Log Find

[Arcrist]

I went over to my co-workers house today to do some target practice with our .22s and noticed a nearby butchery of trees. I took a walk around and found some Oak and what appears to be Maple. I brought back a 3 foot log of the oak and a 2-2.5 foot of a thin log maple.

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[D L Ames]

Cool.........what are you going to do with it now?

D L

 

[Arcrist]

Im going over to Dave Os tommorow so maybe he knows how to break it down into boards.

The periods after your "cool" make me think this is a common thing? Hehe, i was excited when I saw all that wood.

 

[DaveO]

We might be able to do something with those. A good excuse for me start up the chainsaw. You will have to let whatever we are able to mill dry for up to a year before you can use it, or make a mini kiln. Sounds fun.
Dave

 

[Arcrist]

What do u need for a mini kiln?

 

[DaveO]

Heater, fan, de-humidifier, 2 x 4's and plastic. You want to create an environment where the ambient water vapor content and temperature are conducive to drying the wood.
Dave

 

[Arcrist]

What about using my oven? if we cut the pieces small enough, maybe keep them an inch thick so they dont warp but short enough to fit in the oven?

 

[DaveO]

That's a possibility, I don't know if an oven has a low enough temperature to prevent drying too fast and case hardening. And you would have to run the oven for several days. Hopefully someone else with more experience in this topic will chime in.
Dave

 

[Arcrist]

I think my oven goes down to 140, and then it can be cracked open for moisture to go out.

 

[DaveO]

Might work??????
I found this info on the subject, good reading:

http://www.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/for/for55/for55.htm

Dave

 

[Arcrist]

Wow theres a science to drying wood. I guess our best bet is to cut the logs thick and dry them slow to avoid warping.

 

[Kyle]

Kiln drying is a lot harder than people think. It is not like baking a cake and all kinds of defects emerge from being sawn to the final dried product. When I saw and dry lumber I generally get about 80-90% usable yield with the balance being defects from the wood grain structure (twist, bow, cup etc) These are generally defects that cannot be avoided even with slow drying and weight. Each species has a different drying time and that time is subject to modification due to moisture content. There are steam, dehumidifaction, microwave, solar. My kiln is a conventional heat (electrical). My next kiln will be a solar for the big slabs. Woods that are most susceptable to drying defects are Oaks while walnut and cherry seems to be moderately stable. Pine, poplar and cedar are very stable and dont typically exhibit defects even with harsh treatment.

The most common defects are case hardening, honeycomb and checking. Others defects are cup ,warp and twist but are they more driven by the grain orientation than how fast you dry the wood.

 

[RandyJ]

Wow, I had no idea what goes into drying wood:slap: and the problems associated with different woods. I don't think I'm smart enough to figure all that out! That's why we have people like Kyle around to edumacate wood dummies like me:BangHead:
Thanks for sharing,
Randy

 

[D L Ames]

A lot of good info here. Thanks for sharing the knowledge and making us all a tad bit more informed.

D L