washing up liquid

[Gordon T]

Hello all,

Some months ago I was given a piece of spalted beech, and started turning a vase with it. The outside was very bitty and rotten, the inside was as hard as rock and flew off the lathe twice when being hollowed out. At that point I gave up, and filed it on the floor.

Then I hrad of a method of softening really hard wood by immersing it in a bucket of 50% washing up liquid and 50% water.

It has been in there for three months until four days ago when I took it out to dry in the sun.

This aft I turned it to its final shape, and guess what, it does work. Instead of hard pieces of rock, the insides turned out soft, and while not quite shavings hollowed out quite easily and the bonus was a lovely lemon smelling shavings courtesy of the washing up liquid.

It stll need to dry out somemore before finishing but in my opinion, what a good method to make hollowing out easier.

GT

 

[gasmansteve]

Hi Gordon
I wonder if the washing up liquid helped and not simply because it was left soaking that long in water ?? Seems a good idea though.
Steve

 

[stevebuk]

hi gordon
it made it better to turn because the fairy liquid helped the fibres to become soft and judiciuos,
all together now " now hands that du dishes" can be as soft as your face, with mild green fairy liquid. :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[BMac]

I am about to try the 50/50 water/detergent mix to soak roughed out bowls. A Hawaiian turner discovered it worked well and hasn't had a bowl crack in 400 years, well, maybe a bit less. The theory is that the soap supports the wood cells after osmosis. The other bonus is that the blanks dry more quickly and cut easily when back on the lathe.

Brendan

 

[Bodrighy]

Some people do this to stop splitting as well. Probably all those chemicals in the stuff. Wonder if it would work as well with eco products?

Pete

 

[colin macdiarmid]

I've tried it on green wood and it works well, google "soap in your bowl" and read all about it

 

[TEP]

Just a question on this process. Doesn't the soap water mix turn to a jelly form after a few days? I know this does happen when using soap powders. Saw the results of a small bath a friend tried after hearing about soap and wet wood. He used powder.

 

[Gordon T]

Hello all,

thanks for all the replies, the plusses are,
the wood turned nicely,
the workshop smells of lemons,
the bucket full of the mixture has not turned to jelly and will be used many times before I chuck it ( can you tell I am from Yorkshire),
and now I will try the green turnings method,
and I hadn't realised, my hands are much softer now ha ha.

GT

 

[colin macdiarmid]

Don't throw your mixture out just keep adding to it and if starts to smell add a few drops eucalyptus oil, the sort you use in oil burners, it makes it smell like eucalyptus I suppose. (well wooden)

 

[boysie39]

Its amazing what one learns on this forum!!!
REgards Boysie

 

[robo hippy]

I have used the soap soaks for years. I turn green to finish thickness, let them dry and warp, then sand and finish. The method was developed by Ron Kent of Hawii for dealing with Norfolk Island Pine. Really difficult to sand out. I have tested drying with DNA (denatured alcohol), soap and air drying. With the thin (1/4 to 1/2 inch) bowls, none of these methods make any measurable or observable difference in how fast things dry, cracking or warping. The soap soaking does make sanding a lot easier, especially for woods that tend to burn or glaze over. I figure it is the glycerine in the soap, but don't know for sure. A 24 hour soak is standard, but longer does not hurt. The DNA soak does make the wood harder. If you are turning thick and returning when dry, you will turn off most of the soaked wood. I haven't experimented with the soaking methods on twice turned bowls as I don't do them. I just like warped.

One thing I do when drying, and this was picked up from the DNA soakers, is to wrap the outside of the bowl with a couple of layers of newspaper, secure it to the rim with a couple of wraps of 6 inch stretch plastic film (used for wrapping around boxes on a pallet to keep them from falling off), and cutting out the paper on the inside of the bowl. you can use tape,but I prefer the stretch plastic because it compresses the rim a bit. Plastic wrap needs to overlap the rim by an inch or so. Do round over the edges of the rim a bit as a sharp edge will tend to start cracks more than rounded ones. The idea is that the inside dries faster, and pulls the outside inwards, kind of in a compression mode. My success rate on even the most difficult woods (Pacific Madrone specifically) is almost 100%.

robo hippy

 

[hughey]

I have used the 50/50 soap&water,water, and DNA. What you will find is that there no one solution to apply to every timber type.
Ron Kent in Hawaii used it exclusively on Norfolk Pine with great success. My experience to date suggests that with some hard wood it simply does not work well or at all.