Emergency wood checking protection tips needed!

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Skye

Skye

Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2006
Messages
3,487
Location
Rock Hill, SC
Well, at a local college one of their old pecan trees had it's guts eaten out by HUGE black ants and fell over. I noticed the personnel there chopped it up, hauled it off, then chopped down the second part of it, and I was told I could grab some of it. I've 6 logs, each a little over a foot long, maybe 8-10" wide. It's hotter than you-know-where on Sunday and it's already starting to sligtly crack at the ends. I'd like to preserve the heartwood, so I think I need to seal them up asap.

Problem is, there's no real woodworking places nearby and I'm stuck from 8 in the morning to 8 in the evening at work then church this week. I don't think they'll make it 3 more days till I can get to the nearest 'big city' to get something like anchorseal, so what should I do? Go to Michael's and blow torch some candle wax and cover the ends? Wrap them in saran wrap?

Tick tock, man! Tick tock!
 
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Skye, I hope you figure something out, but I know pecan that was prepped right and still cracked all the way down the side. The best thing you can do is get the pith out quick.

BTW, hoped you grabbed some crotch wood as the rest is quite boring at times.
 
Latex paint and trash bags, eh? Well, I'm headed straight to the church from here, maybe I can snag a trash bag or two.

No, no crotch other than a small one. Nothing too meaty.

It does have a very distinct heart/sapwood ring, so I'm hoping to make blanks right on the line so one side is dark and the other light. Figured that should look pretty good.
 
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Cut it in half along the verticle axis, then cut the pith out. Almost all checking radiates from the pith. Then slather on some laytex paint on the end grain, come back in an hour, put some more on. As much as will soak in then leave a nice coat on the end grain.

Wax will also work, it'd just be hard to do on something big like that.
 
Unfortunatly I don't have the means to cut it up. I may hand it off to someone, but that'll be at the end of the month, so I just needed a bandaid.

I put it in the trashbags where they stayed nice and sweaty in this 95 degree heat. I went by Lowes on the way home and painted them with latex Killz.

I'll go back and read the article in a few minutes, hopefully it'll hold out for a little while. It's friggin hot out!!!
 
Here's a few pics of the loot. I'm hoping to get some blanks that show both the heartwood and sapwood on the same blank:

1-3.jpg


2-3.jpg


3.jpg
 
I have never seen pecan in log form before, but those look a whole lot like all the sugar maples that I have seen.

I don't think I would debark. I think the bark holds in moisture and would help it to dry slower.
 
Naw, that's hickory (pecan) alright. Very pretty pecan at that.

Skye, be sure to visit the Financial Development folks at that university (where my wife graduated, btw). Show them a couple pens from that tree, would be great gifts for them to give to the alumni who support them (I know for a fact they have some BIG donors).
 
Cool man. I may do it in an email, or set up a webpage with info and pics. I'm not much of a salesman.

If the wood is still out there today on the way to work. How much of this stuff are you going to be able to tote back to NC to cut up?
 
Trees like that I go for the 2" to 3" branches with forks. Much eaiser to deal with and the forks is the best looking wood in the tree. Years ago I did the same thing, draging home big pieces of wood I never used. I had a dump truck load of wood I cleaned out of my shop last year. Try smaller branches, most times you can make a two toned pens. Heartwood, sapwood together.
 
jrc said:
Trees like that I go for the 2" to 3" branches with forks. Much eaiser to deal with and the forks is the best looking wood in the tree. Years ago I did the same thing, draging home big pieces of wood I never used. I had a dump truck load of wood I cleaned out of my shop last year. Try smaller branches, most times you can make a two toned pens. Heartwood, sapwood together.
Click to expand...

While I agree that smaller limbs are easier to handle...the wood is not the same (even from the same tree). I believe, that the older the wood, the better it gets (just like wine). Thus, the nearer the wood from the base of the tree, the better it usually is. Of course you also have to factor other features such as curls, burl, crotch, etc.

Personally, I normally won't touch wood that are less than 8" in diameter from these bigger trees with exceptions on really slow growing plants (bush/tree).

Just my 2 cents.
 
you can also use tree sealer that is used on cut tree limbs. It is like asphalt and dries to a rubber like texture. I used it on some orange wood and holly and it has been drying nicely.
 
Ryan, if I could I would. I'm totally sawless so I've got to wait to hand them off. I painted them, stuck them in the shed and so far not a single crack (that I can see through the paint anyhow). Used latex Killz.

Cindy, I had thought about that pruning stuff. Nobody suggested it so I nabbed the paint. Seems to be working well. If that pruning spray ever gives you trouble, you may want to try the paint.

Thanks guys (and gals)!
 
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