OT - kiln dried lumber in the microwave

[wabi]

Long story & way off the crossbow hunting topic, but I thought I'd share it for anyone who might want to use native wood for small projects.

A nice wild cherry tree blew down on the farm I hunt a couple months ago and I hated to see the wood go to waste or end up as firewood. I went there this morning and cut several chunks to take home and season for later projects on the lathe.
Some pretty wood, and as usual I can't wait to see what I can do with it.
I rough shaped a bowl blank and mounted it on a faceplate. Still so green water was slinging out of it as it turned.
Then I remembered a youtube video I had watched about drying small pieces of green wood at home.
Turned it to approximate size, took it off the faceplate and took it to the house.
Weighed it - 15.2 oz.
2 minutes in the microwave - 14.3 oz
2 more minutes - 13.2 oz
2 more minutes - 12.2 oz
2 more minutes - 11.5 oz
it was starting to warp a bit, so I stopped there.
Took it back to the shop and it finished up fairly well.



I'll let the most of it season for 9-12 months, but I might microwave dry a few small pieces for projects like game calls to see how it holds up.

[Raymond]

That is awesome to be able to make stuff that is so beautiful out of raw wood. You have such a talent also. Thanks for telling the story and for showing us that wonderful work of art you have done.
Raymond

[flightattendant100]

At work when we assemble entry doors and such, we drill for dowels on a dowel machine and then put the dowels in a paper plate and nuke 'em for a few seconds, roll 'em nuke some more and so on.Somewhere BEFORE they turn black and smoke, you can assemble the door easily because the micro wave has taken the moisture out of the dowels and "shrunk"'em down a bit. Just a quick tip for those curious folks out there.

[HIGHBOW]

wabi, that is just beautiful. I wish that had that kind of talent . I made a stick bow once and that was about as far as I gone with woods working.

[mr meat]

Nice looking bowl! another job well done!

[wabi]

I'd highly recommend anyone trying this method of drying wood stay with the microwave and pay close attention to the wood!
Do not set it for too long of a time period per cycle and reduce the times as the wood becomes dryer!

It IS possible to ignite a piece of wood internally under certain conditions!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't know the specific conditions that can cause ignition, but it sure smoked up the spam.

(I was trying 2½ minutes a cycle on the first 1½ X 1½ X 6" turning square I cut out of the green cherry wood and that was too long. Next piece I went 2 minutes, 1½ minutes, then 1 minute followed by 30 seconds and it did fine.)

[agingcrossbower]

Termites must hate it. Wabi you have a curious mind and thats a good thing. Wife must be on edge a lot.

[Sliver]

Thats A Great Looking Bowl!!

Good job wabi

[Blood on the floor]

Termites must hate it. Wabi you have a curious mind and thats a good thing. Wife must be on edge a lot.
Hey Aging
Just get get some white wine and serve together.

[Farmer]

Beautiful bowl , wabi !