Replies

1. 
   JohnWW | Oct 25, 2004 09:25pm | #1

   Dr. Don,

   Unfortunately, no log is guaranteed to remain split free as it dries, the basic physics of wood shrinkage are decidedly stacked against you, mother nature simply didn't design wood to be dried out.

   The odds that the log will split are determined in part by the shrinkage characteristics of the wood.  The closer the tangential to the radial shrinkage rates for the wood species, the less likely a wood round will split as it dries.  On this basis, red oak is the most likely to split, white oak is better and live oak is one of the least likely to split woods.   

   Cutting the log into thinner disks will help and will definitely speed up the process.  Thoroughly sealing the freshly cut faces to moderate and even out the moisture loss, and prevent checking, is a necessity.  There's no need to use paraffin or anything exotic, a couple of coats of latex paint on each face will work fine.  Once the disc is cut, store it someplace with good air circulation and away from direct sunlight or any other heat source.  

   You can try to counteract the tension that develops in the log by wrapping a nylon cargo strap, with a ratchet take up, around the disk, tightening the strap daily as the disk shrinks in diameter, however the round may split later when the strap is removed.  Whether or not you remove the bark will make little difference, it may come loose in any case as the wood shrinks.

   A high tech solution is to soak the wood in a chemical bath that replaces the moisture in the wood with a wax compound, a technique used by wood turners to stabilize green log sections for bowl turning.  I'm sure that several posters can give you sources and tips on using the wood stabilizers.

   John W.

    

1. 
   user-57074 | Oct 29, 2004 02:30am | #4

   Thanks to everyone for the inputs.  This is my first post and I think the response was great.

   I have a few more questions.

   If I use latex paint to seal the ends will I have trouble getting it out when I want to eventually put a natural oil finish on it?

   A neighbor has a similar size log in her kitchen that her ex finished years ago.  He started finishing it with boiled linseed oil (I think) and turpentine.  It has some character checking but is a nice piece.  That's where I got the idea to try this after seeing all the logs by the streets after Charlie, Frances and Jeanne.  Will early finishing work?  I have a large redwood root slab that I bought green 30 years ago and began finishing it with oil and varnish and got no splitting or checking at all.

2. 
   john | Oct 25, 2004 09:29pm | #2

   If the log is going to be kept in a dry atmospere then it will split, the various end treatments will slow down that process, not prevent it. The bark will almost certainly fall off on its own.

   Many years ago I read about soaking large pieces of green wood in PEG (poly ethylene glycol?). Apparently this substance replaces the water in the wood, and prevents the distortion that would otherwise occur. Might be worth your looking into

   John

3. 
   DennisS | Oct 26, 2004 08:50am | #3

   Don -

   The PEG mentioned by others is one possibility but ... I actually did read this in a past FWW ....

   The author of the article was/is a wood turner. He didn't llike the effect of the PEG on the finishes he used and was constantly on the lookout for something else. He found that a diluted solution of ordinary dish washing liquid soap served the same function. I think it was about a 50/50 solution, perhaps leaner than that, can't recall.

   In any event, I soaked a few rough turned green blanks of cherry in a bucket of the stuff. Forgot I had put them in there until about three months had passed. Took em' out of the bucket, wiped 'em off and let them dry out a bit.

   So far none of the pieces turned from these pieces has split or cracked. They have moved some in that they're not precisely round. But it did seem to work.

   For the size piece you're looking at treating I would suspect it would take a huge amount of PEG to soak it or them. If you can cut a 'cookie' or two off the log then seal the ends well so the rest doesn't split, then try soaking them in the dishwasing mixture to see how or if it works, might be a cheaper solution. (no pun intended)

   ...........

   From Beautiful Skagit Co. Wa.

   Dennis