John,

Do you have access to a club with some pros or knowledgeable turners?  I ask this because trying to dry blanks is different in different parts of the country.  You have lots of humidity in summer and dry in winter.  Maybe it will take longer in your area.  Maybe you should not bag your anchorsealed blank.  Maybe you should bag and no anchorseal.  Once a blank dries to 18% or less you should not have much movement (12% or less is best but not always achieveable).

Good luck and happier turning,

Dale 

If you're drying the roughouts for six to eight months, I suspect it's probably about as dry as it's gonna get. There's a fair chance the wood movement you're seeing is the result of releasing internal stresses in the wood.

I've had this happen, especially on wood with wild grain (and on bigger pieces). I turned a wild-grained elm crotch bowl once that was about 20" in diameter after rough turning and drying for at least six months. (It had been soaked in DNA, so it was probably dry after a month or a bit more.) I finish turned the inside of the bowl one evening, then quit for the night, planning to reverse it and finish the outside the next day. I left it in the chuck overnight. When I went back to turn it the next day, it had warped badly. The rim was somewhere around 3/4" out of true when I fired up the lathe. So I trued it back up (losing a couple inches of diameter in the process) and finished turning the outside. The next day I went to the shop to start sanding it, and again it had moved way out of true. Since I was done using cutting tools on it, I didn't bother re-truing it before I sanded. One an 18" bowl, 1/2" to 3/4" of wave in the rim isn't too noticeable. I know the wood was dry, so the only explanation I had for the movement was that each time I removed more wood, it released internal stresses that had been bound up in the log. My guess it that's what's happening to your bowls, too.

What kind of wood are you having this problem with?

Thanks for the wealth of perspective. Most of the pieces I turn are on the larger side---12-15"---as the last contributor said, perhaps it is simply the inescapable nature of the wood. I have tried the alcohol method with some success but with similar "warp" issues later on.

The wood I have most of the problems with is oak.

QUESTION---would I be better off drying in my basement where the temp. is much more consistent vs. my garage where the temps range considerably as does the humidity level.

When reading this it seems obvious that I should move my rough-outs to a more consistent temperature control space, but does anyone have experience with this?

Thanks for all the great response.

John, for what it's worth, the few pieces of green oak I've turned have been some of the most active wood (movement-wise) of anything I've turned. That might be some of what you're running into, especially being storm-damaged wood (which introduces stresses to the wood for sure).

And I agree with your thoughts on drying in the house where the climate is more consistent. 

BTW, welcome to WR. There's a bunch of good folks here. 

I don't know if it is comforting or disappointing to hear of others experience with oak. I love the look of the grain on my finished pieces and will have to weigh to "movement" factor as I move ahead. Unfortunately (or fortunately) oak is the most predominantly available wood in my area.

Some of the pieces "warp" to an extent I am happy to live with---some go beyond that---since I have quite a few roughed out blanks sitting on my shelves I'll keep doing my best and living with what I get.

I'll be anxious to share a few photos of my pieces in a bit.

Thanks again to all for the experienced "warped" perspectives.