Microwave Drying Wood Bowl Blank Woodturning Video

Kiel G. Tree to bowl course

Thank you, very interesting

Thanks for all your great content Kent, its really helping me learn and improve my turning. With the microwave is this on full power or defrost power?

We just bought a cooking range that has a feature for dehydrating food. My first thought was how it might work to dry out wet turning wood. The dehydration feature in the oven is really just very low temperature warm air blowing around inside and wood is sort of in the vegetable category. Kinda.

Excellent advise! Thank you so much. Keep making videos

I have been wanting to know this particular info for a while.
Thanks so much Kent

Love your informative and helpful channel

Hey Kent, If I use Anchor Seal AND the microwave method, that should only help decrease the chance of splits, right? I twice turned and microwaved a natural edge bowl last week and got no splits (so far). I was impatient and heated maybe 10-12 times in a day. I rewatched your video and know that I rushed it. I don’t have the scale yet. Anyway, it’s finished and still doing well. It’s quite thick though so I think that will help. Almost an inch for a 6” dia. So last night I green turned from the same oak tree felled in Orlando 3 months ago (I just got last week). I made these walls thinner, but not even. I forgot about that part. I’m microwaving. I wasn’t letting it sit very long between, maybe 10min, maybe an hour, depending on what I was doing. It is getting small cracks in the rim and in the pithy area. I’m thinking I could accelerate your accelerated method with something to seal the straw ends. I’m impatient. What can I say? Thoughts?

Hi Kent, I've used this technique around a dozen tines since I watched this great video nearly a year ago (I most often turn dried blanks). Being the less-than-patient person that I am, the thought of building up a huge inventory of bowls in bags on a shelf is not satisfying!. The MW method you outline has worked very well for me, on species as different as freshly cut Redwood and year-old Elm, Walnut, Maple and Pear, for small bowls and large ones. So far none of them have failed. I've learned a couple of additional things. First, to make sure to leave the tenon big enough during the first turning so that my chuck will still grab it after truing it up. Second, to be sure to scrape off any residual wax or sealant from the base - it will melt and stick to the MW turntable (guess how I learned that one). BTW, I generally MW them for 60 to 90 seconds at the highest setting, depending on size, typically four tines a day. 30 cycles seems to be the standard for me, no matter what the bowl size.

Kent, couldn't agree more with all the great comments! I do have a question about a really big burl (it's big to me anyway )from a tree I had to cut down on my property. I've had it in my shop for about 2 years, partially because I'm not sure how to cut it correctly. The burl completely surrounds the trunk approximately 2ft from the ground. I thought is was solid but it has a hole all the way through the center. It's big enough that I have to use a dolly to move it around. If there's a way that I could send you some pictures for any advice you're willing to give, it would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you very much !!!

Wow that's amazing info on drying thank you very much for your help has a new comer to wood turning I need all the good information I can get and yours is top notch .

hı there ıs somethıng I was wonderıng. What degree do you use to warm the wood

This information is exellent, and not only for bowls. I have two classical guitars. that I have to constantly watch for swelling or shrinking due to moisture in the air.

Thank you for a great explanation on how all that drying with a Microwave works. As a very new wood turner with some new wet logs and not wanting to wait 6 months or a year for them to dry so I can turn them this is going to be very helpful. Patience with the Microwave and don't push the drying.

Love this video, I just turned a green mulberry live edge bowl. Sooo much help. Love your videos.

Kent thanks for all the tutorials! Now, I'm a little confused here - on one hand we are putting roughed bowls into shavings to slow down the drying, but at the same time we may use a kiln or a microwave to speed the process up. So which is it? :) I mean it's great to speed it up, but these two things are contradictory, unless I'm missing something.

Hello Kent. I like your videos. You have it dialed in quite nicely. Voice over, great editing. The whole ball of wax. Keep up the good work. I have been drying lottsa different woods in a microwave for many years. Thru trial and error, I have developed a simple system that works to an ‘adequate’ level in most cases. Wrap the piece in three layers of fresh newespaper. Nuke for 20 seconds on, 20 minutes off. Leave it undisturbed in the oven. After 20 minutes, the moisture will migrate into the paper. Repeat the 20/20 until the newspaper emerges dry. Allow to rest and stabilize between cycles. Not as scientific as weighing but it works for me. IMPORTANT NOTE: To avoid depression, don’t read the newspaper.

Thanks for the info. I’m still a beginner. I turned a very small Myrtlewood bowl yesterday and I’m trying the microwave technique. Hoping for the best. Thanks again.

Thanks Kent, I turned my first green wood bowl today from laurel. I'm going to try your technique.

You want to pull it down to 8 % MC .

@Turn A Wood Bowl
I’m trying this method for the first time. So far, so good. I rough turned a piece of ash to roughly 6 inches diameter. It was 614 grams Thurs nite, and is now 520 grams after 13 bursts in the microwave spread out over that time.
That said, even though the rough bowl size hasn’t changed yet/at all, I did notice the first cracks on the outside surface. There’s a small set/patch of shallow 3-4 hairline cracks on the outside surface…maybe 1/2” is the longest.
Should I stop with the microwave? Fill with CA glue? Or is this normal?
Thanks in advance for the response. Appreciate all the instruction in your videos.

Great video. I'm curious as to whether burls are any more stable than regular grain?

Great info as always Kent. please keep the videos coming I'm getting better at turning Thanks to you

Got a great FOG candidate for this process. First bowl I turned from this log split in 3/4 places. Wide cracks, one was at least 3/8" at outer rim.
The wood looks like a light colored cedar. But no aroma, only a wet wood smell. I'll try to remember to let you know how it comes out, although I don't have a scale to keep track of progress, the difference should be noticeable.
Thanks for your vast knowledge and willingness to share

What about drying in microwave after sitting in cactus juice

So when are you starting in-person workshops, you are best trainer so far online

I know this is an old vid but maybe you'll see it. I have over a pick-up load of Black Walnut logs that are green. Spot checked yesterday and The MC was running at 19-20%. My dry pile is running low. I turn mostly live edge bowls with my Walnut and was wondering if this method would interfere with the bark adhesion? Any thoughts? I was thinking about using a food dehydrator

Hey my friend. Thanks a lot ! Thats very interesting :) From Quebec.

Very interesting video, and I like your systematic and scientific approach. However, here is one point of vocabulary. It's not quite right to say that the wood is "equalized" with the environment, and the condition is NOT that there is the same concentration of water in the wood as in the surrounding air. Rather, the wood is said to be "equilibrated," which means that it is in dynamic equilibrium with the surrounding air. The equilibrium is "dynamic" because water molecules are still flying out of the wood into the air, but this loss is balanced by an equal number of molecules flying from the air back into the wood. As you explained at the end, if the external humidity changes, then the wood goes out of equilibrium and gains or loses moisture until equilibrium is again achieved. That is, the wood re-equilibrates.

I have heard that you can also put it in the oven on a very low temperature such as 150 to 200 max. Is this true? I am a beginner. I have had my lathe about five weeks. You are one of the people I watch to try to learn from. I do appreciate and thank you for all the information.

is there a good moisture reading for turning a piece of wood, to prevent cracking after a item is made?

I saw a video where an elderly gentleman was using a dehydrator for 12 hours to remove bowl moisture. Any thoughts on this?

Have you ever tried using a vacuum oven or a vaccum chamber?

I keep mine in a home built kiln, 2 months at 120deg. I have no idea if it's too long but they come out bone dry and then sit until I can get to finish turning them. is there an optimal temp and time to dry?

Hi. Was wondering if you've ever tried a dehumidifier to dry bowls. I saw a video by the wood whirler and it seemed to work well. Thanks! I really enjoy your work.

If you want to know about bowls this man has a lot of experience .you get a novice very quickly

Very useful thanks.

You are an outstanding instructer! I was wondering if a dehydrator can be used and if so do you have any video's on using one. Thanks for helping everyone.

I like to use a cake cooling rack when resting the bowl. I have been able to dry some bowls in 2-3 days without much effort.

Thanks! I had experimented with microwaving wood, but was less than impressed. User error in retrospect. Patience, grasshopper! 😉

Hi I’m new to turning & tried your microwave tip with ash & black walnut. Both developed hair cracks after few cycles. I followed your instructions 30 sec then wait hour. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance & I really appreciate your videos! Watched all of them.

Thank you again Ken! I've been practicing the techniques you taught me through your classes and am excited to try this on 14" x 9" post oak bowl I finally got roughed out. It's a beast with lots of cracking but I'm having fun and learning.

Do you put sealer on before microwave

Very useful thank you. I just tried my first microwave dried bowl but its cracked...I now realise I was taking it way too fast.

What happens if it doesn’t dry before bedtime? Should I put it in a refrigerator or just leave it on the shelf?

First of all i would like greatly thank you for sharing which most case where not sloved in my job area. Keep on it

Am from ethiopia yet i have a good effort using ancient tools like scrape tools, knife, hummer, saw, likewise i need mini wood lathe machine i need to buy the machine may be dubai is affordable to access so anyone who help me well come so far i respect this great and especial uniqe skilled professional in the unverse.

I tried drying a bowl in the microwave. I didn’t know anything, only the some people used the microwave to dry their bowls. I left it in for 10 minutes and before I could return, it burst into flames. The microwave door flew open and I dowsed it in the sink. The bowl of Monterey Pine was totally an even shiney black. So I gave a few coats of polyurethane and gave it to a friend who thought that was a cool story. Now I know better. Thanks.

Great video 👍

I was playing around with microwaving real thick sections at some point and discovered you can actually make charcoal in the microwave inside blocks of wood.

The water in the middle got super heated, well beyond ignition temperature of the wood but because that section was shielded from oxygen by the wood around it and the expanding vapors pushing everything outward, it was able to pyrolize without burning.

I suspected that may be happening when i noticed that there was a jet of gasses mostly coming out of a small hole and it looked like it got way hotter than waters boiling point. So i drilled out the pinhole and sure enough there was a black section of charcoal below it. Dug some out and burned it to confirm.

Havent thought of a use case for this but you could implant stuff like silicon carbide to try to localize heating in specific areas