I need a bit of help/advice making a wood reel seat...

[mhedlund]

Well I am thinking of making my own reel seat. Is this a burl? Is there a way to dry the wood quickly? What do you use for finish on the wood? Should I cut the wood a particular way to show the grains?

Thanks for the help
Mike

[roadking]

Do a search for drying wood in the microwave. Otherwise it will take about a year per 1 inch of thickness to dry. I think there is an article right now on rodbuildingforum.com . Post some pictures when you get it cut open.

Mike

[dleo6446]

on wood of this density and grain pattern if you try to dry it too fast you will not be happy with the results. I would look for a lumberyard in the area that has a drying kiln and get them to put it in the kiln with a run of their lumber. Using a kiln to dry wood will keep the moisture content of the wood equalized and will help to keep it from splitting and warping when you try to work it.

[AgMD]

I believe that burl is best dried slowly. The "grain" is so squirrley that it is just ready to check and split everywhere. On every cut surface I melt in a good heavy coat of paraffin wax using a propane torch. Then the blocks stay inside the house for a year or two depending on thickness. Then I will rip them up into square blanks and let them sit another six months or so.
AgMD

[roadking]

AgMD and dleo, This is what I always believed but folks are claiming very good results with the micro method. Have not tried it yet myself so this is all second hand. Going to try a piece soon.

Mike

[dleo6446]

Thanks Mike, if you try it, let me know how it works out, that would be really interesting. Who knows may be a new method!!

here is one link I found doing some research on it, looks interesting
http://mgorrow.tripod.com/microwave.html

Leo

[mhedlund]

here is the first reel seat I turned from that burl. There are many more pieces with more character that I am drying more slowly. I dried this one in the microwave. There a 3 more in the oven now.






the other picture is while we were just starting to saw the burl.

MIke

[roadking]

Mike, Looking good! I think it was worth all your effort especially if there is some more highly figured stuff in there. Mike

[dleo6446]

Mike, that is certainly a beautiful piece of wood and workmanship, very very nice. Did you Microwave it?

Leo

[mhedlund]

I microwaved the 1.5 x 1.5 x 4.5 pieces for 20-30 second with time to cool in between. I thought they might not work because they were starting to crack in the ends but it only went in about 1/4". I was also weighing them every cooking time.

I have read about slow drying pieces in paper bags, one place said to fill the bag with saw dust then mix in the pieces. Now I just have about 30 pieces loosely stacked in a paper grocery bag. I wonder if the sawdust acts as a wick for the moisture??

Thanks for the kind words, I'll post more pics as I turn them.

Mike