How to prepare green wood

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Carl Fisher

Carl Fisher

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Hi all. I went through the library and all 4 pages in this board but everything currently seems to be centered around casting. I'm curious about methods for preparing found wood for blanks.

Do I need to go through the full year long drying process as I would for furniture grade lumber, or is there a better way to quickly prepare blanks from green wood?

Thanks!
 
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I cut it down to large blanks and let it dry stacked in a rough pyramid with excellent air flow for a few months. It's about a 2 1/2 month wait. There's ways to do it in a few hours, but none I've tried.
 
Do you put stickers between them to let air circulate under, or just stack them and leave them?

It was my hope that getting them close to rough blank size that it wouldn't require as much dry time. I'd like to turn some of the wood from my property from trees we've downed.
 
They become the stickers for the next layer. Stack em criss crossed, maybe 4 sticks spread the width of the next layer. It looks like your green Army Men are about to have the baddest bonfire on the planet when you get done. I have turned some very green stuff, and had varying degrees of success. I'd wait for it to dry. It usually more than pays for the time you spend waiting on it.
 
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Now I can picture what you are after. Perfect description!

Thanks. I hadn't thought to stack them that way but it makes perfect sense. Appreciate the help.
 
I have a faster method of drying blanks. I use a veggie dryer that I bought for doing jerky and dried fruits. Dry them two to three days, then let them sit for a week to reach a stable moisture content. When first out of the drier they are too dry and need to gain a little moisture from the air. Never had any problems with the blanks later. Just be aware that this method will cause them to twist or crack more than slow air drying. But most blanks are over size and a little defect is not a problem and once drilled all but the most twisted turn perfectly.
 
You can dry them in the microwave. Weigh them first, then give them 30 second blasts. Open the door and let out the steam and let the blanks rest. Keep doing that till they stop loosing weight. I don't do that a lot, but it works. My normal drying this time of the year, is to put them in the attic. I made chicken wire "envelopes", that keep a single layer of blanks held together. I hang those from the rafters. We have a whole house fan that moves air through the attic, to speed this up. Takes a couple of weeks. In the winter, I stack the blanks on top of the furnace duct trunk line running through the basement. They heat up and cool off as the furnace cycles. That doesn't take too long about January, here in Central IL.
 
Cutting the wood slightly oversize like 1" for pen blanks is most recommended as regardless of what type of drying process you will use, they will shrink and buckle a little...!

The smaller the pieces you cut, the quickest it will dry, normally. Air dry is the most used method, but stacking thew wood in layers and with separators in between, as explained above, (I call them the drying towers), you can strap the bundle together to that it helps the wood to move too much and also keeps things together nicely, making moving it around a easy task and voiding those "oops" bumped the damn thing and now I have blanks on the floor and everywhere, type situation...!:mad:

You can successfully dry green pen blanks in the microwave if you follow the simple principle that 1 minute bursts are the maximum the wood will accept before it starts burning. As advise above, this method require a little patience, as it will require a fair number of bursts before it is ready/safe to turn. Weighing the blank or 1 blank or various blanks are getting microwaved, at the start, is one of the best and easier ways to control the drying process.

Let the blanks to cool down a little in between bursts, by opening the microwave door and waiting a few minutes, this will become more important as the wood gets drier, as soon as most of the moisture is out, the wood will burn quite easily to the point that I would suggest, not knowing what microwave power you have, start with the 1 minute bursts, right up to the fourth time, after that and to be completely safe, reduce the time to 30 seconds bursts, this may take a little longer but it will give you nicely and properly dried blanks in the end...!

Air dry rule is, 1 year for every 2" wood thickness, this can change considerably depending on the type of wood and the drying conditions you have...! waxing/painting/sealing the green wood's ends (end-grain) either logs or sliced up blanks, is also suggested to minimize the cracking as the wood dries...!:)

Good luck

Cheer
George
 
I use Allen's stacking method, but place them in a tabletop grill with a 100 watt bulb in the bottom. check them each day and record the weight of a couple. When the stop loosing weight, they are dry. Allow to rest a couple to four days after turning off the heat to equalize the moisture content. CUT OVERSIZE. TWIST AND WARP WILL HAPPEN. by the way YMMV. This works for me and usually takes3 to 5 days.
Charles
 
Funny how pen turning can make yard work fun

I've been doing some pruning on my property and collected some branches. I've been turning the smaller branches down to pen blank size while they're green. I get at least one end of them down to a size that I can fit in my collet chuck. I like these small branches, they have a lot of figure. But I have to turn them green because there's a lot of work to get them into round and still keep that figure. The branches have curves and crotches and if the wood were dry, it would certainly be much more difficult to turn them into spindles. Plus, green wood is actually fun to turn. Anyway, I've been putting the green turned blanks in the freezer for about 3 days before stacking them in my basement shop. The humidity level in a basement is high so I haven't waxed or painted the ends. I cut the first ones (lilac) in April and they're ready now. I've done about 30 blanks and only lost one to checking. It was one of a group of blanks that I forgot about and left in the freezer for a week instead of 3 days. I'm still waiting for the Pear and Maple that I prepared in May to be ready.
 
Just a little note ... if you microwave, I have read that the wood will 'burn from the inside', so you may have created embers and not know it right away. Do not leave these blanks unattended for an hour or so.
 
I dry pen blanks the same way I dry my bowls with denatured alcohol (DA). I use a Home Depot plastic bucket with sealing lid. Put in a gallon or two of DA.
I soak the wood in it over night, around 8 hours. Pull out and let drip dry for around 1 hour (do not leave out to long or wood may crack) then put into a brown paper bag for two weeks.

In the summer time it is very hot in garage so 2 weeks is all that is needed to dry but in the winter when it is cooler with more humidity it may take a month.

Normally the wood will not crack but will be dry and warped. So return on lathe or if blank re-cut on bandsaw if needed.

Make sure you have the pith of the log cut out since this will always crack.
 
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Sticker stack the wood no matter how you cut it with at least 7/8" thick stockers,and then put a bunch of weight on top of the stack to keep thing from twisting/warping best you can(rachet srtaps can be used to bundle it all,works well).Good Luck,Victor
 
I recently dried some cherry burl in the microwave. Took around 6 minutes in bursts with time to cool off between. Worked great and only takes an evening. Be sure to put some paper towels under them to soak up the moisture.
 
I've had excellent results with this product from Lee Valley.

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http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=20079&cat=1,190,42942

It's expensive, so I just use it on certain woods but it does work well....
 
i cut the blanks about 6 in long put them in a plastic coffee container , fill with dna , put the lid on for a couple days . remove and let set ( air out ) for a couple . raedy to go . ( put the old dna back in sealed can , for later use )
David
 
Mudpuppie said:
i cut the blanks about 6 in long put them in a plastic coffee container , fill with dna , put the lid on for a couple days . remove and let set ( air out ) for a couple . raedy to go . ( put the old dna back in sealed can , for later use )
David
Click to expand...


I think I'll give that a shot with some quick blanks from the yard and also set aside a bundle or two for the classic slow drying. It's all about experimenting to find what works best for the occasion :)

Thanks again guys. Lots of good things to experiment with.
 
I am a firm believer in the microwave method - it has never done me wrong - just have to be careful and monitor.

I do use a secondary microwave (same microwave I blew light bulbs up in for fun). I am not sure what kind of toxins can be release from the wood so don't want to cook food in something that could become poisonous. Others on here may have facts on this - but I just play it safe - since I do have the extra cooker.

I always cook 3 blanks at a time for 30 seconds, then put in another 3 and cook while the others cool, and do this for a full set of 12 at a time. Be careful - the wood gets hot and if there is any type of sap it will burn like grease (or close to it). Also watch the wood doesn't start getting split ends - if so you will need to seal the ends, typically with latex paint. DO NOT MICROWAVE IN YOUR PRIMARY MICROWAVE if painted. Also make sure paint is dry prior to microwaving.

I have experienced some warping within the microwave, but nothing major. I have experienced major warping after the microwave when the blanks sit a couple of days. This may be from the moister getting back into the very dry piece of wood - or maybe I have some left, I am not sure what causes it, but it is only once in a while that it happens. So I would suggest waiting a week after microwaving to let the wood get moisture back into it and check for any boards that majorly warp.

Best of luck and happy turning!
 
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