cracked blanks

[Chris Bar]

Received several nice chunks of Oregon Myrtle and Big Leaf Maple from my daughter about a month ago. Pulled them out to make a few myrtle pens and found that the maple (est. size 6x6x6 inches) had started to split. Would like to rescue these pieces so I can turn into bowls. What might be the best way to prevent more splitting (drying)? Have Anchor Seal but thought I might need to get into the split areas (or...maybe not?) so will immersion in something required?
Hope there is some magic...these have some nice burl :frown:. Would have already coated the end but the seller out there told DD it was dried.
A piece of myrtle bowl blank (left over by a turner in Or) turned into beautiful burled pen. Gotta love that Oregon myrtle.

 

[John Eberly]

Wood Checking

Chris -

The wood will dry out sooner or later. You want to have it dry before you make a pen, otherwise it'll move around on you after the pen is done.

Big hunks of wood shrink on the outside first, and the wet inside stays nearer it's original size. The grain then opens up on the outside, making the cracks you're seeing.

The best way to avoid checking or splitting of your maple would be to rough turn it into your bowl form right away. The thinner section of wood will have less differential shrinkage than a large block. Bowl turning is much easier with wet wood anyway -

You can speed up the drying of thinner pieces of wood (about 1" thick or less) by soaking it overnight in alcohol. The alcohol has an affinity for water and will absorb/displace it from the wood. When you take the wood out, the alcohol evaporates rapidly and the wood dries out in a week or less.

 

[Chris Bar]

Thanks, think I will cut ends off and do Achor Seal until ready to do bowls, then do the alcohol soak after the first form. If cracks still there, might go to HF and get pressure tank to try resin injection which I want to do for punky pen blanks anyway. But might be cheaper to just purchase dried Big Leaf chunks that are really dried...but not as much fun .

 

[TellicoTurning]

If your cracks aren't real big, I've salvaged a couple of bowl blanks with CA in the cracks... do it carefully as Ca will darken some woods, but you might be able to turn it away when you rough out the bowls.

I've used both the DNA bath and the microwave to dry woods.... just be careful with the microwave and go slow with it... I generally will run for about 2 or 3 minutes on a defrost or simmer cycle, let it cool completely, repeat, repeat, repeat until you are satisfied with how dry it is. The microwave will work better on the roughed forms as well...

 

[BigguyZ]

I've heard just boiling the wood will work as well....