Jeff Tollison
05-13-2015, 11:24 AM
Hi all, new guy here, making the infamous introductory first post. Fairly new to wood working outside of basic property work (fences, trim, barn, etc). But I have a paint and leatherwork background and have been making basic framework for some various projects like custom cut mirrors with leather wrapping and such.
Anyway, I'm looking make the transition to sourcing my own wood, which is a lot of information to wrap my head around. I planned to continue to learn a bit before I actually went as far as drying my own wood but as fate wood have it a buddy just trimmed back a huge black walnut tree and I just can't justify some of these 30" diameter rounds going through the splitter. Unfortunately most of it was cut into manageable splitter lengths, but I think some live edge end tables would be pretty cool. I'm pretty efficient with the search function and have been reading up on stickering , stacking, ans drying. Without beating a dead horse with drying questions, do I have to seal the edges to avoid checking regardless of there being a fresh cut vs the natural form of the wood? Outside of making a few small arms grips, a couple bar stool seats, and maybe an end table or two I don't know if I'm gonna even attempt to do anything with it. It was cut 4 days ago so I know I need to get it cut and prepped as soon as possible. My plan is to it it into some 1 1/4- 2" rounds, get it off the ground and level on some pressure treated redwood I have laying around, cover it with some weight on top, put it in my shop and forget about it for at least a year or until I get moisture meter and go from there. Is this acceptable? Any other recos? Sorry for the long intro/newb post.
Thanks for the time and info!
Anyway, I'm looking make the transition to sourcing my own wood, which is a lot of information to wrap my head around. I planned to continue to learn a bit before I actually went as far as drying my own wood but as fate wood have it a buddy just trimmed back a huge black walnut tree and I just can't justify some of these 30" diameter rounds going through the splitter. Unfortunately most of it was cut into manageable splitter lengths, but I think some live edge end tables would be pretty cool. I'm pretty efficient with the search function and have been reading up on stickering , stacking, ans drying. Without beating a dead horse with drying questions, do I have to seal the edges to avoid checking regardless of there being a fresh cut vs the natural form of the wood? Outside of making a few small arms grips, a couple bar stool seats, and maybe an end table or two I don't know if I'm gonna even attempt to do anything with it. It was cut 4 days ago so I know I need to get it cut and prepped as soon as possible. My plan is to it it into some 1 1/4- 2" rounds, get it off the ground and level on some pressure treated redwood I have laying around, cover it with some weight on top, put it in my shop and forget about it for at least a year or until I get moisture meter and go from there. Is this acceptable? Any other recos? Sorry for the long intro/newb post.
Thanks for the time and info!