Another drying question

[darrenjttu]

I had some spalted oak that I rough turned and sealed with anchorseal and put it on a shelf in the garage. It cracked pretty bad in about two weeks. I live in Texas and its about 104 today with 100% humidity. I just got some more green wood and my question is should I rough turn these and seal them and put them inside to dry?

 

[Rifleman1776]

Most log, or large branches, will split even if sealed. Your wood may be extra wet. Logs should be split for proper drying.

 

[marcruby]

I'd just paint the ends with anchorseal and let them set outside under a tarp until the humidity dies down a bit. If you put wood through radical changes most often it will crack or warp.

 

[fritz64]

i would leave the bark on anchor seal the ends tuck into corner of garage and forget them 8 mths. to 1 year.oak cracks like mad if dried to fast.

 

[penhead]

I haven't tried drying oak this way before, but have dried several other species similiar method to what you are doing. I rough turn my bowls to about 10% of diameter, seal them with Anchorseal, BUT, I put them in a regular ole brown paper bag from the grocery store for several weeks to a month, before I take them out and put them on a wire rack shelf to finish drying for the next few months.

And this summer here has been pretty close to same temp/humidity as yours.

 

[low_48]

I wouldn't leave the bark on, it's like hanging a sign on it for the bugs, "supper's on"! I cut it fairly close to the blank size, coat with Anchorseal, then wrap it up like a Christmas present with newspaper. There may get a little mold on the outside of the blank, but then it will dry off and should stay pretty good. I always do this to cherry and have a pretty good success rate.

 

[Fred]

I have used the method put forth by Steven Russell in his article on "Boiling Wood." You can read his article here:

http://www.vip-file.com/download/c959ec842096/MLskin-complete.part07.rar.html

Go to his site and look down the list of articles on the left of the page. You will find "Boiling Wood." He also has some other very informative articles you might find worth reading as well.

I have had excellent success by following his procedures and turn quite a bit of green woods. I pre-turn like PENHEAD says down to about 10%-15% of finished size and then boil the blanks. I also use the paper bags as a small climate control and let them dry for several weeks/months before turning them on down. There is always some movement and they often need to be re-rounded BUT I have yet to have anything split like it would have if I had not boiled them.

I also have had excellent results with numerous pen blanks I cut down from fresh cut wood. They tend to dry in several days and can be turned almost immediately.

I use a turkey boiler I got from Northern Handiman. Their system has all the hoses, regulator, etc. and all I had to get was a B-B-Q propane tank and I was off to the races. Good Luck to ya!

 

[loglugger]

Have had good luck with soaking in denatured alcohol. Rough turn and put it into a bucket of alcohol, I soak for 24 hours or more then take out and wrap the outside with news paper. I let them dry for a two weeks or more. Have not tried oak. Could not find my book mark for this. Smith in Washington state is were I heard to do it this way.