Ideal dogwood moisture

[Philip Nolette]

Have a heirloom dogwood tree to turn. Moisture is around 39. What is the ideal moisture for turning?
Thank you

 

[hockenbery]

Ready to go for me if I’m turning a NE bowl on once turned hollow form

For a ball or boxes I want 8%-10%

 

[Randy Anderson]

Like Hockenbery says, turn it green now if you're doing a bowl or hollow form. Final thickness if natural edge or hollow form and 10% of bowl dia if twice turning a traditional. Once done set aside to dry - slowly. For me natural edge go in a brown paper bag. For traditional twice turned I seal and set aside. Once moisture gets to 13% or below in the thickest parts I go to next step.

 

[Philip Nolette]

Thank you. I’m going to put it in a dehydrator. It’s 39% right now. It’s for making some crosses. But I appreciate the 10% target. Am going to slab it and see if I can get it to the 10%.
Thank you so much.

 

[hughie]

Much depends on where you live I see little value of taking down below local ambient. But turning it green is the ideal way to go and by far the easiest. As long as you leave enough thickness for shrinkage etc it can vary between species.

 

[Philip Nolette]

Thank you for your reply. I live in Alabama so humidity is high. I will take your advice.
Thank you,
Phil

 

[robo hippy]

If you are going to cut it into slabs, do that before you put it in a dehydrator. Whole logs do not dry well due to being too thick to dry evenly, which causes stress, which leads to cracking. Dogwood is fairly stable when dry, and has a smooth even grain.

robo hippy

 

[Philip Nolette]

Thank you for your reply. Very good information which is going to be the path.
Phil

 

[Aaron Harris]

Dogwood is one of the most dense, heavy and beautiful domestic hardwoods IMO, taking a lustrous finish. And some that I got from a neighbor was just loaded with pinkish cotton candy swirls. That said, it moves more than almost any other wood I can think of as it dries.

 

[RichColvin]

I love it for ornamental turning, but it needs to be in a final dry state.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Thank you. I’m going to put it in a dehydrator. It’s 39% right now. It’s for making some crosses. But I appreciate the 10% target. Am going to slab it and see if I can get it to the 10%.
Thank you so much.

I would caution you against putting it in a dehydrator because that is very likely to cause case hardening and cracking. If you want to use the wood to turn bowls and hollowforms it would be best to turn them green ... either rough-turned and slowly air-dried or turned to completion.

 

[Charlie Knighton]

good for tool handles....9 months/9 years

 

[Daniel Henry]

What process will you employ in making the crosses? I assure you that dogwood in a "dry" state is both hard and tough. In the days before an abundance of iron and steel, dried dogwood wedges were used to split the rails for the fences.

 

[Philip Nolette]

What process will you employ in making the crosses? I assure you that dogwood in a "dry" state is both hard and tough. In the days before an abundance of iron and steel, dried dogwood wedges were used to split the rails for the fences.

Well I wish my comment was with the example.