Even though it wasn’t the best saw in the world — it had a weak motor and a puny 8″ blade that was difficult to tilt — that vintage saw did yeoman’s duty, ripping and crosscutting boards (i.e., cutting them both with and across the grain), cutting miters and bevels and grooves and dadoes. As I took on more complex projects, I discovered just how versatile a table saw could be. Using both store-bought and shop-made jigs, I expanded my saw’s repertoire to include cutting tenons and box joints, raising panels and more.

Just What Can a Table Saw Do?

This versatile machine is capable of such a wide variety of cuts, it’s no wonder that a table saw is the centerpiece of most modern shops.

Using nothing more than the basic equipment that comes standard, you can perform all the basic cuts needed for an endless number of traditional woodworking tasks and home improvement projects:

Using the miter gauge, you can cut 45˚corners for picture and mirror frames and small boxes, cases and drawers. The rip fence is used to cut stock to width, panels to size, or to recut boards, thickness wise, to make your own veneers or split stock to book-match the grain for decorative panels. Working with the saw’s blade tilted, you can take compound cuts for frames, chests or planters with angled sides. Fit the saw with a dado blade and you can cut all manner of grooves, dadoes and rabbets, perfect for simple cabinet joinery, say to build a bookcase or display shelf.

By employing a variety of jigs and fixtures, a table saw can perform a vast array of tasks including:

– Cutting large sheet goods to size. Sliding tables, crosscut sleds, and long extension tables can all be used for safely sawing full-sized sheets of plywood and large panels to final size when building cabinets and furniture.

– Sawing tenons for mortise-and-tenon joinery. Tenons are cut by passing frame members vertically past the saw blade using a sliding jig.

– Cutting box joints. Milled with a dado blade and special jig, box joints are a series of alternating fingers and notches that interlock to form the corners of boxes, drawers, blanket chests, etc.

– Tapering. A tapering jig is used to cut tapered furniture legs and other parts that need to be wider at one end than the other. Bevel-cut tapered staves can be used to build projects with angled sides, like stands and planter boxes.

– Panel raising. By running the edges of a panel vertically past a slightly tilted blade, you can raise them (where the edge is thinner than the middle) for classic looking classic-looking raised panel doors. Smaller panels can be cut using the standard rip fence as a guide; larger panels require a jig.

– Cutting coves and moldings. Using a special fence jig that guides the stock at an angle over the top of the saw blade, you can cut hollow shapes for moldings and trim. (Look online for additional information, including a video, on how to make cove cuts.)

– Shaping stock. Fitting a table saw with a molding head — a special blade with interchangeable cutters — allows you to cut many of the same profiles that you’d normally create with a shaper or router: beads, ogees, flutes, etc.

Choosing a Table Saw

All table saws are basically built the same: a motor powers an arbor-mounted saw blade; controls allow you to raise and/or tilt the blade above a table that supports the workpiece. Beyond that similarity, there are several different types of table saws to choose from, including cabinet, contractor, portable and benchtop. The particular type, make and model saw you choose will depend on various factors, including the saw’s overall size and capacity, how powerful it is, how portable it is, its features and, of course, how well it fits your tool budget. Particular models are better suited to some woodworkers’ needs more than others. For example, it doesn’t matter if your saw is super light and portable if it doesn’t have the power to handle the heavy stock you need to cut and, conversely, a powerful saw doesn’t help you if it’s too big and heavy to move around your shop that must serve double duty as your garage. A quick rundown on the four most common types of table saws will help you decide which one is best for you:

Cabinet Saw

The first choice of professional woodworkers and serious DIYers, the “cabinet” in a cabinet table saw refers to the boxy sheet-metal base that totally encloses the saw’s inner workings. These saws feature heavy-duty trunnions and saw arbors designed to keep their 10″ or 12″ saw blades (depending on the model) running rock solid even during the most punishing cutting situations. Power is supplied by a 2-, 3- or 5-hp induction motor (single or three-phase) controlled by a magnetic motor starter switch. Most models feature a large extension table to the right of a heavy cast-iron saw table and long rails that allow them to cut panels up to 52″ wide or more.

Don’t want to spend big bucks on a top-shelf cabinet saw? Some saws, including JET’s ProShop series, are hybrid models that incorporate some features of cabinet saws into more compact and affordable contractor style machines with partially enclosed bases.

Contractor Saw

The traditional choice of professional contractors and home workshops, the contractor saw includes about three-quarters of the features of a cabinet saw in a lighter and more affordable package.

You can spot this saw by its open-legged sheet metal stand and motor and bracket hanging off the back. Most models feature a 10″ blade, sturdy cast-iron or cast aluminum table and an extension table and fence rails long enough for rip cuts 24 to 30 inches wide or more. Most saws sport induction motors in the 1-1/2- to 2-1/2 hp range: ample enough to power a saw blade through wet construction lumber, thick sheet goods and hardwood stock.

Portable Jobsite and Benchtop Saws

Although lighter and more compact than other saws, portable jobsite and benchtop table saws are impressively powerful and full-featured. Most models use a standard 10″ saw blade and have the same depth-of-cut capacity (3-1/8″ at 90°) as full-sized saws. To get a portable’s weight down, heavy steel and iron parts are replaced by aluminum alloy castings and/or molded plastic. Weighty induction motors are replaced by the same kinds of universal motors used in portable power tools. Although noisier and not as powerful as induction motors, universal motors can handle most light- and medium-duty cutting jobs. Some portables have built-in folding stands with wheels that make them very easy to move around and stow when not in use. Benchtop models have short bases and must be mounted on a work table or stand before they’re ready to run.

Selecting Blades

Although just about any saw blade will cut wood, you’ll get better long-term performance with a good carbide-tooth combination or “general-purpose” blade, such as the Forrest Woodworker II. As their name implies, these blades can tackle most of the everyday cuts taken on a table saw. But for the best, cleanest, cuts, choose a saw blade that’s specifically designed for the kind of cut you’re taking.

Crosscut blades, such as Freud’s D1080X Diablo, employ a high number of teeth (60 to 80 on a 10″ blade) with an alternating-top-bevel (ATB) tooth grind to produce square- or miter-cut ends that look as though they were sanded smooth. In contrast, ripping blades have far fewer teeth: typically 24 to 30 on a 10″ saw blade. Each rip tooth has a flat grind and a high hook angle, allowing it to slice through wood fibers along the length of a board. Thin-kerf blades (combo, crosscut or rip) require less motor power to run and generate less sawdust, to boot.

For super-clean cuts in materials such as plywood, melamine, plastics and nonferrous metals, choose a saw blade specially designed for cutting that material.

Cutting wide grooves, dadoes and notches for joinery, such as box joints, calls for a dado blade. A stacking dado set sandwiches individual chipper blades between a pair of outer saw blades. You change the width of the groove/dado by using more or fewer chipper blades, with shims between them.

Table Saw Safety

First of all: never adjust a table saw or check a saw blade without first unplugging the saw. Using safe table saw operating practices (see the “Making the Cut” section of this article for more), push sticks and featherboards can help avoid unfortunate accidents — as can the following safety devices specifically designed for your saw:

– Blade guard. Most stock blade guards have a hinged, clear plastic hood that surrounds the saw blade, allowing stock to be fed while preventing fingers from straying into the blade. The guard also deflects sawdust and small cutoffs from being thrown up toward the operator. Unfortunately, stock blade guards can be fussy to set up and must be removed for operations such as dadoing, box joint cutting, etc. It’s best to employ shop-made guards during these special operations, or fit the saw with an over-arm-style guard: a clear box-like guard suspended above the saw blade.

– Splitters and anti-kickback pawls. Whether built into the blade guard or mounted separately, a splitter (aka riving knife) is a thin steel vein set right behind the blade. It’s designed to keep the saw kerf from closing up and binding the blade as stock exits the cut, thus preventing the saw motor from stalling and the work from being hurled back at the user. Usually mounted on either side of a blade’ guard’s splitter, anti-kickback pawls are spring-loaded fingers with serrated points that scrape along the top of the work as it’s fed through the cut. They are “one-way” devices that further prevent stock from kicking back.

– SawStop. One of the most significant developments in table saw safety is the safety system incorporated into all SawStop brand table saws. The blade on the saw is charged with a small electrical signal. If the user’s skin accidentally contacts the blade, the electrical signal change activates the saw’s safety system: An aluminum brake springs into the spinning blade, stopping its rotation in less than five milliseconds. The blade’s angular momentum drives it down beneath the saw table, removing the risk of subsequent contact, and power to the motor is shut off.

– Dust Collection. Although it doesn’t prevent saw blade-related accidents, using dust collection with a table saw is an important part of protecting yourself from respiratory-related ailments.

That’s especially important because most table saws throw dust around like crazy. Fortunately, most saws these days feature a dust port, which makes hooking the machine up to a portable or central dust collector a simple matter.

Prepare a Successful Cut

Before you take your first cut, it’s important to make sure that your table saw is clean, in good condition and properly adjusted. (You can find hints on how to make this happen in my table saw tune-up article, posted online.) A poorly set up and/or maintained saw is not only bound to be less accurate, but it also can be downright dangerous to use. For example, stock being ripped using an improperly aligned rip fence may kick back suddenly and cause injury. Also make sure your saw blade is sharp and running smoothly, without vibration or obvious wobbling.

Basic saw prep before any cut should begin with checking the angle and height of the saw blade. Once you’ve mounted and secured the best type of blade for the job at hand, install a throatplate that, ideally, has the narrowest opening that still allows the blade to spin freely. For regular 90˚ cuts, raise the saw blade up to near full height and check the blade’s squareness with a dependably accurate try square, placing the edge of the try square flat against the body of the blade. It helps to put a flashlight behind the square as you sight to see if there’s any light showing between the square and blade. If there is, adjust the angle using the table saw’s bevel (tilt) adjuster (reset the tilt stop if necessary).

For bevel cuts, tilt the saw blade to the desired angle and check it with a protractor, angle block or sliding bevel. After adjustments, it’s very important to reset the height of the saw blade so that only about 1/4″ of the blade protrudes above the thickness of the stock you intend to cut.

From there on, saw preparation depends on the kind of cut you intend to make. When ripping stock, set the distance between the face of the rip fence and edges of a saw blade tooth closest to the fence to the desired width of cut (your fence should already be adjusted so that it’s near parallel to the saw blade, with just a skosh of clearance at the back edge of the blade). If your fence has a built-in cursor and scale, make sure that it reads accurately with the blade you’re using; double-check with a rule if there’s any doubt. Lock the fence, and you’re ready to rip.

To prepare for crosscutting, set the angle of your miter gauge relative to the blade. As when checking blade squareness or tilt, use a try square or protractor/ bevel gauge to check the setting (your saw table’s miter slots should already be set parallel to the saw blade). Now is a good time to set the miter gauge’s built-in stop(s), so you can repeat oft-used angle settings (90°, 45°, etc.) more quickly in the future.

Tilt Right or Left?

Traditionally, table saws tilted their blades to the right, in the direction of the rip fence, as was viewed most practical for right-handed users. A few long-standing models, including the Powermatic model 66, tilt their blades to the left, which helps prevent stock from binding and kicking back during bevel cuts. Taking miter cuts with the blade tilted left is also advantageous, as marked cut lines are on top where you can see them. While many woodworkers still prefer a right-tilt saw, left-tilting saws are popular enough that many makes/models of cabinet, contractor and portable saws are now available as southpaws.

Making the Cut

Regardless of the kind of cut you’re making, make sure that the stock — and your hand and fingers — are clear of the blade before hitting the saw’s “On” switch. When taking a rip cut, make sure that one edge of the stock has been planed or jointed so that it’s arrow straight. Set that edge against the rip fence, start the saw, then use a push stick to feed the work into the spinning blade. Feed at an even rate of speed while keeping the work in firm contact with the fence. If your stock is narrow, it’s best to use a featherboard to keep the work pressed against the fence and down on the saw table. Whenever possible, stand to the side of the stock and blade rather than directly behind it. That way, if the workpiece is kicked back, it won’t strike you.

When ripping dense hardwoods or “problem” boards (wood with knots, twisting grain, etc.), the motor/blade may bog down as you cut. In this case, try easing off on your feed speed. If the work starts smoking or binds on the blade, it’s best to turn the saw off immediately, remove the board, then repeat the cut or switch to a different piece of lumber.

Large panels and sheet goods can also be ripped using the rip fence as a guide. If you cut a really big piece, make sure it’s well supported at both ends of the cut with infeed and outfeed tables or supports. You can also crosscut large panels as long as the work isn’t too long or the side that rides against the fence isn’t too narrow.

When using the miter gauge, make sure that the end of long workpieces won’t hang up on the rip fence before you begin. Unless your stock is hard to handle, you can use hand pressure to keep the work firmly planted against the face of the gauge (a piece of peel-and-stick sandpaper applied to the face helps keep the work steady during cutting). When you’re ready, slide the miter gauge and work slowly and evenly through the cut, making sure to keep both hands well clear of the blade. After the cut is complete, it’s safest to shut the saw off before removing the workpiece and cutoff scrap: never reach over a spinning saw blade! For long, large, or extra short workpieces, either clamp the work to the gauge’s head or use a table saw crosscutting sled or specialized jig.

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The story of the Eustis Mansion began on November 7, 1876, when Edith Hemenway married W. E. C. Eustis. Peter says, “The Hemenway and Eustis family properties in Milton bordered each other. Edith’s mother, Mary Hemenway, gave the couple approximately 181 acres on the adjoining properties to build their new home.” Historic New England describes the Queen Anne style mansion as “a marvel of the Aesthetic Movement.” Locally prominent architect William Ralph Emerson designed the home. Peter says, “Unfortunately, not many of William Ralph Emerson’s papers survived. There isn’t one great repository of his work and that is regrettable because he was pretty prolific. Today, Emerson isn’t very well-known and just recently two of his fantastic houses in the area have been demolished. We are hoping the Eustis Estate will shed new light on Emerson’s body of work.” (Emerson was the fourth cousin of author Ralph Waldo Emerson.) Regarding the decor, Peter says, “We don’t know if the emphasis on wood was determined by the young couple, Emerson, interior designers or Edith’s mother, Mary Hemenway.”

Detective work has tracked down many of the craftsmen who worked on the mansion. Unfortunately, the woodworker remains a mystery. Evidence points to a Boston carver, possibly a German, named Caspar W. Roeth. Peter says, “There aren’t any maker’s marks visible on the wood, but Roeth was working with Emerson at the time the Eustis mansion was being built.” Roeth’s obituary in the Boston Journal on November 21, 1891, described him as a “well known manufacturer of artistic furniture and a decorator of buildings.”

Peter notes, “The family’s heavily carved wooden furniture was likely purchased on the couple’s Italian honeymoon in 1876. We found the word ‘Firenze’ underneath one of the pieces, so we feel confident that it came from Florence. Some carved panels in the mansion might have been done by Luigi Frullini. He was working on the Chateausur-Mer mansion in Newport, Rhode Island, at the same time the Eustis Mansion was being built. The fireplaces do not have any identification, but there isn’t any evidence they were imported. This is still a new property for us. We have only been in the house for two years, and we hope to learn much more.”

Michaela adds, “The mansion has all types of wood, and the carvings have subtle differences throughout the building. Every time I looked at a section of wood, I found something different. In the dining room, there are birds and grapevines. Some paneling has starbursts, swirls; upstairs, there are faces and cartouches. The carving is very playful. The wood is not constrained by one pattern throughout the house. Many houses often have the same types of wood and motif throughout, but not here. The elaborately carved fireplaces all have different style variations; some of them are subtle.” She suspects “the fireplace in the dining room might be by someone not part of the larger woodwork project. It looks like a different hand.”

Overall, Michaela said, “The wood is in extremely good condition. The family took very good care of it, and it shows. I can imagine them telling the children to be careful playing in the house.”

Liz Peirce, a Mellon Fellow in art conservation who worked on the Eustis restoration, detailed the cleaning process: “We used a mild citrate solution on the woodwork, cleaning with a combination of soft rags, swabs and brushes. We use a 2% citrate solution that has been buffered to approximately pH 8. We use a chemical grade citric acid powder, which is then dissolved in water before adding a base to adjust the pH. In some cases, if the dirt was particularly grimy, a very small amount of benzyl alcohol was added (0.05%) to help cut through grease. When dry, the woodwork was then waxed with either clear paste wax for flat surfaces or a tinted paste wax for highly carved decoration. The clear paste wax dries white, and is difficult to buff out from crevices. Toned waxes are less glaring, should any be left in nooks and crannies. The wax was then buffed with a soft cloth. For heavily handled places, like the stairway railing, the clear paste wax was applied twice to build up a protective layer.”

Peter said, “As we were making the final preparations for opening the museum, we gave our office staff a chance to get involved and had volunteer days. People who work at Historic New England love old houses. They welcomed the opportunity to work on the beautiful wood.” Peter also emphasized that “Any restoration work has to be reversible. Anything added may have to be removed at a later date. The restoration in the house doesn’t look ‘perfect.’ We wanted the house to show age and the wood’s patina.”

The Eustis family sold the museum several rooms of original family furniture. However, the sheer size of the mansion led to a revolutionary idea. Peter said, “We wanted to have a furnished look. Period furniture was obtained through dealers and auction houses specifically for use by visitors doing self-guided tours. Information for each room can be found on tethered computer tablets. The only custom-made furniture is a set of Mission-style side tables that accommodate the tablets; the power cords run inside one of the legs.” This is a museum where people can sit on the chairs!

Historic New England, originally known as the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, was founded in 1910 by William Sumner Appleton. Anyone interested in traditional architecture, carpentry and historic furniture would enjoy visiting their 37 properties. The oldest is the 1664 Jackson House in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and the newest, the 1938 Gropius House in Lincoln, Massachusetts. The Eustis Estate is particularly worth a visit by anyone who loves Victorian woodworking.

For more information, visit the websites www.eustis.estate or www.historicnewengland.org or call the Eustis Estate at 617-994-6600 or Historic New England at 617-227-3956.

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Drying vs. Non-drying

There are two types of oils — drying oils and non-drying oils. In my mind, drying oils are the only valid finishing oils. They start out as liquids, but they cure to a solid film. To me, that’s the definition of a finish.

Typically, nut oils are drying oils, and the most common ones we use are linseed, tung and walnut. These drying oils cure by taking oxygen from the air and crosslinking the oil molecules into much larger molecules. Once the new molecules get big enough, the resulting matrix they form becomes a solid instead of a liquid, forming a film either in the wood or on the wood.

The most common is boiled linseed oil (BLO), which, in spite of its name, is neither boiled nor heated. Instead, it contains metallic drier that speeds up the cure time. A coat of raw linseed oil will take over a week to dry; one of BLO will often dry overnight. Tung oil dries quickly by itself, so it generally does not need driers added to it. Unmodified walnut oil dries even more slowly than raw linseed oil, which is why I avoid it.

Non-drying oils are usually vegetable (peanut, olive, corn, coconut, rapeseed) or mineral oil, which is extracted from petroleum. Orange and lemon oil, typically mineral oil with citrus scent added, are also in this group.

These do not form a film but stay wet indefinitely. They can come off onto whatever comes in contact with the oiled wood, and they will soon wash off with soap and water.

Thus, putting vegetable or mineral oil on wood is not a finish, but a wood treatment, and a temporary one at that.

Important Safety Note!

Drying oils are spontaneously combustible. Take all rags and wipes containing drying oils and lay them out one layer thick until they are dry and crusty, at which point they can be safely added to your household trash.

VOCs vs. Solids

Concerned about VOCs? Those are the finish solvents, restricted by the EPA, that can cause dangerous ozone buildup in the presence of sunlight. Pure oil has none whatsoever, because it has no solvent in it. Thus, it is a 100% solids finish. Solids are whatever stays on the wood, after the solvent, to become the film. Clearly, this is a very eco-friendly finish; it comes from plants and contains no solvents, harmful or otherwise.

Where’s the Film?

In many woods, the first coat of oil penetrates and is almost entirely absorbed by the wood, so it does not look like a film was formed. It’s there, but it is in the wood, not atop it. The oil cures in the outer layers of wood fibers. But even if you add no more than one coat, cured oil will still help the wood shed water, oils, dirt and some, but not all, of the things that stain wood. Add more and you get more protection. Multiple coats can eventually build up a gloss film.

Applying Oil

Do not add solvent to pure oil. It will not, as some believe, increase absorption, and will only reduce the amount of protective film per coat while contributing to environmental problems.

Flood oil onto the wood liberally, keeping it wet for at least 10 minutes. If areas of the wood absorb all the oil in under 10 minutes, add more, keeping the whole surface fully wet. When it stops absorbing oil, wipe all the oil off the surface. You’ll have a uniform, dustfree coat with almost no effort.

Want more build? Do the same thing the next day, and the next, adding one flooded on/wiped off coat per day until you get the look you want. One coat will look woody and natural, while 12 coats (over 12 days) will look like traditional varnish.

To speed the process, or create a slurry to help fill open pores, sand the oil into the wood with fine wet/dry paper.

Oil Varnish

Where oil has only one ingredient, varnish contains resin and solvent. Traditional spar varnish, for instance, contains tung oil, phenolic resin and mineral spirits or naphtha. The most common varnish resins, alkyd and polyurethane, can be made by chemically modifying linseed oil.

In spite of their names, Danish oil and teak oil are not oils, but thin varnishes. Manufacturers call them “oil” because they are designed to be applied just like oil. The truth is that you can apply any oil varnish the same way you apply pure oil: flood it on, wipe it all off, and repeat with one coat per day until you get the build you want.

Forget the Solvent

Whether it’s Danish oil or polyurethane varnish, there’s no need to thin it for this type of application: any solvent only acts as a diluent and does not effect how well the finish penetrates the wood.

With thicker varnish, a nylon pad (such as ScotchBrite®) works best to scrub the varnish on before wiping it off. Of course, should you prefer to spray or brush thick varnish, you’ll likely have to thin it for workability.

Exceptions

There are a few woods over which oils will not cure properly. Notable among them are most Dalbergias (rosewoods) and some aromatic cedars.

Remember how oil and oil varnish cure by using oxygen from the air to crosslink the molecules? Such “problem” woods contain antioxidants that prevent oxygen cure.

The solution? Seal them first with a thin coat of dewaxed shellac, after which you can switch to oil varnish.

But What About Nut Allergies?

Once they cure, drying oils, which are usually nut oils, form a solid, inert matrix that will not come off on your hands or in your mouth. Thus, the odds of a negative reaction should be substantially less than with wet oil.

Anything can happen, but in more than 45 years in this field, I’ve never seen an allergic reaction to a cured film of linseed oil.

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Why not just let the blank dry and turn a bowl from it once dry? This has to do with wood’s dynamic limit: how much it will bend before failure (checking) occurs. Every material has an amount it can bend before breaking. With most materials, a thinner section can bend farther before reaching the dynamic limit — and a wall thickness 10% of the diameter is generally below that limit.

Important to this discussion is that wood only shrinks about 0.1% along the grain. However, it shrinks 4.39% from the center of the log to the outside (the radial shrinkage). The same log also shrinks 7.95% in circumference (the tangential shrinkage). The specific numbers are an average of all species worldwide, but the point is that the average log loses circumference at about twice the rate it loses diameter. This means that circular stress is going to build around each annular ring. Takeaway: to reduce checking, it’s important not to have a complete annular ring in any blank you gather.

Also, as your roughed-out bowl is sitting on a shelf drying for three months, the end grain will lose water faster than the face grain areas. This causes faster shrinkage in the end grain, making checking likely.

Wrapping a freshly turned green bowl in sheets of newspaper or putting it in a paper grocery bag can create a sufficient vapor barrier to allow face grain to dry at about the same rate as the end grain. Some turners also paint the freshly turned blank with wax-based wood sealers used by the forestry industry. (Anchorseal® and Sealtite are two popular brands.) This will cause uniform drying, but it adds a month or two to the drying time.

Speaking of time, many turners want to reduce that three-month drying period. With that in mind, I’ll take a look at methods that either speed up drying or improve the end results.

(Take note, though: while practicing the science related to wood drying will greatly increase the probability of good results, in real world practice, you will sometimes get a failure even from theclearest of woods coated with wax. At other times, a funky piece of wood thrown in the corner with no paper or wax will dry just fine. That’s just the way things go …)

Method 1 — Detergent:

In this process, you soak rough-turned bowls in a simple solution of one-sixth concentrated dishwashing liquid, such as Dawn® or Joy® (NOT automatic dishwasher detergent). Chemically, detergents are surfactants, substances that reduce the surface tension of a liquid.

You can get wonderful results from soaking your bowl overnight, but three days is the optimum time. After soaking, you have two options. The first option is to finish turn the bowl to a thinner wall immediately. The surfactant makes the final turning go much easier, with much less tearout in the end grain by the tools. There is also an improvement in sanding, with less clogging of the sandpaper. The detergent seems to further reduce checking in clear wood.

The second option is to allow the rough-turned blank to air dry before re-turning. Drying time is reduced and checking becomes nonexistent — even without wrapping in paper or waxing. It seems the surfactant is accelerating the water transfer across the cell membranes.

Despite Internet claims of a reduction in warping during drying, there is no change in the ultimate warping of the wood. There is, however, some debate on the process changing the color of the wood. I have personally found no change in color or how the wood accepts a final oil finish, but I have received reports of various lacquer finishes reacting badly to the detergent.

Method 2 — Microwaving:

This method involves placing your rough-turned bowl in a plastic bag and microwaving it on a defrost cycle until you start to see steam. The blank is removed from the bag and allowed to cool to room temperature. The process is repeated again and again, until you no longer see steam and there is the predictable warping, or until the weight of your wood has dropped by one-third.

Even with the most careful finding of the right power setting on your microwave, allowing complete cooling out of the bag and reversing the bag to dry the moisture out of it, you may get some checking.

I’ve used this process when I absolutely had to get a bowl out the door but have rued the procrastination that caused me to have to resort to it. (Plus, it takes an entire evening, so pick one when you don’t care about watching the big game.) Overall, I consider it an emergency triage method only!

Method 3 — Desiccant:

Desiccant pellets are used widely in industry to dry items quickly and to keep them dry during shipment. The pellets come in a plastic bag sealed in a screw-top pail with a rubber gasket which keeps them dry until you want to use them. The pellets have a chemical indicator that makes them turn reddish as they absorb water and become expended.

They can, however, be used over and over: once they have turned red, they may be heated in an oven, which brings them back to new condition. A convection oven works best, with the pellets spread in a thin layer on cookie sheets. They are in new condition in two to two-and-a-half hours. Dry them at 250° Fahrenheit; if you heat them above 260°, the chemical indicator will not tell you when they need drying again. (They will still work, but knowing when they are expended will be problematic.)

Once you have rough turned a bowl — or, if you’ve got a bowl that you intend to be oval, you’ve turned it to its final thickness — bury the bowl in the desiccant pellets. (Note that the desiccant method is limited to bowls with 1″ wall thicknesses.) The bowl must be completely buried, with its inside full and at least one inch of pellets in all directions. Incomplete burial will result in checking.

How long exactly a given bowl will take to dry is dependent on a number of factors: how wet the blank is, how thick the wall and the species of wood all factor into the equation. A beech bowl will take longer than a cherry bowl, and a rough-turned blank will take longer than a finished turned one.

How do you know when your bowl is dry enough? The best way is to first place your freshly turned bowl on a kitchen scale and weigh it. After 24 hours, weigh it again. When it has lost at least one-third of its weight, you can apply finish to a once-turned bowl or re-turn a roughed-out bowl.

Overall, for thin final walls, leaving the bowl in for about 24 hours will usually do the job. On a rough-turned blank, drying will usually take about 48 hours.

You can also immerse a finish-turned bowl in the desiccant for a couple of hours, then remount it in the lathe for finish sanding. This saves time and sandpaper, because the surface is sufficiently dry to sand well without clogging the sandpaper. Then place the bowl back in the desiccant for final drying before you apply finish.

The desiccant process effortlessly speeds things up immensely. You can order a kit of the desiccant from rockler.com.

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AConcordCarpenter.com

Rob Robillard is a general contractor who publishes videos and articles about carpentry techniques, remodeling projects and tool reviews. He has extensive knowledge of tools and a lot of real-world experience that adds a lot of credibility to his reviews. In addition to tool reviews and techniques, Rob also features step-by-step instructions for some of his projects, such as the outdoor shower enclosure pictured.

TheWoodshop.tv

If you’re interested in woodturning, then Carl Jacobson should be on your list of resources. Carl shares an interesting mix of woodturning technique lessons, reviews of woodturning tools and a wide range of projects. He demonstrates everything from basic bowl turning to advanced turning techniques, such as the offset winged bowl pictured.

ILikeToMakeStuff.com

As his site name suggests, Bob Clagett likes to make stuff — all kinds of stuff. One week you’ll see him making a practical piece of furniture for his office or workshop, and the next week he’s making a costume prop, or wiring up the controller for a tabletop arcade game, or making an indoor climbing wall. He demonstrates the techniques he used to complete the project and shares what worked well and, in some cases, what didn’t work.

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