Drying some dogwood sticks

[merrill77]

I do mean "sticks" here. A little dogwood was leaning over one end of the house. It had (what looked like) a big open sore near the bottom and I figured it was due to come down on its own in the next few years. It has been drooping lower every year. I expected rotten bits when I cut it down, but the trunk seems solid, so I want to try drying it. Maybe make some mallets, chisel handles, etc - it's supposed to be pretty hard stuff. The widest trunk section is maybe 6" diameter. The narrowest I have is 3-4". Yeah, I know - that's too tiny to bother with. But since it is free....

I have some anchorseal and plan to seal the ends tonight.

Bark on or off?

These are pretty small pieces, so I'm planning to cut them along the pith tonight and then square off each half. Then sticker them somewhere for drying in my shop.

If I cut them down to about half of their current length, I could probably fit them in my [STRIKE]personal kiln[/STRIKE] oven. Should I do that to kill off the possibility of PPBs? IIRC, I need to get the center up to 130F -- any idea the temp/duration I should put them in for?

TIA!
Chris

 

[Michael Kroart]

Chris,

No experience with kiln drying, but I've just sealed the ends and air dried it with great results.
As far as the material - it's beautiful stuff, extremely dense and takes a very sharp edge. I've used it to make letter openers, mallets, a hand plane, tool handles, chess pieces etc. I've also turned a few bowls from some larger pieces. My father in law has splitting wedges that he made out of dogwood 70+ years ago and was the one who suggested I try it out.

I also saw your post on wooden pocket knives - dogwood would be an ideal blade if you decided to make more. "Dogwood" is actually a derivation of the word "Dagwood", a name which reflects the wood's usefulness as a material for daggers.

I may make some copies of your pocket knife design for my son's cub scout den so thanks for the idea.
Good luck with the kiln drying.

Mike

 

[Flute Maker]

I got one beside the road recently cut.If you cut them small enough it might be good to take the bark off and put in the freezer in case it has powder post beetles. They love the stuff. Mine was full of them. I was able to salvage some of it.

On another note I picked up 2 pieces big enough to make a couple of mallets from it.Was in good shape with bark on.

 

[scsmith42]

I do mean "sticks" here. A little dogwood was leaning over one end of the house. It had (what looked like) a big open sore near the bottom and I figured it was due to come down on its own in the next few years. It has been drooping lower every year. I expected rotten bits when I cut it down, but the trunk seems solid, so I want to try drying it. Maybe make some mallets, chisel handles, etc - it's supposed to be pretty hard stuff. The widest trunk section is maybe 6" diameter. The narrowest I have is 3-4". Yeah, I know - that's too tiny to bother with. But since it is free....

I have some anchorseal and plan to seal the ends tonight.

Bark on or off?

These are pretty small pieces, so I'm planning to cut them along the pith tonight and then square off each half. Then sticker them somewhere for drying in my shop.

If I cut them down to about half of their current length, I could probably fit them in my [STRIKE]personal kiln[/STRIKE] oven. Should I do that to kill off the possibility of PPBs? IIRC, I need to get the center up to 130F -- any idea the temp/duration I should put them in for?

TIA!
Chris

Chris, I would suggest bark off. PPB's don't hatch for 2 years after laying, so if the tree was still alive and solid to the bark you don't need to worry in the near future. I would suggest sealing the ends with anchorseal or wax, place it in a paper bag with a bunch of kiln shavings from kiln dried wood (so that you don't infect it with PPB) and seal it up for a year or 18 months. After that it can go into your "kiln" for sterilizing.

You can also treat the green lumber with a 15% solution of Timbor or Boracare before you end seal and bag it, and not worry about the PPB.

 

[merrill77]

Chris,

No experience with kiln drying, but I've just sealed the ends and air dried it with great results.
As far as the material - it's beautiful stuff, extremely dense and takes a very sharp edge. I've used it to make letter openers, mallets, a hand plane, tool handles, chess pieces etc. I've also turned a few bowls from some larger pieces. My father in law has splitting wedges that he made out of dogwood 70+ years ago and was the one who suggested I try it out.

I also saw your post on wooden pocket knives - dogwood would be an ideal blade if you decided to make more. "Dogwood" is actually a derivation of the word "Dagwood", a name which reflects the wood's usefulness as a material for daggers.

I may make some copies of your pocket knife design for my son's cub scout den so thanks for the idea.
Good luck with the kiln drying.

Mike

Thanks. I actually plan to make a few more of the pocketknives, but I have some ipe scraps that I'm going to use for the blades. Hard to believe, but that stuff is nearly 3x as hard as white oak (nearly 2x dogwood). If the dogwood was going to be dry anytime soon, I'd use some for the handles.

 

[Roy G]

Dogwood is nice for tool handles because it doesn't splinter as it wears.

Roy G

 

[Gofor]

I echo Scott's recommendation. I tried the bark-on and had some split badly. The wood is so dense it takes a long time for the inside to get the moisture out, so the chips in the paper bag would be a great idea.


Go

 

[eg54string]

I didn't put these freshly split and waxed persimmon pieces in paper bags and they split badly up the sides. They were checked after one day. I guess the logs had been laying around a month or so. I'll try the bags to salvage what I can.Thanks for the info.
Eric.

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