Workshop

[Andy Mac]

A bit cheeky, but for those interested in rustic and green wood working I have a workshop on offer...see Announcements Forum!

Cheers,

[rosstrattler]

Anybody have a source for pentacyrl wood preservative to prevent cracking of green timber?

[hughie]

Ross,
Had a bit bit of look around for my self and did not find a source. Except a mob in the US who would ship a large drum to me for $$$$:cool:

So I have been using liquid dishwashing soap it cost around $1 per litre. I put 50L plus 50L water in a plastic 44gal drum. So far it has done fine although it does stink after a while so a chucked 50ml of eucalyptus oil to keep the smell down and the flies away.
The idea came from Ron Kent, see the link, all the info you need is there.

http://www.ronkent.com/

good luck
hughie

[Exador]

What a great site Ron kent has and what great work!! I'm going to try the detergent mix on a few logs I have not yet got around to end-coating and a few bits of green timber of various kinds to see how it goes.

[CanFly]

I did a half and half mix with a Costco liquid dishwashing detergent and water and put a green piece of western cedar in it for a few weeks, perhaps four weeks. After removal and turning on the lathe to reduce the bulk I then used the microwave technique and dried it on a defrost setting several times, usually two minutes each time. I did this over a period of time making sure that the wood had time to stabilize between "treatments." The bowl turned out just fine.

I will do another piece in the detergent but won't dry it in the microwave to determine if it will do the job.

However, I also took a piece of yellow cedar from a tree cut the previous day, and it was very wet; I used the microwave technique and have very good results. I cooked it for a couple of minutes each day and occasionally let it sit for a couple of days between microwaving. I have a scale to weigh it and measure the progress and at present it is continues to loose a few grams each day, but it is nearly dry. It has taken about three weeks to reach this stage; a fairly fast method of drying the wood. There were a few hair-line cracks in the bottom but they appear to be closing up. The small vase when finished will be about 6 inches high by three and one-half diameter. Currently the sides are almost one-half inch thick.