Hi folks,
I have come to you (all of you) because you are the experts !! ( at least you all know a h**l of alot more than I do about wood!!
What is the best and quickest way to dry green wood ? I cut a big green Gamble Oak burl when I was up north in July and do not want to wait 5 years before I can use it, I sealed the cut with latex paint for lack of Anchorseal, but I want to make pen blanks out of it and simply do not know enough about getting it dry as quick as I can with the least loss of wood.
Someone said soak it in denatured alcohol ??
Thanks
Joe
Hi Joe, welcome to my world...!
The boiling system is excellent but not ideal for burls, particularly for those with internal stress cracks or just natural cell separation, as many burls have, the boiling will "blow" or at least increase significantly the cracks as the water temp (90°) will force the burled wood apart (this is my experience...!).
Your best bet and safer way to dry the burl as fast as possible by natural air dry to start with, would be for you the slice that burl into sightly oversize pen blanks. I know that you cut you blanks a little thinner than mine but, I cut mine green at 22+mm square x 135mm long for final size of about 21mm x 130mm.
I recommend those 5mm extra in length as, some woods/burls tend to shrink considerably more in the length than in the width.
After you have them cut, stack them up in cross layers and with a gad in between each blank (normally 5 on the bottom and then 4 on each layer) building up what I call a "drying tower" , not going over 2' in height (stability while unstrapped) then using either some packing blue plastic webbing/strap, wire or anything else you may have that is capable to be strapped tight, in one or 2 straps on each side (pic attached).
You can also build these "racked" piles on a shelve or place where they are not going to be knocked over, something that did happen to me a lot initially, reason why I prefer to strap these bundles as it makes extremely easy to handle them and store, either upright (preferentially) or on their side if necessary...!
You will find that, with the temps you have in your neck of the woods, the banks will be workable to dry, between 6 and 9 months.
You can accelerate this by racking, (same as the drying towers but only about 5 layers/roes of blanks, depending on the microwave size) the blanks in the microwave (plate) and perform the microwaving drying steps (I will explain in more detail if necessary but there is already plenty of info in here about this...!).
While this will allow you to have blanks for sale the same day or on the day after you have sliced the green burl, there is a considerable cost in the electricity used and plenty of you time to "nurse" those blanks in this drying process, plus the fact that, the oversize cut blanks will require some trimming, some will curve/bow from a little to too much and these will need some work done or if too much, to be put a side for straightening up with water, at a later time...!
NOTE: Do never put your drying towers in the sun, with the intent to get them to dry faster. They will but, you may endup with little or no blanks to sell, afterwards...!
Unless you have the money to invest in a small wood drying kiln (about 12G's), air drying is the only viable option. As much as I understand the frustration of having to wait for the wood to dry, or at least to a workable stage, I keep cutting nearly every day wood that I know, it will be at least 1 year or more before I can even consider in letting people know that is for sale. I have Olive wood slabs and other woods that were slabbed 4 years ago and still not right for what I need them for...!
The pen blanks world have open a big door for me, in more than one way but, the one I most appreciate is that fact that, pen blanks being so small in size, they dry a lot faster, I mean a lot faster, than any of the square or round blanks that I normally cut for wood-turning...!:smile-big:
Let me know if you need any further assistance...!
Good luck.
Cheers
George
