Thread: Drying green timber & staying non-toxic

I suggest keeping her happy in other ways...

Myrtle suffers warpage quite badly in my experience.

The metho and soap method shouldn't really affect the timber (you certainly can't smell it once left for a few days), but I have a piece of tiger myrtle that I am leaving to dry the slow way because I want to be safe with it...

Good luck though.

(Oh and if you REALLY want o play around with it and remove the wax - not recommended - then do so with a scraper).

Cam

Thanks Cam,

I'd only consider removing the wax if I was going to soak it and needed exposed endgrain for that procedure. I've ripped a couple of the pieces to about 80mm square cause I knew the S&P grinders request would come up, and I'm hoping the smaller section will dry quicker.

How long before they'd be dry at a guess? (Cut green and waxed early Feb this year).

Keep her happy? Easy! Just leave the Tiger alone!!

We brought back 1/4 tonne of timber to Sydney and if I pick any of the other stuff up, she's interested in what I'll make, but every time I even LOOK at the Tiger, she tells me to 'leave her timber alone!' hehe.
'Playing' with the Tiger isn't an option, I'll only do it if I can be sure to get it right, otherwise it'll have to sit in the shed for a couple of years.

Have some other pieces that were waxed all over. Should I remove the wax from the long grain, or just leave it??

I'd rough turn them, take them now to round but a bit oversize, drill or hollow them a bit under size & stick them in a plsatic bag in the freezer for a couple of days, take them out & remove them from the plastic bag & weight them.
Store them in a cool dry place for a couple of weeks & weight them again.
Store them & weigth them again in another couple of weeks til they stop loosing weight.
Then you can finish them off.

I haven't tried Cliff's method. But it's worth a try as long as you stay way over-dimension.

Like Cam, I've found myrtle inc tiger myrtle one of the least stable timbers around (except for myrtle burl).

Even with end grain sealing, bagging, and bagging with shavings the stuff will check, crack, warp and poke you in the eye without any provocation.

Given the delicate domestic politics, maybe run several drying treatments at once if you have the stock. In the meantime rehearse a variety of policy positions ('oh, darn, this was young growth stuff', or 'well we got it cheap so what can you expect' or 'this is a prince of timbers, no-one's tried it for domestic items' or etc etc).

Good luck. (It's cheaper than divorce!)

If I were you, I'd leave 'em alone.

Sure, there are some fairly reliable methods for quick-drying but all the ones I've tried have some form of learning curve which results in... "less than succesful" starting attempts even with relatively stable woods. Until you've had a few failures with other timbers and have learned the early warning signs to cease and desist from whatever method you're using, the Tas Myrtle is best left where it is... unless you like domestic disputes.

Ian, responding to your last query ...

My rule is that with end grain sealed, drying will take a year an inch. R Raffan adds a year to that.

Short answer, rough out and then do whatever appeals by way of drying technique.

I like to end grain seal bowls with the canned stuff. With Tas Myrtle or fruit or nut woods I check it every couple of days and crank up the sealing as needed .. up to plakky bags.

I wouldn't put metho near any thing associated with food contact, the stuff they put in metho to make it taste nasty hangs arround for quite some time.

If you got medical meths or pure meths, my be.


I"d take the cowards way out, let it dry in its own good time. then if it splits.
"It wasn't Me"


cheers

Looks like a place for this Alcohol drying process... http://alcoholsoaking.blogspot.com/

I use it on bowls and boxes, and reciently used it making solid pieces. I cut some green Ash into curved corners for an old Model T Ford body, After I cut the basic shape I soaked in Alcohol and allowed to cure for a couple of weeks and the pieces were dryed and light in weight and seems to be as stable as can be. So, I don't think it is limited to turnings.

Interesting; thanks Hickory.

Hmm, why is it that two meanings of alcoholsoaking immediately occurred to me?

I don't know what it is Ern, but you seem to be able to get drinking into just about any thread . But seriously folks, would soaking timber in cheap whiskey make it more palatable and improve the drying of the wood?


Grizz.

One of the problems I've found with "soaking" methods, regardless of whether 'tis LDD, metho or whatever, is that certain woods have adverse reactions. Only by experimenting will you find which methods work with which woods. For example, IMHO Huon & meths is not a good combination. Once the smell goes, you may as well be working with poplar. Bland, bland, bland...

I'm a proponent of microwaving, to date I've only found a few timbers that have adverse reactions (and some actually seem to improve in appearance or workability!) but I never, ever nuke any timber that I need to be certain of.

I'll stand by what I said and paraphrase: "Until you have a scrap piece of wood to experiment with, leave the good stuff to air dry."

One of the problems I've found with "soaking" methods, regardless of whether 'tis LDD, metho or whatever, is that certain woods have adverse reactions. Only by experimenting will you find which methods work with which woods. For example, IMHO Huon & meths is not a good combination.
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I tend to agree theres does not seem to be any universal method, other than perhaps air drying.
Various timbers respond in different ways and need diffenrent approaches to drying. Although to date I have good success with meths. But I have yet to try it on myrtle or redgum, I suspect they will give it a run for its money.
I have good success on Elm [Carpathian?] with both soap and then meths. No ill effects except they went pleasently oval, will post some pics over the week end.
hughie

skew chidam for got to tell you he puts it in a plastic bag and ties the end so you can see the condensation in the bag you then take it out too the shed (and harms way ) .take it out of the bag and turn the bag inside out to dry .that way no smells in the microwave .that right skew.

Ian - You're worried about the toxic effects of drying processes when you should probably be more worried about the toxic properties of the wood.

I could well be wrong here, but isn't Tiger Myrtle the result of spalting? If so why in the world would you want to encase your salt and pepper in toxic fungal container? :eek:

Think about it.

Cheers - Neil
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