microwave quick-drying wood... a very pic-heavy tutorial

[BigHat]

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS ONLY SORT OF A TUTORIAL. I BASICALLY FOLLOWED SOME INSTRUCTIONS FOR DRYING A TURNED BOWL IN THE MICROWAVE I FOUND ONLINE. I CAN'T PROMISE YOU'LL GET GOOD RESULTS, I'M JUST SHARING HOW I DID IT SUCCESFULLY. DIFFERENT TYPES OF WOOD AND DIFFERENT CUTS OF WOOD WILL BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY. THE BEAUTY OF NATURE IS THAT IT'S UNPREDICTABLE, SO TRY AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Okay, disclaimer over, now to the goods...


I roughed out a kuksa


and roughed out the bowl


i left the walls thick for the next part...


i weighed the kuksa before microwaving...


i had some surface cracks that had already formed during carving... i marked the cracks with a sharpie to check if they were spreading.




i placed the kuksa on a paper towel in the microwave...


microwave for 30 seconds...


and straight into a paper bag


i left the bag open and let it cool for 5 to 10 minutes...


check the cracks... (they actually sealed up during this process, i have no idea why)




weigh the kuksa...


rinse and repeat... (don't actually rinse, you're trying to get rid of water )














continue until the kuksa quits loosing water weight, or if you don't have a fancy postage scale, keep going until the smell of the wood changes and it quits steaming and feels dry.

i didn't take a pic of the starting weight, but here's a small list showing my weights before and after each microwave cycle.

starting weight. 6.00 oz

after cycle 1 5.80 oz
after cycle 2 5.60 oz
after cycle 3 5.40 oz
after cycle 4 5.25 oz (first scale pic)
after cycle 5 5.00 oz
after cycle 6 4.90 oz
after cycle 7 4.80 oz
after cycle 8 4.70 oz
after cycle 9 4.70 oz
after cycle 10 4.65 oz
after cycle 11 4.65 oz
after cycle 12 4.65 oz
after cycle 13 4.65 oz

at this point i stopped and let it sit overnight in the paper bag to reach it's equilibrium moisture content (fancy term i found online)...



The next day I did all the normal stuff...

rough shaped with a rasp


sanded to 220 grit...


oiled with 2 coats of vegetable oil... buffed dry with paper towel...


put on 5 coats of super glue and buffed in between coats with 1500 grit sand paper





hanging from my garage door opener track to cure overnight...






I hope this is beneficial for someone. There are other options for drying your kuksa, but I was in a rush to have this ready for a meet up, so this is how I did it. Thanks for looking....

[Easy_rider75]

Cool idea though me I'd probably get tossed out of the house if I tried this LOL be honest after reading this I'm surprised the glue worked after oiling it ya know?

[BigHat]

Cool idea though me I'd probably get tossed out of the house if I tried this LOL be honest after reading this I'm surprised the glue worked after oiling it ya know?

i did it while she was gone leading a girl scout meeting...

the oil was very light, and then buffed like crazy. the idea was to get the grain to pop... it didn't even smell like oil any more by the time i put the glue on.

it's working so far. if it breaks or looses it's coating during the meet i'll be sure to share.

[fraxinus]

Where did you apply the superglue? Outside only? Entire surface? Thanks for the post, I hope to make one this spring/summer.

[BigHat]

i applied the superglue on the entire surface. i've done it succesfully with two spoons so far, so figured it would work for this kuksa too...

[M3mphis]

So....if you dry it super fast....it....doesn't crack...

That is so weird and interesting. I wonder why that works?

Thanks for posting this!

[BigHat]

here's a few links that talk about the method and the "science" behind it...

http://mgorrow.tripod.com/microwave.html

http://haslip.info/woodturning/microwave.html

http://www.woodisfun.ca/index.php?op...=57&Itemid=158

[aw738]

Cool idea though me I'd probably get tossed out of the house if I tried this LOL be honest after reading this I'm surprised the glue worked after oiling it ya know?

That is the same way you finish wooden pens that you turn on a lathe. After sanding, rub in boiled linseed oil until dry and apply superglue with a paper towel as the pen blank spins. The motion keeps the towel from being glued to the pen blank. It leaves a high gloss finish acrylic finish after some polishing.

[chiefs50]

That is the same way you finish wooden pens that you turn on a lathe. After sanding, rub in boiled linseed oil until dry and a pply superglue with a paper towel as the pen blank spins. The motion keeps the towel from being glued to the pen blank. It leaves a high gloss finish acrylic finish after some polishing.

I can appreciate using super glue on pen bodies, etc., but wonder about the safety of using in on the interior surface of an eating/drinking utensil. Just asking.

[buckmaster]

definatly trying this. hoping to try and make a pipe out of a piece of apple wood this weekend.