Thread: More presents

Good score sire!! Nothing like a good freebie!!

Now be a sensible lad - seal the ends and store in a safe place.!

Originally Posted by Dalboy

As you can see they had already cut it into short lengths, have now split in half and sealed the ends

Originally Posted by artme

Good score sire!! Nothing like a good freebie!!

Now be a sensible lad - seal the ends and store in a safe place.!

I did it as soon as i got home, and it was hard work only had a hand axe and a club hammer as I cut them in half my other half was painting the ends

Nice to have a nice sized piece may even rough turn them after I buy a wet suit as they had only been cut about an hour before I saw them

Derek top score nice size and beaut timber.

What no Bandsaw cut straight down the pith leave em outside to spalt a little or sit them near the fire and dry them quick just don't be tempted to burn them

Originally Posted by wheelinround

Derek top score nice size and beaut timber.

What no Bandsaw cut straight down the pith leave em outside to spalt a little or sit them near the fire and dry them quick just don't be tempted to burn them

Have a bandsaw but not to cut these in half it only cuts about 7" deep sometimes wish it was more

Free wood is awesome. And you saved it from the burn pile.

Bret

Very good score. Now only time needs to pass.

A question from someone who is ignorant in these matters.

Why do you only seal the ends with such a, relatively, small log? I would have thought it best to seal all the open areas of wood. Can you clarify?

Originally Posted by cava

A question from someone who is ignorant in these matters.

Why do you only seal the ends with such a, relatively, small log? I would have thought it best to seal all the open areas of wood. Can you clarify?

Think of the grain of the wood like a handful of drinking straws.

The moisture will leave the wood quickly from the ends of the straws.

The aim is to seal the ends of the straws which will force the moisture out through the walls of the straws.

This slows down the drying process and results in less cracking.

This is a simplified explanation, there are many factors involved with drying wood, luck being one of them.

Cheers

Tim

I understand the sealing of the ends, however wouldn't sealing of the open sides as well (in this case) also slow down the drying process even more? Moisture could escape through the bark surface.

Or is this overkill?

Thank you Tim for answering that for me, you probably put it better than I could.

Cava the wood still needs to get rid of moister and as Tim said it dries much slower from the side than the ends.

This does not mean that the wood will not split as there are some that are so hard to dry as they split more readily like cherry.

Ideally when I get logs I like to seal the ends straight away and leave them as long as possible, in this case the people had already cut them to the length that you see. Mind you I don't think that I could have lifted them if they had been longer.

Another point worth mentioning is by cutting down the centre also helps reduce cracking if you need to use the full log for say a hollow form then rough turning it will also help. Even after all the precautions it does not guarantee that it will not split

I had not taking much notice of any grain when I first split the logs and sealed the ends.

The logs still needed to be cut down further, well had a nice sunny day today and managed to get the chainsaw out and cut them to usable sizes, luckily did not have to reseal as all the cuts where along the grain and not across.

Well I was pleasantly surprised as this is what I found

DSCF2877.jpg

Should produce some nice turned pieces if I can do them justice and I have 12 pieces like this or very similar .