Drying Wood In Oven

[4 point]

Has anyone tried drying wood pieces in a oven like you do before stabilization? I just cut up a block a of wood that was suppose to be kiln dried for a riser and it acts like its not super dry. Moister meter says around 10 percent but I don't trust it. I was thinking about trying it just to make sure. If its not dry I have a feeling it's gonna check before it's dry anyway and its already cut into 1/2 inch strips.

[bigbob2]

I think I would be more inclined to try a microwave rather than an oven,. I think force drying with the oven might induce checking.

[jess stuart]

I haven't tried it but defrost in microwave was recommended.  Let us know how it works for you.

[4 point]

Thanks guys. I’ll try it tomorrow. I haven’t had much trouble with the wood checking before stabilizing even when it’s humid in the summer and all my wood reads over 10%. Only one way to find out I guess.

[Flem]

What about putting it in your bow oven on real low. I would be worried about a kitchen oven heating it too fast and drying the exterior before the interior was warm

[Roy from Pa]

Maybe it's me but I don't see a problem with 10%.

Every bow I've made the moisture content has been 10 to 12%, I won't use wood till it's at least 12%.

Maybe those recurves are different?

But I agree with Flem on using the bow oven on low temp.

[OldRawhide42]

I dont know what to do. But I can tell you what not to do. Dont use a toaster oven. It starts on fire.

[4 point]

Roy, I agree 10% wouldn’t worry me much but I think it’s over 10%, I’m sure the moisture meter is only read the outside. It acts like it’s not dry. Plus I’m gluing g10 into it and if it isn’t as possible I’ll be able to feel where the wood and g10 meet. I’m trying the microwave and crossing my fingers it doesn’t check.

[Roy from Pa]

Well if you wanna put your riser in the microwave then go for it:)

Doesn't sound like a good idea to me, if there is moisture inside the wood, the microwave is going to heat and expand that moisture in my opinion. And maybe cook the wood membrane at the same time?

[Crooked Stic]

Like smoking meat low and slow.

[Longcruise]

I dont know what to do. But I can tell you what not to do. Dont use a toaster oven. It starts on fire.

 

[Shredd]

  Here is my 2 cents...  Listen to Roy... 

   Here is what I do and why...   Once my wood gets below 20% MC I dry my wood in a bow oven for about two months...  Because I don't know how accurate my moisture meter is I get the wood down to 0 and about 5% MC...  Then I let the wood slowly acclimate to the environment by letting it sit in the hot box for a month or two then eventually in my shop...  The MC may go back up to 10 to 14 percent and that is ok...  It is the nature of the beast...  Most areas of the U.S. are gonna be in this zone.  I feel it is better that the wood shrink in the bow than to expand while in a bow...  If it's gonna shrink at 10 to 14% MC it's should only shrink a little unless you are baking it in your car...  And if it expands it is only gonna expand a little...  Now if you take it down to 6 to 8% and it is in a 12 to 14% environment  it's gonna expand a lot and could crack your glass over top of your riser...  I have seen it happen on various commercial bows and on my personal bow... Either way you take your chances...  If the wood in the riser is a hair too wet and is exposed to a hot car the wood could split on you...  Living in Florida where the air is very moist If I would era on the side of caution I would era with the wood on the moist side vs the dry side... I like to go with nature instead of fighting it...  I'll be damned if I am gonna keep my all my wood in a climate controlled room only to expose it to hot cars and rainy days when it is all said and done...  By slowly taking down most of my wood down to nearly 0% and then back up again the wood has done everything that it is going to do...  If it was gonna crack or check in that time it would have...  Another reason I like to go down to near 0% is that a wood drying expert told me that there are two types of cells in wood...  They both hold water...  If you totally dry both out and the wood is exposed to moisture one cell will take on water again while the other will not....  I could be wrong but there may be an advantage to ridding the wood of all water and then naturally let it get it's fill of water again...

   When it comes to drying wood, don't rush anything...  Just have to learn to think in advance...

[Crooked Stic]

So what do you do when glueing wood to a composite that neither has MC or takes on any moisture. And expands at a different rate to boot.

[Roy from Pa]

[4 point]

I tried the microwave with no bad problems. Dropped the weight about 50 grams so I’m thinking it was dry. I never thought about the fact that I’d ran the g10 thru my drum sander and I think it dulled my new sand paper some. The wood seemed seemed really shiny when it came out of the drum sander yesterday. Probably stressing over nothing

[Shredd]

So what do you do when glueing wood to a composite that neither has MC or takes on any moisture. And expands at a different rate to boot.

  I don't use glass in my risers for that very reason...  Except for overlays...

[Crooked Stic]

 Well I think if your wood is dry 6 to8 percent it should not move and you should have no problems. I used to think the same way. But a man who builds a ton more bows than me convinced me otherwise.

[williwaw]

how much a wood moves with moisture removal or uptake differs for each species.  Also to be considered is the orientation of the grain, tangential or radial.  A glued up assembly does best when the grain orientation and shrinkage rate for the  adjacent pieces are taken into consideration.

https://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/dimensional-shrinkage/

[Shredd]

Good point willi...

[Flem]

I tried the microwave with no bad problems. Dropped the weight about 50 grams so I’m thinking it was dry. I never thought about the fact that I’d ran the g10 thru my drum sander and I think it dulled my new sand paper some. The wood seemed seemed really shiny when it came out of the drum sander yesterday. Probably stressing over nothing

I discovered that aluminum oxide grinds epoxy better than zirconia's and the opposite is true for wood.
We never asked you what the dimensions of the blocks are, or the species?