I have a small toaster oven gathering dust in the basement. Can it be used in place of a microwave? If so, what are your recommendations?
-
February 2026 Turning Challenge: Cookie Jar! (click here for details) -
Congratulations to Matt Carvalho for "Red Mallee Folded Form" being selected as Turning of the Week for February 9, 2026 (click here for details) -
AAW Symposium demonstrators announced - If the 2026 AAW International Woodturning Symposium is not on your calendar, now is the time to register. And there are discounts available if you sign up early, by Feb. 28. Early Bird pricing gives you the best rate for our 40th Anniversary Symposium in Raleigh, North Carolina, June 4–7, 2026. (There are discounts for AAW chapter members too) For more information vist the discussion thread here or the AAW registration page
-
Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.
Drying wood on a toaster oven?
- Thread starter John Torchick
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2018
- Messages
- 1,372
- Likes
- 2,996
- Location
- Baltimore, MD
- Website
- loujacobswoodturning.com
I wouldn’t try it, and if I tried it I’d have a fire extinguisher standing by.
Drying wood is more than just getting the wood hot. The microwave dries the wood from the inside out, the toaster oven from the outside in. If it’s not a huge toaster oven, you will over dry right by the heating element and uneven heating causes stresses and that means cracks. Remember, you can even crack wood from the heat of sanding. A toaster oven can just blow up the wood. Now you didn’t mention at what moisture content you plan on baking the wood, so I’m making assumptions here.