Heres an off the wall thought

[Grahamshed]

Just read Chas's comment on another thread about part finished items 'moving' while left on the lathe, which makes perfect sense, but put me in mind of something else......
I take it that using the lathes centrifugal force to help dry wood would be a non starter ?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I wouldn't like to pay the electric bill for its running months on end.

 

[CHJ]

Not such a daft question, See Here

Although that was more Wet Wood than Green.

When turning green wood there is a movement of moisture out of the wood whilst turning, 90% is obviously in the shavings but the heat generated by cutting and sanding together with the natural centrifugal dispersal usually ends up with a significantly drier piece than if the wood was just left on the bench.
Only really significant in thin turnings though.

 

[chipmunk]

This is not centrifugal force drying but as Chas says heat helps. I've seen Stuart Mortimer using serious friction to help start drying some of his green hollow forms with the lathe running fast.

They are first turned fairly thin and then with sanding sealer applied on the inside he used a stick with a paper towel pad on the end held hard onto the inside surface to create heat.

As an alternative the bulbs used sometimes when creating hollow forms to guage wall thickness can be used to create enough heat to start drying. Not low-energy things but real tungsten filament bulbs - Probably not HSE approved though

HTH
Jon

 

[Grahamshed]

I have seen Andrew Hall ( the hat man ) set fire to a piece to help dry it out. He was demonstrating at Nuneaton recently and was turning a vase. he sprayed the inside with ( I think ) lighter fuel and set fire to it for a second or two.
radical but presumably it worked for him.

 

[KimG]

I washed my Tripoli buffing wheel the other day and spun that almost dry on the lathe at an eyewatering 2600 RPM (I had bits of metal sheet set to catch the water), it was a success!

 

[duncanh]

I have seen Andrew Hall ( the hat man ) set fire to a piece to help dry it out. He was demonstrating at Nuneaton recently and was turning a vase. he sprayed the inside with ( I think ) lighter fuel and set fire to it for a second or two.
radical but presumably it worked for him.

I saw Jimmy Clewes do this several years ago. He used meths sprayed from one of those hand held flower watering sprayers. I tried it quite a bit and it works well but there is obviously the need to be aware of dust etc which may catch fire. I'm not sure how an insurance company would view this technique!

If the past I've also turned the speed up high to force water out. I also have an old hair drier in the shed and this is now my preferred method of drying the surface ready for sanding

 

[JimB]

Beginning to sound a bit like Top Gear.
Anyway you've reminded me that summer is finished across here and I don't need the bucket of water in the shed to keep the moisture levels up.

 

[Grahamshed]

It was a household spray bottle he was using so it may well have been meths. (hic)

 

[JimB]

It was a household spray bottle he was using so it may well have been meths. (hic)

Occupational disease of French Polishers. :shock: