drying pine disk

[James Baker SD]

I had a dead pine tree removed today (died recently from bark beetle). The tree guys cut me a disk from the main trunk that is about 3 inches thick and 18 or so inches in diameter. Still has the bark on it. Is there any way to successfully dry this disk without it splitting to pieces? I think it would make a nice small table if I could dry it properly. Thanks.

James

[Mark Draper]

That will be tough, the wood in the center is denser and the outer ring is going to shrink. If you really want to use it cut it in half straight through the center, let it dry, then glue it back together. I`d give it a year or at least through the summer in a high spot inside somewhere.

[Ken Platt]

What Mark said. It pretty much has to split as it dries, so either you split it or it does it itself. You could also let it do it's thing drying, then fix the splits with some butterfly patches top and bottom, Nakashima-style. I think that'd work.

Your best bet on drying would be as slow as possible, so coat the ends heavily, and maybe pack it in shavings in a closed container, changing the shavings periodically.

Those rounds are pretty sometimes. I think that it was in Hoadley's "Understanding Wood" that he goes in depth on why the splitting is inevitable. Highly recommended book if you've not read it, BTW.

Ken

[Ed Aumiller]

If you soak it in PEG, it can possibly be usable without splitting, but you have to do it ASAP... and PEG is not the cheapest, but only thing I know of that works if done immediately after cutting...

[James Baker SD]

Mark: Since it is seemingly going to shrink more at the edges, might it help to coat the edges with endgrain sealer (whole thing is really endgrain) and leave the center bare to dry first?

Ken: I ordered a copy of Understanding Wood tonight. Will be a few days to get here. How would the shavings help? We have a giant pile of mulch they left us from the smaller branches shredded.

Ed. Disk was cut today, not sure exactly when the tree died, but wood is partially dry already even though tree still looked green a couple of months ago. What is PEG. Is it a bad to breathe chemical? If so, with my lungs, I might rather have the disk split. I have to keep my priorities :-) Where would I get it? Would I coat the disk or have to immerse it? (that would probably take too large a quantity)

[Mark Draper]

Being end grain like that I expect it will dry fast. If it were a hardwood I would say you stand a chance but I have never seen pine dry and not split. actually that is how I judge how dry wood is for firewood. The peg might work but slows down the dry time. If you cut it before it splits then you get a straight line to deal with instead of a random break. Maybe a slight s curve and use a contrasting wood down the seam.

[Pat Barry]

On the topic of cutting the piece first, before it can split, I wonder if it won't just split where it wants to anyway. Assuming that is the case, I would think that you let it start to split, then cut it along the line where the split is developing. Otherwise, it seems you could easily get a slpit in either or both of the two cut pieces and still have a a problem. Also, I just did some rip cutting on thick pine planks and they moved like crazy immediately after / during cutting. I suspect the piece you have will also move a great deal after cutitng the piece in half, so don't expect that you can put it together without quite a bit of surface work to re-establish straight lines to re-glue the pieces.

[Ed Aumiller]

Here are a couple of links on peg, what it is and where to buy it... do a search and will find other places to buy it...

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Using_PEG_for_dimensional_stability.html

http://www.rockler.com/polyethylene-glycol-peg-green-wood-stabilizer

http://www.preservation-solutions.com/product-reviews/seal-green-wood-to-stop-splitting/

[curtis rosche]

Soak in Denatured Alcohol for a few days, then take it out and wrap it up in brown paper bags. maybe wrap it in plastic wrap first, then paper bags. slow the drying way down

[James Baker SD]

Don't know if what I tried will work, but I'll see. Bought some of that rotted wood repair epoxy (very thin stuff that soaks in well) on closeout pricing at local hardware store. Have coated both sides (endgrain) of the disk (27" diameter by 6" thick) to where it is all shiny (single coat soaked in more in some spots than others so I re-did the non shiny areas). Wood drying should slow way down a lot as it will have to dry through the edge still covered by bark. Also hope the wood will be strengthened by the epoxy and maybe not be so prone to splitting. It is inside the shop now, out of direct sunlight, so I will give it quite a long time to dry out and watch what it does. Disk is from spot in trunk where the tree started to branch and have a really interesting figure, so hopefully I can save it and make a nice, but heavy, table from it.