I’ve done it. No problem with lasting smell, but maybe that’s more commentary on the current state of my microwave. I did it with small rough bowl turnings, not the full blank, so there’s that. I did it at 50% power for 2 minutes at a time letting it cool off in between. I would even go so far as you put a fan on it while cooling to speed it up some. You’re supposed to keep track of the weight and do it til it stops losing weight… That seems like a lot of work. You’ll notice it starts getting hotter as the water content lowers, so you may need to drop to 90 seconds. (less water heats up faster) You don’t want to cook the wood. Just encourage evaporation. I probably didn’t do it long enough, because I still got some warping, but you can tell when it stops getting lighter and starts heating up much faster. Or use a moisture meter after it dries/cools between shots.
