Drying Spindle Blanks

[Dave Bunge]

I’m looking for recommendations on drying 2” to 6” green wood into spindle blanks. I would like to use them for tool handles, boxes, and hollow forms. I have cut at least 1” away from the pith and coated the end grain with Anchorseal.

Do people coat the faces with anchor seal too? Or store individually in paper bags to slow down evaporation? Is there any advantage to turning the blanks round before drying them?

I'm hoping to improve my success rate compared to the past when I just tossed them in a corner of the shop and hoped for the best. Thanks.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Dave I think you did fine. I don't coat the whole piece as it doesn't allow it to dry. When I buy a spindle blank like at woodcraft, when I get home I scrape off the wax up to about a 1" from the end. I don't bag them or turn them round. I have never had a problem with any I have did. If I cut my own I just anchorseal the ends about a 1" up and put them on the shelf to dry.

[Dale Miner]

Dave,

For spindle stock, I usually just coat the end and about an inch or so down the side from the ends, and then stack the pieces on something that will allow air to get to all sides, or stand the pieces on end against the wall. I have found that on some woods (cherry, bradford pear, apple, and most fruitwoods), the sapwood will usually split the length of the piece, especially if the sapwood covers the entire face of the blank. I've tried to coat the sapwood with anchorseal to prevent the splitting, but not had much success. Aparently the sapwood shrinks more than the heartwood, and with an entire face of sapwood, the difference in the shrinkage rate sapwood/heartwood is enough to cause the splitting. On white oak, I've not had much sucess with anything over about 2" square unless the entire piece is coated, and then it may take five years or longer for the wood to become dry enough for spindle stock. Other woods, coated on the end and down the sides and inch or so seem to dry in about a year if not over 2" square. At 3" square, I would allow at least 2 years for maple and other relativly fast drying wood, and 3 years or longer for others woods. I doubt that a 6" square piece would get dry to the center in less than ten years, and doubt it would do so without some splitting or internal checking.

As to turning round being an advantage, yes it is. Another way to speed the process up, especially for larger diameter items is to rough the shape out while the wood is green, and then paper bag or some other method to slow the initial stages of drying. For hollow forms in the 6" to 10" diameter range turned from either side grain or end grain, a 5/8" wall thickness will dry in about 6 months. For boxes in the 3" or less diameter range turned from end grain stock, the shape roughed to 1/2" wall thickness and paper bagged will dry to allow for a minimum movement final fit in about a year on most woods.

For rolling pins or pepper mills, I sometimes will rough the shape to round about 1/4" oversize, coat the ends, and let the wood dry for at least a year. Two is better. By rouging to round instead of leaving square, there is a bit less wood to dry, and without the corners, there seems to be less chance of cracking. For tool handles, the need for absolutely dry is not as great. If the handle does go a few thousandths out of round, it is not a big deal. If the wood is too green when the handle is made, the wood will shrink against the tool, and split to relieve the shrinkage. Also, the ferule will become loose as the wood shrinks. 1.5" square stock is usually sufficient for a handle, and it takes about a year for it to get dry enough to not split around the tool. If white oak, locust, hedge, or hickory, a bit longer.

[Dave Bunge]

Thanks guys for the advice. It sounds like I should adjust my expectations for the thicker 6" stuff, probably best to make rough outs from it and let the vessels dry instead of the blanks. I am going to start coating 1" from the ends of the blanks I do save.

I'm also going to try using a cardboard box for some of the bigger blanks. I have some large file storage boxes...similar to the boxes that reams of paper come in, only longer. I did this once before and seemed to have less cracking than blanks that sat on the shelf next to box. I stacked the blanks with stickers between the layers to allow for some air movement, put the lid on the box when I wanted to slow down the drying rate, took the lid off to speed it up. Just looking for something that will improve the odds for thick stuff with minimal hassle.

Dale, that's interesing on the sap wood vs heart wood different shrinkage rates, too bad because I like the contrast when they are both present. I guess it's better to rough out the form when sap wood is present anyway so it doesn't discolor (cherry and walnut). I learned a lesson on roughing out spindle blanks. I wanted to make a french style rolling pin (thickest in the center, tapered to the ends) for my daughter out of Bradford Pear. I roughed it out that way, tapered from center to the ends, and put on the shelf. By the time it had dried, the ends had sagged so much that it was unusable. Round two, I just roughed out a straight walled cylinder.

[Scott Lux]

Dave, geography will have a lot to do with your success too. Ambient humidity is a huge factor. What works in Ohio may not work in Phoenix, etc.