Boiling Wood

I've never been a conventional person and have always been eager to test things out at the age of 8 I took a radio apart, albeit my brothers and despite it never working again, I had a thirst to check things out.

Yesterday I wanted to see if boiling wood to dry it, get rid of the sap and stop it cracking worked. To some extent I proved that it gets rid of the sap and dries incredibly quickly but I don't think it would have split anyway. So I would now like to try to boil some green wood and have a go with that. I have plenty of wood and due to me being banned from the kitchen and not wanting to spend another night in the pond I've decided to make something that can take larger wood. My initial thoughts are an oil drum but I would need something to heat it. I don't want to make a fire unless its contained within the barrel somehow.

My questions are:

1. has anyone experience of boiling wood
2. Any design ideas on the boiler?

Or am I wasting my time?

Not tried it, but this might help.

Boiling Green Wood to Reduce Drying Defects In Bowls and Platters

Walter said:

Not tried it, but this might help.

Boiling Green Wood to Reduce Drying Defects In Bowls and Platters

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That is very interesting Walter. I now need to source a drum which I think I'll cut in half and weld the bottom half to the top to make a fire pit under the water container. I'll have to incorporate a flu of some sort but with a fire I guess that I'll be able to use all the firewood I turn

Can you get a s/h Burco boiler from somewhere ?

That should do the job I would think.

PhillH said:

Can you get a s/h Burco boiler from somewhere ?

That should do the job I would think.

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That's a thought Phil, I'll have a look

I know you said bigger stuffmPaul, but if you just want to use a pot how about this from Argos?

I bought one recently with the intention of trying bentwood rings - road to hell and all that!

A few months ago with some friends I bought a 60 kilo pig on a farm when we arrived the farmer had heated water with a gas burner under a 44 gallon drum to place the pig in a bath using water at a specific high temperature. So for ease of making a gas burner under a drum of water for starters cheap way to go. Boiling water is dangerous weigh up the ads and disads first.

Peter.

One full time turner here had the opposite problem he kept a largish above ground pool to house his Aussie burl in to prevent splitting enabling him to turn wet much easier and then dry the bowls etc preturned less to dry saves time all round.

Penpal said:

A few months ago with some friends I bought a 60 kilo pig on a farm when we arrived the farmer had heated water with a gas burner under a 44 gallon drum to place the pig in a bath using water at a specific high temperature. So for ease of making a gas burner under a drum of water for starters cheap way to go. Boiling water is dangerous weigh up the ads and disads first.

Peter.

One full time turner here had the opposite problem he kept a largish above ground pool to house his Aussie burl in to prevent splitting enabling him to turn wet much easier and then dry the bowls etc preturned less to dry saves time all round.

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Blimey, I thought that you were supposed to be a hardy lot, Gone soft in the head giving a pig a bath, just hope you didnt use conditioner after the shampoo??

Paul after our chat about boiling ..I know you are thinking big but how do you think it would work in a pressure cooker.

I have a few Traveler friends i could send down to you Paul, they could help out with the fire issue for sure ..

Watching with interest........

Jimjam66 said:

I know you said bigger stuffmPaul, but if you just want to use a pot how about this from Argos?

I bought one recently with the intention of trying bentwood rings - road to hell and all that!

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Thanks David, I got one from Go Outdoors which I currently use to melt my wax to end seal and also to melt pewter.

Penpal said:

A few months ago with some friends I bought a 60 kilo pig on a farm when we arrived the farmer had heated water with a gas burner under a 44 gallon drum to place the pig in a bath using water at a specific high temperature. So for ease of making a gas burner under a drum of water for starters cheap way to go. Boiling water is dangerous weigh up the ads and disads first.

Peter.

One full time turner here had the opposite problem he kept a largish above ground pool to house his Aussie burl in to prevent splitting enabling him to turn wet much easier and then dry the bowls etc preturned less to dry saves time all round.

Click to expand...

Ha ha, Good advice Peter, but from someone who jumps from his garage to house. Well attempts it anyway.

Seriously though it is good advice and advice I'll heed.

turnaround360 said:

Paul after our chat about boiling ..I know you are thinking big but how do you think it would work in a pressure cooker.

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I think that it would work Frankie, I guess with the lid off but you could only get small chunks in it and I'm thinking... Well forest

or rather a few bigger bits anyway.

Jim said:

I have a few Traveler friends i could send down to you Paul, they could help out with the fire issue for sure ..

Click to expand...

They'd probably sort out the fact that I've got copper cable too... I'll give that a miss thanks Jim.