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Drying twice turned vessels

Drying Bowls

Just turned my first 4 bowls on my new laguna 1836! Have two bowls with 16 inch diameter 1.5" thick walls stored in bag with shavings. One is red oak (smelly) and one is hackberry. How long should I keep them in bag with shavings? I have anchor sealed entire bowl. The red oak bowl has been...
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There is newer/more efficient media than silica available. And it is not more expensive.
 
Charles Cadenhead said:

drying green wood turned bowls in Silica Desiccant beads?

Have any of you turners every tried this. I just heard about it and wanted to get some more info on this method. Pro's and cons
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The drying solution is little beads. They change color when they need to be dry in the oven. I asked Thomas Stegall today where to go for it. He said to contact him directly. He is on Facebook. He runs the "Woodturning Connection" group. If you are not on FB, I can get his address for you. He sends you a nice booklet with instructions, no need to guess how to do it.
 
I have and use the beads to dry specific bowls that have a deadline or a rush order on. I prefer to let nature take it's course and let my green turned bowls dry over time naturally. but due to the few times I have needed to finish turn a few pieces before they would be ready for finish turning naturally. I turned to the beads. They work wonderfully fast but require a learning curve as to the time in the beads and the content of water already in the beads before submersion into them for drying. I lost a few thinking it would take 24 to 36hours when in reality in fresh beads I had a bowl dry over night. There are quite a few variables involved. So there is a learning curve, but worth the effort if you are willing to put in the time and effort to learn what works in your area. The major variables are new or dry beads vs beads that have been used, but are not pink enough yet to dry in the oven. Each have a different drying time frame. How many beads you have in the container you have chosen. How thick you rough turned the bowls, species of wood, humidity in your area, Whether you put anchor seal on the green turned bowl or not. (I recommend no anchor seal at all if using beads) The number of bowls or pieces in the container at one time. The beads are not cheap but can be reused many many times, it's a bit of a pain drying out beads that have turned pink but with practice or experience you learn how to do it where it won't take all day. Temp. of your oven too hot you will ruin your beads to cold they take forever to dry. I only wrote all this so if you are serious about trying them just know there is no small cost involved if you plan on doing it right. The learning curve is there and can be mitigated by following experienced instructions. Good luck it is worth it, but only if you stick with it long enough to learn.
Breck
 
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