Green Wood Question?

[Thomas Heck]

My friend cut back some of his apple trees and brought some nice 6 ft or so logs 6 to 8 inches. What is the best thing to do to keep it from cracking? Should I chunk it up, leave it log size, or turn what I can a little think and store to dry? Thanks,
Thomas

[Greg Just]

At a minimum I would seal the ends of the wood with some Anchor Seal or similar product until you figure out what you want to do with the wood.

[Tim Rinehart]

As Greg said, that is the minimum. My own experience has been somewhat mixed on success holding onto fruit woods, but the other thing to consider is removal of the pith (and perhaps 1/4" to 1/2" to each side of it) to get rid of the instability of the pith. If you want to do a HF centered on the pith, then you'll have to keep the whole log section, just seal and store it somewhere where it won't see too dramatic temperature and humidity swings. A cool dry place would be nice. Don't let it sit too long...bottom line. Seems like holding onto log long term spells trouble.

[Steve Braman]

I have had good luck keeping apple check free for a few months by cutting it into blanks and closing it tightly in a trash bag. I have also used this successfully with walnut. However, maple turns to junk in a few weeks.

[Baxter Smith]

Getting it all roughed out as soon as possible is probably the best plan. The few small pieces of leftover apple I have saved and anchorsealed, all split somewhere before they were anywhere close to dry. At this time of year you should be able store whole pieces for several months without a problem in a large rubbermaid trash can with a garbage bag stretched over the top . Cutting out the pith and anchorsealing the ends might provide some extra security along with keeping them sealed in bags or cans.

[Thomas Heck]

Thanks for all the info. I haven't ever bought any anchorseal yet, guess I need to get some asap.

[Prashun Patel]

I'm with Baxter. I cut about 12 walnut chunks into D's without the pith. EVERY SINGLE ONE of them cracked despite having been waxed pretty liberally. The only ones that have not yet cracked are the ones that have also been bagged. These have started to get nice green fuzz on them, though. I was able to rough out about 6 others while fresh, and they've held up well.

Lesson learned: Don't saw off more than you can rough out reasonably quickly.

[Richard Allen]

Apple is terrific wood. The wood has a brown which looks like nothing else. 8" diameter is almost certainly branch wood. So in addition to the pith there is going to be some natural stress in the wood. The pith is likely to one side of "log" and you should take this into account as you are processing the logs.

When you cut the wood in half try to make sure the pith is equal distance from the sides. With branch wood this means one side will be thicker than the other.

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[Thomas Canfield]

I have not seen a number for cutting out the pith, but 10 to 15% of diameter usually works pretty well for me. The pith slab can then have the pith cut out and you have some quarter sawn material for small saucers up to small bowls for larger slabs or even some endgrain spindle material, so cutting a wider pith has some extra merit beside reducing splits.

[Thomas Heck]

I have not seen a number for cutting out the pith, but 10 to 15% of diameter usually works pretty well for me. The pith slab can then have the pith cut out and you have some quarter sawn material for small saucers up to small bowls for larger slabs or even some endgrain spindle material, so cutting a wider pith has some extra merit beside reducing splits.
As I cut the pith out as Richard said, I noticed the sections inbetween would be great if they didn't split. I surely appreciate all the advice. Are you all saying to put these in plastic bags air tight, or paper bags. Thanks again,

[Baxter Smith]

As I cut the pith out as Richard said, I noticed the sections inbetween would be great if they didn't split. I surely appreciate all the advice. Are you all saying to put these in plastic bags air tight, or paper bags. Thanks again,
Plastic bags are your best bet for eliminating moisture loss and checking. The wood should be fine for several months until you get it roughed out. The narrower side sections that Richard showed in his diagram with the pith section cut off have the best chance of drying without cracking and being used sometime in the future for spindle work. If the endgrain on those pieces were anchorsealed, you might place them in paperbags for several months like you would a roughed out bowl blank. Anything you can do to reduce the speed at which those pieces you are trying to dry before turning will help. Good luck with the apple. It can be very pretty stuff!

[james bell]

years ago i cut down a dwarf green apple tree and used my new MM16 to saw an 18" "log" into five 5/4 slabs. Just took a peppermill class at woodcraft, so planed these pieces, glued them up, and turned a peppermill. wood turned out prettier than i thought it would be.226035226036