Seasoning Dogwood?

[Dave Williams]

I got the remains of a huge dogwood tree, well over 100 years old, from my brother-in-law a few months ago. It's been sitting in my basement and hopefully drying out. Does anyone know how long it take dogwood to dry out? and should I peel the bar off to help it along? I'd be greatfull for any advise on the matter.

[Brian Hale]

The typical drying time for wood is 1 year per inch of thickness. Drying in log form can take a bit longer.

Some notes about dogwood. Powder Post Beetles like the stuff! If you see any evidence of their existence, get the wood out of your house before they hatch and spread. Look for small (1/8" or less) holes and or sawdust that seems to just appear around the wood pile.

Also, dogwood will check (crack/split) quickly if the ends aren't sealed soon after cutting.

If the tree was standing dead for a couple years you'll most likely have some spalting going on which requires kiln drying to stop but the wood will be amazingly colorful.

While i've actually worked dogwood, i've been told it's not a very stable wood; ie. it likes to move alot. YMMV

Brian :)

[Gary Herrmann]

Dave, are you hoping to use it for board stock? If so, I'd cut it on the bandsaw now - at least 4/4 thickness and sticker and weight it.

If you're going to use it for bowl or other turning stock anchor seal the ends and cut it into sections of appropriate length. You may want to cut the pith out as it can encourage checking.

I haven't dried any dogwood, but I would think it would be prone to checking - due to its density.

100 yrs old? Out of curiousity, whats the diameter of the trunk? Mine are only 20 yrs old, so they're pretty small.

[Dave Williams]

I'm planning on using it for handles for some chisles I have that need new ones, and a few gluts, and maybe some mallet heads. I want to use dogwood because once it dries it won't split, but it checks alot during drying. I'm wondering if it would be good to take the bark off or leave it on while it dries?

The trunk weighed about 250 lbs or more when i got it a week after it was cut, it's dried a bit but it's still pretty hefty. It's a bout 15-16 inches in wide at the bottom and 14 inches at the top, about four feet tall, it's a dark brown to black in the middle of it. I'm not going to count the rings to get an percise date but the house it was in front of is well over 100 years old and there is a picture of it in 1904 ish and it must have been there at least 10-15 years prior to that i think.

[Roger Bell]

I just spent the last two hours bandsawing up a small dogwood snag into turning squares. The tree was fire-killed and hardenup up and dried real nicely on the stump. I think I just beat the bugs to it.

Considering the uses you state, I would rip it down the middle with the chainsaw, so you have, at the maximum, two semicircular halves, with the pith entirely removed. Then you could trim off a bit more longitudinally and end up with more or less rectangular pieces. The bark absolutely must be removed. Not doing so is begging for bugs. Failure to remove the pith right now is really asking for big-time cracking and maximum loss of yield.

If you are certain as to your planned uses (chisel handles, mallets, etc) you might cut some rough sized blanks for those while your are dicing, so you don't have to wait for larger thicker pieces to dry, if you want thicker pieces to keep you options maximized. Smaller stuff for turning will dry quicker and, for your purposes, will not likely require bone dryness to work out.

You must seal the end-grain of each piece with something like Anchorseal and get it out of the sun right away. Sounds like it could turn out to be some really nice wood with the dark coloration you mention.