Question on tree branches!

[Jonathon Spafford]

I was wondering how you can dry tree branches (1"-2" dia) and keep the pith from cracking on them. I like the looks of all the small knots in the branches, but is there a way to keep it from checking? Would soaking it in some sort of glue work??

[Don Baer]

Konathan, get some Anchorseal or other green wood sealer and seal the end. I bought soem from Rockler, I know that woodcraft also carries it. If you by a qt it'ss cost you about $10, a gal. is $20 and I thinks you can buy 5 gal of anchorseal for not much more if you can find a dealer. I have the gallon size and I know it will go a long way.

[Ian Abraham]

You could use PEG to stabilize the wood.

http://www.rockler.com/ecom7/product_details.cfm?offerings_id=686&cookietest=1

It works by displacing the moisture and taking it's place so no shrinkage occurs. Because it stays in the wood it may limit your options for finishing.

Other option is to pick species that will dry intact, usually tough wood that has low shrinkage. We have a few species here in NZ that would work, maybe mesquite would be OK?

Putting sealer on may help by slowing down the drying, but it's likely to check eventually as the wood dries out and shrinks (unevenly)

Cheers

Ian

[Jim King]

Throw them in a pot a boil them for a few hours and let them cool in the same water before removing. Read this http://stores.ebay.com/Amazon-Exotic-Hardwoods

[Corey Hallagan]

So Jim is the wood dry enough to turn then without the problem of turning green wood?

Thanks,
Corey

[Jim King]

Corey:

We boil everything large and small and then rough turn it. It will dry very fast after boiling. We are doing some very complete tests now to be posted in the next few weeks and also using the traditioional methods some results could be a year.

This week we rough turned 10 -10 inch salad bowls and boiled them for about 10 hours and set them on a shelf under a ceiling fan in the shop. Most are loosing 6-7 ounces daily. It is very important to us to get our work as dry as possible as our turnings leave here in an airplane and they are as dry as any kiln in the world and if not dried under 8 % we have problems with cracking in flight.

[Doug Jones]

Not sure how this might help, but I had a freshly removed willow branch (about 2" dia.) that I just cut to about a 8" length and threw it in a corner in the garage and left it. After two years it is dried and no checks or cracks. Didn't do anything special, just cut and toss.

[Jonathon Spafford]

Will the alcohol drying method work with branches? And does the pith become a problem with cracking???

[Dick Strauss]

Johnathon,
I don't think the DNA will penetrate the full length of a branch unless you rough turn it to take the bark and some sap wood off before the DNA soak.

I tried microwaving some lilac branches (with bark intact). It was a disaster with many more cracks than if they had dried slowly. It seems that the steam tried to escape and created its own path out of the stick in the form of lots of cracks.

I think you'll have better luck in any case without the bark.

Good luck and let us know how it goes...

Dick

[Jonathon Spafford]

Well, what if I leave part of the bark on ... will that be a problem then?

[Frank Fusco]

Anchorseal is considered the standard for sealing. Many of the competitve products on the market are simply repackaged Anchorseal.
Buy it directly from the manufacturer https://www.uccoatings.com/
If you buy a 5 gal. bucket the price drops considerably from one gal or one quart prices and they pay shipping. I bought a 5 gal bucket, used one, saved one (it keeps) and sold the other three to members of my woodturning club at my cost and I still saved money over buying just a small quantity.