I try to say there is more to drying wood in a kiln than meets the eye. A definite learning curve, until you get some experience. 

Lot of that has to do with where wood comes from on the tree, species, and defects in the wood not seen by the naked eye. Lot to do with relative humidity in your area and moisture content of the wood going into the kiln. 

Experience has taught what works for me, Borrow two real estate terms to describe my outlook on drying wood. Location, location, and “he/she who care least wins.” I know the annual relative humidity for my area, so my procedure probable differ from people in other parts of the state and country drying wood. I know will get some failures end sealing and setting wood aside until get around to it will mean some losses. Also rough turning and air-drying not always ends in final product. Call my system working smarter than harder. I win cause do not worry about the small amount of loss. 

I know having a kiln to dry rough outs would increase my success rate. Right now happy with my wood shed.


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## Timurray2000 (Aug 21, 2010)

I tried to rough turn and dry my first two bowl blanks and one blank (E Indian Rosewood) cracked all the way through in 2 days but the wetter Yucatan Rosewood didn't. So how do I prevent this kind of cracking?


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## wildwood (Jan 25, 2011)

*Common name contains rosewood*

http://65.23.157.7/cgi-bin/woodsearch.cgi?commonname=rosewood&prior=rrr

I have never turned anything in the Rosewood family. 

Here is what I do based upon time of the year and fresh cut logs. This time of year with low humidity will put a roughed out bowl blank with wet shavings in a grocery bag for couple of weeks to a month. Then check progress and dump chips. I use brown paper grocery bags because want moisture to escape slowly. For logs cut end sealed and stored for, a while omit chips and bags. During spring and summer, months with higher humidity might omit bags and chips. 

Do not use plastic bags here, if were in a dessert climate, I would. Wood tends to stain or grow mold here in plastic bags even when left unsealed. That can happen with using paper bags and wet chips too if left unattended. 

If bought Rosewood or any other wood bowl or spindle blank covered in wax. Scrap wax from sides, leave ends sealed and let hang out for three to six months before rough turning. I want water content to evaporate. 
Your E. Indian Rosewood dried too fast! Some species crack if you look at them funny!


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