looking for a quick method for bowl finishing

Ken Easley

Member
Messages
114
Location
Phoenix, AZ
Since the holidays have crept up on me and I haven't done nearly as much in the shop as I had hoped. I was looking for some ways to take green wood, not real wet but definitely green, and get to a finished bowl, good enough to gift, in time for Christmas. I've never tried microwaving to dry, or shellac finishes, but willing to try something new. Any other tricks out there?
 
Ken, a member here, Mitch C. I think, has stated that he just seals wet wood with a spar varnish, I think again, and he has had good success with no cracking...Hopefully he will chime in.
 
The alcohol drying method only takes a couple of weeks...just in time for Christmas if you get cracking.

Here's how I do it...

Rough turn the bowls to a wall thickness that is roughly 10% of the diameter...ie, a 10" bowl would be turned to 1" thick. Leave a tenon on the bowl bottom.
NB: Whether you start with the blank on a faceplate or woodworm screw, always use the tail stock center to make an indentation in the tenon while turning it. That way, it's easier to find the center of the tenon after the bowl dries.

Soak the bowl overnight (or at least a few hours) in a container of denatured alcohol. You can buy it at the box stores. Remove the bowl and let it drip dry over the container.

Lay the bowl open side down on a sheet of brown paper (a grocery bag opened up works great). Fold the paper up tightly over the bowl bottom and tape in place with masking tape. Cut away any excess paper.

Turn the bowl over and cut out the paper from the bowl opening. Write the date on the paper...just in case.

Store open-side down on a rack to allow air flow for two weeks. The theory is that the inside of the bowl will dry first, promoting a cupping action that enhances the shape and inhibits cracking.

Place the dry bowl over a jam chuck and bring up the tail stock against the tenon center. Re-turn the tenon round (it will have warped).

Reverse chuck the bowl and inish fturn the outside round, then finish turn the inside.

Re-mount the bowl on a jam chuck or with a doughnut chuck or vacuum chuck, turn off the tenon and shape the bottom.

Apply finish and voila!
 
I've had pretty good results finish turning green wood and then boiling the piece for about an hour. After a couple of days the piece is dry and ready for hand sanding. I usually start at 220 and work up as far as I think the piece needs. Then you can sand with what ever finish you prefer.
 
Cody, thanks, I will be trying this soon but probably not before this Holiday. Too much to do before I'll actually get in the shop to turn and I won't have the drying time. Doug, I may try boiling. I've read about it before with people using lobster pots on special propane burners. What do you use? (Lobster pots kind of hard to find in the desert.) Anybody actually tried micro waving to dry? I've heard about it but don't know anyone with first hand experience.

Ken
 
The Alcohol method is my favorite method. Works well with few failures, Cody is dead on my method, and it works.
 
You've gotten a lot of good suggestions already. But you can also turn it thin, 3/8" or less, and just let it warp to its own shape. I kind of like a bowl with a good natural warp to it, adds character.

BTW, I've played around with a little microwave drying with varied results. You want to be careful not to burn it, they go from hot to really smokin' hot in a hurry. Also keep in mind that it will stink up the kitchen pretty bad depending on the wood variety.
 
Last edited:
Ken, I've used various stock pots. We bought a set of cheap stock pots a few years ago. I usually grab the first one I see and to to it. Most of the time I've done it on the kitchen stove, but the last time I used my Coleman stove out in the garage. Worked well. It was a little slower to come up to a boil, but worked non-the-less. Basically any pot you find that is large enough for the piece you are wanting to boil. The only thing that is critical is that the pot be an inch or two larger than the piece that is to be boiled. You don't want an accidental steam cap.
 
Thanks for all the ideas. I may start experimenting with microwave drying - thanks for the links - and I may boil a piece or two also in one of those turkey fryer kits. (I'm actually wondering about boiling and then microwaving???) Hoping early next year to get my alcohol set up going or just get far enough ahead to have a couple of blanks ready to go anytime I want to turn to a finished piece. Anyway, thanks again.
 
Chuck, I have been using the soap method for about a year. Works okay on some woods and not so well on others. Unfortunately, I am not a record keeper so I do not have any information. I usually rough turn a bowl as everyone seems to, 10% of the diameter for the thickness. Soak for about 2 days or more, then wrap in newspaper and let dry for a couple of weeks or until I get to them and then finish turn. Do I get warp, yes I do. The worst warping seems to come from very open grain wood. Not much info but here it is. I think I am going to try the DNA method sometime after the first of the year
 
I've tried the dish soap method and I do think it helps, definitely better than doing nothing. I did get some small radial cracks in Norfolk Island Pine, but it did very well on backyard citrus.

I started this thread because I was looking for something fast just for now. After the first of the year I hope to have time to actually do some testing and comparisons. DNA, maybe build a refrigerator kiln, boiling...

Maybe I'll get some patience for Christmas....

Ken
 
I also tried the LDD for about a year. The only thing I think I gained was that is was easier sanding. Kinda like having the wood lubed. I have had excellent luck with DNA. I have only lost one bowl this last year and that was apple which could have had some wind shake in it.

One thing a old timer who had been turning many years but quit because he has lost his sight due to and don't ask me to spell it but the initials are M D. Anyway he told me on bowls don't leave the rim square with sharp edges. He said to round the edges while it is drying and you will have less cracks. He said if you want square rims do it when you put it on the lathe to finish. Can't tell ya if it is right or wrong but I am going to give it a try on my next few bowls just roll the top of the rim round.
 
My trick for turning a wet bowl to completion in a hurry is just to turn it thin enough that it doesn't crack when drying. Usually around 1/4" or so for most of my work. In the pieces that didn't have cracks when they started, I haven't lost one of them. Just turn them thin, let them dry a few days (they dry fast since they're so thin) and finish. They'll warp, but that's half the fun in my opinion :)

I did several experiments with DNA and found that there was no difference in drying times or wood movement/cracking, so I don't use it. Plenty of people use it and that's great, but it's not for me.

-Joe

P.S. Nice lathe :)
 
I've had very good luck with DNA soaks. I will say that with some woods, it just isn't going to be completely dry at 2 weeks no matter what. I haven't tested with a moisture meter, but some bowls that I've turned are noticeably MUCH lighter a month or two down the road from finish turning. If I'm really trying to make something quick, I turn to a little less than that 10% figure, but not too much; sometimes things move a lot more than you thought they would. Apple and sycamore move a lot no matter what, at least IME. Anyway, I don't cut out the middle of the (brown paper grocery bag around the ) bowl; I just crumple the end so that it is loosely closed, and even opened the bag very slightly a couple times after a few days; I haven't had one crack from drying too fast yet, but I usually stack several on a shelf together after a day of roughing out blanks, so there wasn't a huge amount of airflow there. I have finish turned a couple pieces just 5 days after soaking; a 15" oak bowl, and a 13" natural edge hickory bowl. The oak bowl moved very very little after finish turning, and not until a week or two after sanding & varnishing was it noticeable. When laying it flat on its face, it is only 3/16" or so out of round. I don't have pics of it; sorry. Just be careful, and if your shop is heated, and there's low humidity outside, cover it extra well, and put it in a corner, or somewhere out of airflow.


EDIT: Minwax Antique Oil is GREAT stuff; I love working with it; if I really sand well up to 600-800, then slight synthetic steel wool buffing, I can get a nice shine even before the varnish; this way, if I get a really soaking first coat, after sanding any rough spots after it dries, it looks great with just one or two more coats; with more coats, sanding lightly in between, it really takes on a really reflective surface. I don't use a beall buff system (yet--maybe in the future. I modded my lathe with a jack shaft pulley--topspeed is now less than 1500RPM).
 
Last edited:
Top