Drying timber

galwaydude18

What's the best way to dry these? I found them this afternoon while walking the dog. They are very straight at the and I'd like to keep them as straight as possible. I've never dried any timber before

peter bermingham

Get the bark off and paint the ends to stop them splitting leave them somewhere dry but not hot

galwaydude18

peter bermingham wrote: »

Get the bark off and paint the ends to stop them splitting leave them somewhere dry but not hot

Any particular paint?

galwaydude18

I'm thinking of making chopping boards out of them. A year per inch to dry is correct isn't it?

peter bermingham

Ya any water based paint will do not to sure about drying time but a year should be enough you can buy them moisture meters cheep enough around €25 you need wood down to 6% for furniture what wood is it you could get it saw-en up and stack with lats between planks somewhere air will blow through it

galwaydude18

peter bermingham wrote: »

Ya any water based paint will do not to sure about drying time but a year should be enough you can buy them moisture meters cheep enough around €25 you need wood down to 6% for furniture what wood is it you could get it saw-en up and stack with lats between planks somewhere air will blow through it

Will I keep it outside to dry? Surely it will need to be covered to keep the rain off it? I'm going to use the end grain as is for the chopping boards

peter bermingham

You could keep it outside for awhile but yes keep the rain off it

galwaydude18

peter bermingham wrote: »

You could keep it outside for awhile but yes keep the rain off it

I could keep it in the spare room with stickers in between

jack of all

I saved some nice beech blocks from the wood pile for drying, just like you propose. I used a water based wood primer to coat the ends, although I think any wall emulsion would also have done a grand job. Either way it really helps to control the drying process and I had minimal checking in the end.

galwaydude18

jack of all wrote: »

I saved some nice beech blocks from the wood pile for drying, just like you propose. I used a water based wood primer to coat the ends, although I think any wall emulsion would also have done a grand job. Either way it really helps to control the drying process and I had minimal checking in the end.

Where did you keep them to dry? One of them is an 1" thick and the other one is 2" thick

knickerbocker

You'll need to keep them outside in order to dry them slowly.
Also, as they are 1" and 2" end grain to end grain they should dry fairly quickly, the 1" rule per year is for planked timber.

Not to spoil your efforts, but I would think they will not make such good chopping boards, they look like they are from a fast growing soft wood, a spruce or the like, those growth rings are pretty wide!

jack of all

galwaydude18 wrote: »

Where did you keep them to dry? One of them is an 1" thick and the other one is 2" thick

I stored them up in the rafters of an unheated workshop, left them there for about 2 years before I did anything with them (made a nice beech mallet from one). I roughly shaped each block before setting them aside to dry (roughly flattened one face and squared up one edge with a small hatchet).

recipio

I'm afraid there is no way you can dry these without splitting. They are end grain discs and will be subject to radial shrinkage as the drying sets up stresses in the wood. You could try leaving them in a hessian sack which insulates them from dry room air and then see if they can be machined into cutting boards in about three months time.

blue5000

^+1 they are spruce, you could try cutting them into cubes, leaving them to dry, then sand or plane them into accurate equal sized cubes after a year, then glue the cubes together to make a chopping board. But spruce is a soft wood, beech, ash or sycamore would be better.