Bradford Pear Acclimation Time

[Jason Zondor]

My neighbor had one of his Bradford Pears cut down and I snatched up a section of the trunk. Thought I'd use it to practice making a table top out of rough cut lumber with a live edge. How long should I let it get acclimated? It was cut down about 12 days ago and has been sitting outside until today when I took a slice off a bigger piece.

The piece I cut:
354887

The rest:
354888

[Lee Schierer]

First off, coat the exposed end grain with wax to prevent cracking and checking. Wood requires at least 1year per inch of thickness to dry adequately.

[Jason Zondor]

First off, coat the exposed end grain with wax to prevent cracking and checking. Wood requires at least 1year per inch of thickness to dry adequately.

Okay, thanks, so pretty standard then. Wasn't sure if BP, or any other fruit type tree, was any different that other typical hardwood trees.

Getting my hands on some green wood has started making me think I need to turn my shed into a kiln.

[Peter Kuhlman]

Bradford Pear in my experience here in Louisiana is a relatively high moisture mid density wood. I find it really tends to shrink and crack while drying. It most definitely will need to be end coated and would also coat the edges to slow the drying process as much as possible.

[daryl moses]

Putting a coating [anchor seal etc] will help some but it's almost a sure bet you will get some checks. Especially on an end grain piece like you have.
If the cracks are filled correctly they will add to the character of the piece though.

[Sam Beagle]

When I spin Bradford pear, it always cracks. No matter what I do. It's great to work with. But just unstable here in PA

[Kevin Jenness]

It is very difficult to dry a cookie like the one you show without cracking, particularly as your photo shows it is already checking. I have had success once using this product http://www.preservation-solutions.com/product/pentacryl/ on a 4" thick x 30" diameter oak slice. The process involved regular applications of Pentacryl and slow drying over a period of months. I am not sure if this is a polyethylene glycol based material, but that is a commonly used treatment for this problem.

One approach is to use end sealer to slow the process and accept the almost inevitable cracks, mending them with dovetail keys or similar when dry. You also could try kerfing your piece and filling the resultant pie cut with a filler from an adjacent slice from the trunk.