How to dry a wet bowl

Well my fellow woodworkers, I made a mistake. I turned a spalted curly maple bowl wet to a thickness of 3/4” and I was going to let it dry naturally and take my chances when someone told me about microwave drying.

I did it and it dried the bowl out with no cracking in less than 24 hours as compared to 6 months or so buried in turning shavings in a paper bag. It did warp to a slight oval, but I just returned to outside to round and had to leave the inside oval, looks kind of cool that way actually. God I think we all would give up turning if we had to wait 6-8 months for stuff to dry.

Anyway, I got to thinking that if I turned to bowl all the way out, I could dry it and save the extra turning after it’s dry. Well a little anyway. They all need a little something after they dry.

So I turned a rainbow poplar and it’s in the microwave now.

I’ll keep you posted.

-- Mom always said, "you can do anything you put your mind to." The older I get the more I realize she was right.