How I dry green wood with 99% SUCCESS RATE. 

You don't need to apologize for a non-turning/"talking" video like this. This is fantastic information and so well presented, thank you!

Half of turning & carving is what you do before it ever hits the tool plus what you do afterwards or between. Useful information, so it is great

In my experience, wood choosing and processing is one of the under-explained things in woodturning. This video is very valuable to fix this. One note for the wide, wild, web (hopefully useful). Tomislav is based in Europe and he is referring to the typical season changing of Europe mainland nations (such as Germany, Croatia, Switzerland, and so on). If you are based somewhere else, "your seasons" may be very different: check with your local suppliers what is the best moment for cutting a tree in your location. Tree surgeons know all is needed especially for local species. Befriending some of them can give you a lot back, both in terms of wood and in term of knowledge.

As a novice turner that has acquired my first log & looking to process it - the information you provide, the benefits of your years of experience, is greatly appreciated. Thanks Tomislov!

This was a great video - thank you. I used to wrap my first-turn blanks in newspaper, but full-sized newspaper is very uncommon these days!

I do not coat any of my first turned bowls, never have. I do however leave them in an unheated shed dated for about 12 to 18 months or longer. I then bring them into my basement shop in September, on the floor, and let them further dry for about 6 weeks. Before turning I check the moisture content with a meter. Normally have about 90% to 95% success.

Great information. I'm glad that you took time out of your turning life to share your wisdom through experience.

Great information, I am amazed how much knowledge you present in a short amount of time. Thanks

75% humidity is a lovely climate for drying blanks. When I lived near the Texas Coast years ago, humidity was almost always high like that, and drying work was relatively uncomplicated. Just put it somewhere shady and out of any drafts and there was very little loss. I now live in the high desert west though, where anything much more than 10% humidity is what we'd call a muggy day. So I have had to adapt. I've found that in this climate, anything untreated will almost certainly check, and often very quickly indeed. Without treatment, losses to checking in rough bowls will almost certainly above 50%, and in some timbers close to 100%, even if I try retarding the drying by storing the roughouts in a sealed cardboard box. So I now paint the outside of all roughed-out bowls with a sealant, and also seal the ends of all boards and spindle stock. When roughing out work from newly acquired logs, I need to keep the completed rough-outs either in a plastic bag, or buried in wet shavings prior to sealing- otherwise checking will start quickly, within an hour sometimes. On some summer days when it's hot as hell, and also dry, if for some reason I have to direct my attention away from a piece of green stock that's in progress on the lathe for even 30 minutes, I'll put a plastic bag over that too, otherwise when I return there will be checks developing for sure. Turning super thin green pieces, as demonstrated by you and others in these videos, is quite a challenge. It's necessary to work super-fast, and once it starts getting thin, you can't pause to think about things for very long at all, otherwise the piece will be out of round before you know it, making final cuts impossible. So, just a heads up for any beginning turners who live in a seriously dry climate. The craft of turning is still perfectly manageable, but extra steps will likely have to be undertaken.

I have a virtually unlimited supply of wood since I basically live in the woods, so I almost always turn dry wood but even then I get some warping and cracking. I love turning green wood but it is a pain to keep it from cracking. I don't mind the warping, I kinda like it. Good video 👍

I was interested in where Croatia was located, and it’s sort of across from Italy? I’m near the coast of California, in fact I’m about 70 meters,200’ back from the ocean, so it’s wet here year round. I put some rough turned bowls in a paper bag with some wet shavings and it works, the thinned out glue has worked every time, I like what you said about rough turning in fall and winter. I was listening to Richard Raffan about cracked bowls, and as much as it hurt I threw my cracked bowls in the fire place. This is a great topic for you to discuss, I clicked on it immediately, thanks for sharing your info and time

Wonderful information fine sir. Every place is different for its climate. What works for me won’t work for you. You just have to watch videos like this and find what works the best for you. This is a great video to learn from.

You Have to talk so I can learn. Thank You for the information. Rich from Missouri in the US

Another great lesson by Tomislav.

nice tutorial. I have been stacking full rounds of rippable logs on top of each other, 3 at time like they were back in tree. It keeps moisture from escaping to fast, especially in Summer. Restacking once in while is exercise of course. I keep top of stack covered.

Très précieuse cette vidéo, merci Tomislav pour toutes ces précisions.

Thank you, it's very interesting to see your drying process

Awesome video, thanks for sharing Tomislav👍🏻

Good talk. It's always good to also point out that you can greatly improve the chances of successful drying by how you cut the blanks from the log. I know you mentioned this in your previous video on processing, but it is often tempting to try to get the largest possible blank from a log and you wind up getting too close to the pith. These videos are great and should help new turners for years to come.

Brilliant as always.

This is great information, thank you for sharing.

Yes do not apologize this is a valuable learning video. I wish I could say the same about success rate drying because of the very low humidity in my area a wet bowl may be dry in 4 months, if it doesn't crack it looks like a football 🏈

Very nice, another great information video.

Excellent video!

Very informative video.

Great advice!

Thank you so much, very good information!

I have a restaurant next door so I can just walk over and grab some boxes. Good advise in your video.

I always try to coat the knots areas as they dry fast and crack.

Well your ratio of blanks cracking is much better than mine. I do try to slow down drying but could do more. This all makes me wonder how a kiln would work successfully. We do all this stuff to slow down drying, whereas a kiln is going to significantly speed it up. It seems that a kiln would make cracking worse. I did recently microwave the heck out of a rough cut apple wood bowl. Lots of little cracks developed. So then I let it just sit for a few weeks and somewhat to my surprise all those little cracks closed back up. Thanks for sharing this more behind the scenes look at how you succeed with drying your blanks!

Even when you get everything sorted out you will not have enough space 😂😊 bigger workshop more space to fill and you will fill it, thats life. Love living it. As in all learning process you need to know what happens at the start, you have to start any learning journey by sweeping the floor 😊

Thanks Tom I. Yes plum is interesting timber

Thanks for the new info.....I'm subbing

Thanks for your video

That is many, many lifetimes of wood for me. Do you worry about insects? Thanks for doing all of these videos. You are a wonderful teacher. I’ve improved my turning of the bottom of the bowl using the scraper techniques you have shown.

Great info. 😎🐎🙏🤘

Temps are too high, up to 30C ND. A rough turned bowl dries out almost overnight. A recent felled green Sassafras cut into slabs too heavy to lift, a test bowl finished drying oval overnight -so much to learn. I can store the blanks under the house where temps and humidity stays fairly constant. Trouble is that at my age I don’t have time to wait!. Thanks again for another informative video. Greetings from Tasmania Australia 👍😁🇦🇺

Thanks!

🕶thanks Tomislav

This is great info, I'm learning a lot. Do you check the % moisture content before you final turn things? What is the ideal moisture content to turn at? As a beginner turning one could get impatient and not want to wait for a finished project. The blanks you spoke of for boxes you mentioned would be ready in a few YEARS 🙂Oh and these talking videos are great, loads of valuable info.

Great video with good info, thanks. Just a quick question when you use PVA do you have 10% water or 10% PVA? I'm in Australia and everything I do seems to split, I've used paint, wax and even bathroom latex sealer, nothing seems to work efectively.

Great video with a lot of excellent information and tips. I have been turning since around 2010 but have only made maybe the amount that you had there; if that in my time of turning: however I don’t get a lot of time in my shop. While I have known about a few different ways of sealing and drying bowl blanks I haven’t had the greatest success, especially with cherry, but it might just be because of the time of year that I’ve turned my blanks or haven’t turned them to quite the right thickness. Even though I’ve been turning for many years as well as doing general woodworking, furniture type stuff, I am still always learning new things, ideas, tips and tricks, and new ways to accomplish to make work easier or just better. I came across your channel about a year ago from watching Richard Raffans channel and I have been so glad that I did. A really random question, but do you happen to have a nickname? Something that is shorter than Tomislav? Not that I’m saying it’s a bad name or anything but was just curious.

Thanks. I was about to ask about humidity and temperature and then you showed them. Here in Montana it is much dryer than in Croatia, and wood dries very quickly so I paint them if I won't turn them quickly.

How do you know what my next question will be? I have had some issues so this is brilliant. Thank you so much.

Good video and information, I'm thinking about trying to put some in a bag of rice, have you ever tried that, the rice can be dried and reused, and here in Central Louisiana rice is easy to get

Any guidance on drying Olivewood? I'm trying to dry some 3x6 rounds for boxes and it's not going particularly well. Thanks for your video.

Привет, Томислав. Видео разговорное, но очень нужное. Особенно для начинающих. По твоему мнению, какой температурно-влажностный режим самый оптимальный для сушки в условиях мастерской? Ведь влагомер ты повесил не зря, как-то контролируешь влажность и температуру? И ещё вопрос: сколько заготовок у тебя сохнет в мастерской? Ведь нужен постоянный оборот готового материала. В одном из видео ты говорил, что стремишься, чтобы было 500 заготовок.

Yes, plum cracks a lot, I don't mind as it gives an opportunity for resin but no good for you.

Have ever consider a kiln to dry your bowls?

What dilution ratio is satisfactory for water to wood glue?

very interesting! how do you treat plum wood?

75% humidity in winter is quite high. You do anything to get that, or it just happens?

It is a lot easier to dry bowls in a relatively low temp/humidity environment. I live in central Texas and large bowls can lose 400g of water in the first week, even when sealed. But its regularly 35C+ here.

first of all get tree in winter and that is big sucsess already