Questions about shipping waxed/green wood

[Doug W Swanson]

Hey all,

Last week when I was on vacation in Oregon I stopped by a Woodcraft store to check out their turning blanks. I found a few small pieces of Mountain Mahogany and a nice piece of Oregon Myrtle. The next day day I stopped at Gilmer Wood and picked up some Camphor Burl and other misc wood. Then on Saturday I packed the blanks in my carry-on and flew home to Minnesota.

Much to my surprise when I unpacked, the Myrtle had a bunch of cracks on both ends:eek:. This blank was completely covered in wax but it was the only blank that had cracks. None of the other blanks I brought home had any problems.

Now the cracks are minor and I can probably just fix/fill them but it's not something I really wanted to do on this blank. If I had wanted to fix cracks, I would have bought cracked wood!:D

Just wondering if it's just this particular piece/type of wood or not?

On a side note, I called the Woodcraft store and they were not very helpful:confused:. The manager seemed to think it was my fault because of the pressure differences on the plane. When I told him that I had done this a few other times and never had a problems he didn't say much. Early on in our conversation he mentioned having me send it back and they would send a new one but then he just seemed to think it would happen again. I'm pretty disappointed in his response....

I know there is a lot of wood exchanging hands here so I wanted to know if anyone else has had problems.

Thanks!

[Reed Gray]

When I ship wood, I use the flat rate USPS shipping boxes. I completely wrap the blanks in the stretch film, and never seal them. I have never had any one tell me that their wood has cracked. I would think that if the piece was not totally wrapped/sealed, the minimal air pressure and cold temps might cause some drying problems. Not really sure. Only thing I do know of is don't air mail anything that has been glued together with urethane (Gorilla or other varieties) glue. The bubbles can expand and cause the glue joint to fail. Had a friend who sent some expresso tampers to Japan and had that happen to him.

robo hippy

[Jim Burr]

I get a lot of wood by mail and have received it both ways...plastic wrap and heavy wax dip. Both work equally well but if your not going to turn it right away and the local conditions call for it...get the blank out plastic and seal it well.

[Doug W Swanson]

Thanks for the responses. I could maybe understand cracks happening if the blank had been in an unpressurized part of the plane but that's not the case here. Oh, well. I'll just turn it and see what happens....

[Jim Burr]

Remember that the cargo hold of most freight aircraft is very very cold so it may create a thermal variation making the wood smaller..colder makes it smaller. As the blank warms up, usually quickly, the moisture can't redistribute in the wood fibers fast enough so now dryer fibers seperate and shazzam..checks/cracks. Hope that helps!!

[Jon Nuckles]

I don't know if pressure changes cause green wood to crack, but if the wood was in your carry on bag in the passenger cabin, there should not have been enough of a pressure change to cause problems.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Doug I haven't had much problem when shipping by USPS, FED EXP, OR UPS but I brought some home from Virginia on a plane to Kansas and it cracked pretty bad. I think maybe it was the extreme cold that maybe causes it.