My preferred method-

1. As soon as possible, slice the log into bowl blank desired thickness and seal the ends with TiteBond wood glue.

2. When ready to turn a bowl, rough turn it leaving a consistent wall thickness about 1/10 the diameter of the blank.

3. Place the rough turned blank in a solution of dishwashing soap (cheap stuff from the Dollar Store). I use a 4:1 ratio- water to soap. Soak for about 3 days.

4. Remove the we bowl blank and put in a paper bag of shavings. 

At this point the bowl can stay in the shavings for several weeks. I have actually forgotten some and they stayed for several months with no ill effects.

5. Usually after a week (to a couple of weeks- depending on the turning schedule) I take the blank from the shavings and move it to the drying box, weighing the blank for reference.

6. After the first day in the drying box (see Rick Turns video for making the box), pull the blank and check for any cracks. If cracks start to appear, us CA to stabilize/fill the cracks. Weigh the blank

7. On the next couple of days, check each day's progress for weight and any additional cracks. Use CA as necessary. 

8. Continue checking the drying process, by weighing the blank, until the weight remains constant. The length of time will vary on the size of the rough turned blank, the length of time spent in the shavings and the design of the drying box.

This is a list of resources that have multiple drying methods-

https://www.woodworkersjournal.com/options-for-drying-green-bowl-blanks/

https://turnawoodbowl.com/drying-green-wood-bowls-6-methods-success/

https://www.aawforum.org/community/threads/drying-a-green-bowl.10727/

https://www.chadeames.com/post/green-turning-drying-wood-for-twice-turned-bowls

https://www.aawforum.org/community/threads/drying-your-green-turnings.11874/

https://www.finewoodworking.com/forum/drying-green-turned-bowls

Thanks for riding along on this adventure. I hope you found something you can use.

Safe turning

Before the pandemic, denatured alcohol was readily and turners would soak their blanks in it. Several sources of information on this-

From the AAW-

https://www.aawforum.org/community/threads/is-the-alcohol-drying-method-food-safe.9682/

From Mr. David Reed Smith-

http://alcoholsoaking.blogspot.com/

and-

http://alcoholsoaking.blogspot.com/2005/12/alcohol-soaking-q-and.html

From David J. Marks-

https://djmarks.com/drying-olive-wood-for-turning/

Alcohol should become more readily as the pandemic wanes.

Another soaking method is using soap and water. As near as I can determine, this method was developed by Ron Kent- a Hawaii based turner. Even though he passed away several years ago, his website is still up and his original process is listed there.

https://www.ronkent.com/techniques.php

Using pretty much the same process, Ernie Conover discusses this in a Woodcraft blog-

https://www.woodcraft.com/blog_entries/soap-in-your-bowl

The AAW also has a discussion on this method-

https://www.aawforum.org/community/threads/soaking-in-dishwashing-liquid.9087/

As well as the folks over at Sawmill Creek-

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?33726-Drying-green-wood-using-dish-soap

I have personally adopted this method and find it works extremely well. At this time, none of my bowls have cracked and show very little deformation. This method is also very inexpensive. 

One final "chemical" drying is to immerse the bowl blanks in a desiccant material. These materials absorb moisture from the wood. 

This video, from Ernie Conover and The Woodworker's Journal demonstrates the procedure-

Although initially expensive, desiccant can be reused by heating the crystals in the oven to "re-activate" them.

A discussion from the AAW-

https://www.aawforum.org/community/threads/drying-green-wood-turned-bowls-in-silica-desiccant-beads.16924/

Although not as popular as some of the other methods, Some turners have tried to boil the bowl blanks. This PDF, from the Arizona Woodturner's Association and written by Bill Noble has some details-

boiling.pdf

In the final entry, we will look at sources that have lists of multiple methods of drying.

The trick to incorporating this method is not to dry the bowl blanks too quickly. As with the previous methods, controlling the moisture loss to equilibrium is a balancing act. Too slow and you'll grow old waiting as well as mold can grow on the blanks. Too fast and the blanks run the risk of cracking.

A quick Internet search will yield a plethora of ideas, videos and "professionals". I've tried to pick more authoritative sources for reliable ideas.

This first exchange is from the American Association of Woodturners. The original poster inquired about a shop made kiln. The responses were from experienced turners and they offered good advice/ideas.

https://www.aawforum.org/community/threads/home-made-kiln.12618/

 Following along with this post, led me to Cindy Drozda's site and her instructions on a drying kiln-

http://www.cindydrozda.com/handouts_Pdfs/handouts/demo handouts/drying_kiln.pdf

Another woodturning organization- The Baltimore Woodturners- wrote this article on how one of their members built/modified his kild-

https://www.baltimoreareaturners.org/articles/bowldryingkiln.pdf

All of the preceding ideas are based around drying a lot of bowls. Not every turner (myself included) needs to process a dozen or more bowls at one time. For me, I needed to find something that could dry a few small bowls (5" to 6" in diameter) or maybe 1 or 2 medium to large bowls. Rick Morris (aka Rick Turns) came up with a  space saving idea using readily available materials. His kiln idea can be set up to dry a bowl(s) and then disassembled when done. With my small shop, this idea was really appealing. 

Rick's video goes shows how he made his kiln/drying box-

Never one to let well enough alone, I had to add my twist to what Rick did. If the entire heat/air mechanism could be incorporated into one unit, storing it would be easier and I might not forget where I put all of the pieces. 

I used Sketchup to design a one piece unit 

 To hold the unit snuggly to the card board box, there are a couple of long sheet metal screws that pierce the box and grab the cardboard. Some foam rubber, self sticking, air barrier tape makes a pretty good seal. I had to experiment with the bulb size to prevent the temperature from going too high. So far this is a workable idea. The Sketchup model is available to anyone who wants it.

Kilns work by applying heat to the outside of the wood and migrating to the inside. What if we applied the heat to the inside and allowed it to migrate out? A turner, somewhere, thought- "the microwave heats like that!"  Placing the rough blank in the microwave for a few minutes at a time can be used to drive out the moisture. This turner suffered severe injuries when his wife returned home and found him in her kitchen. If you decide to use this method- buy your own microwave! 

Again, I've tried to find reputable sources for ideas and tips. The first 2 are from the AAW and contain additional links to more information-

https://www.aawforum.org/community/threads/drying-wood-in-oven-or-microwave.6855/

And-

https://www.aawforum.org/community/threads/microwave-bowl-drying.9555/ 

This video, from Kent Weakley, describes the process and provides a bunch of tips

Another method of applying heat is to use a dehydrator. With the proper temperature settings this can also be a viable drying procedure 

Next up we'll look at some not so traditional methods of drying

Another method of slowing the drying is to put a sealer directly on the surface of the blanks. This can work for the rough CUT blanks and the rough TURNED blanks. The sealer slows the transfer of the moisture from the wood to the air. The majority of the moisture is lost through the end grain pores. Sealing those areas is really important to reduce checking and splitting. For freshly cut logs (blanks) checking can occur within hours. Sealing immediately can reduce wasted material.

If you have purchased precut turning blanks (pen, bottle stoppers, bowls) you probably noticed the blank had wax covering at least part of the material. Dipping the end grain (or entire piece) in molten wax seals the pores and slows the drying. This method does require a way to melt wax in a large enough container to dip/submerge the blank.

Using a sealer that is already viscus, reduces the prep time and equipment needed. There are several commercially available products for sealing by painting the liquid onto the blanks.

One that has been around for a long time is Anchor Seal- a wax based emulsion. It is available from many places and is the choice of a lot of turners.

A similar product is available from Craft Supplies USA. Theirs is called "Tree Saver" and it’s a special blend of poly vinyl acetate.

Turners are typically "thrifty" individuals. Many have turned to using already available materials for sealers. One very popular substance is latex paint. A heavy coating (or two) can seal the end pores. In addition to sealing, using different colors can pretty up your wood stash!  

My favorite sealer is good old TiteBond II wood glue. Did you notice the Tree Saver product is a "PVA" based material. Well, TiteBond is a PVA glue. I paint the glue on the ends of logs to keep them from splitting/checking. I honestly haven't used it on rough turnings, yet. 

A little different method, but having similar effect, is to cover rough turned blanks with stretch wrap shipping material.

https://www.aawforum.org/community/threads/plastic-wrap-for-preventing-bowl-blanks-from-cracking.11885/post-111507

These methods have all been about slowing down the loss of moisture. But, as we know, woodturners are an impatient lot. What about speeding up the loss of moisture? Stay tuned.

One of the earlier more successful methods of achieving slow drying was to surround the blank with a barrier to prevent the moisture from escaping too quickly. Various containers can be used as a barrier. Mostly we find paper grocery bags or cardboard boxes being used. In addition, the shavings from the blank turning process are packed around the rough blank to slow the drying and help absorb some of the escaping moisture.

Blanks should be checked for mold and moisture as the process takes place. When the blanks have released the majority of their moisture, they can be removed from their container and placed on a shelf to reach final equilibrium. The storage are should be free from a lot of air movement and out of the sunlight to allow the blanks to dry evenly.

Checking for moisture can be done with a moisture meter or with a kitchen/mailing scale. Using grams instead of ounces will provide a more accurate indication of moisture loss. If you are using a scale to check for moisture, when the weight of the blank remains constant, it is dry. For moisture meters, refer to the instructions to determine the moisture content.

There are some turners who use plastic bags for the barrier. These bags do not transfer the released moisture into the surrounding air. Every few days, the bag should be opened, turned inside out and the moisture shaken off and then put the blank back into the bag. Shavings can be used to help absorb moisture.

This video from Sam Angelo, WyomingWoodTurner, illustrates these methods-

Tim Yoder mentions using a garbage bag in this video. He said this particular method was from Ron Fleming. This is just the segment of the video that deals with drying-

One of the major drawback of this technique is the time involved. Depending on the size of the blanks, drying can take several months (or longer). Turners are inherently impatient people. Turning offers almost instant gratification for a project. Waiting for months to see a turning to fruition isn't something we enjoy. So, we will investigate other methods that promise faster, successful results and see how they stack up.

Some of the terminology used throughout this blog can be found at this link-

https://uwoodcraft.com/a-glossary-of-wood-drying-terms/

In the beginning, all my knowledge came from books. Isolated in the northern end of the Cumberland Valley and before high speed Internet and YouTube, even written publications on the subject were few and far between. Cheap tools and a cheap lathe were able to produce some rudimentary turnings including some small bowls- of which most cracked. To me drying meant just that- set it up on the shelf and wait.

As fate would have it, somewhere along the line, I was introduced to the idea of bagged shavings. This procedure spared a lot of bowls from disaster. It wasn't perfect, but, having more successes gave me a reason to continue. The biggest drawback was the time involved. Having worked my entire career in the field of electronics and computers, I learned to think in time spans of micro and nanoseconds as a long time. Waiting months for a blank to dry was not in my mindset.

So, my journey to discover a reliable and speedy method of drying bowl blanks began. My successes and failures will be documented, sources will be cited, videos from turners will be posted. My hope is that the reader will find something new and interesting.

So...