Keeping Green Wood

[Jon Lanier]

Well, I opened my mouth up about wanting to get some 'logs' for turning. A friend in the church is giving me an Apple tree that he cut down this summer. It is about 6 foot long and about 10-12 inch round. Then there are the limbs.

Then another guy over heard the conversation and it sound like I'll be getting some cherry.

Question: Where and what do you store your green wood 'logs'? I don't see keeping them in the basement and not much room in the garage. Can I keep them outside with out much weathering... if so what is the best recommended way of doing so? Should there be any 'pre-treatment' before I do?

Thanks everyone!

[George Guadiane]

Well, I opened my mouth up about wanting to get some 'logs' for turning. A friend in the church is giving me an Apple tree that he cut down this summer. It is about 6 foot long and about 10-12 inch round. Then there are the limbs.

Then another guy over heard the conversation and it sound like I'll be getting some cherry.

Question: Where and what do you store your green wood 'logs'? I don't see keeping them in the basement and not much room in the garage. Can I keep them outside with out much weathering... if so what is the best recommended way of doing so? Should there be any 'pre-treatment' before I do?

Thanks everyone!
Without knowing where you live, seal the ends, store them off the ground and keep them covered, in the shade if possible. If you don't have AnchoSeal, use paint or something. If the ends are already checked, seal them anyway, don't cut off the "waste" till you are ready to make bowl blanks, it will keep the inner wood fresher longer. You can use a couple of branches to stack them on, or 2X4s, anything to keep them out of the dirt and away from the bugs.

[Matt Hutchinson]

I agree with everything George says except about trimming the ends. The apple tree was cut down this summer, so it has had time to lose the initial high water content. However, there is still lots of water in the wood, and even with sealer coating the current checks, the cracks will continue to spider, deepen, and widen. I have had great success with trimming checked logs before sealing them. I have tried sealing checked logs that are still quite wet, and they just kept getting worse, ruining even more of the log.

Hutch

P.S. I guess I should clarify. If the wood hasn't checked too badly I always trim it. If there are deeper checks, 2 inches or more, then I use my own experiences to determine my method. Certain species can be trimmed and sealed with no problem, others are finicky. Also, the higher the water content the more difficult it is to predict if something will crack after sealing or not. Personally, I constantly monitor my woodpile. If there is a chunk near and dear to my heart, I will trim it when small cracks start to show, and this does save wood in the longrun. Okay, I'll shut up now.

[joe greiner]

What they said, except:

1. Matt's suggestion for trimming makes sense.

2. Sealing with paint would be my third choice, after paraffin wax or Anchorseal. Paint, if used, should be re-applied frequently (DAMHIKT). Paraffin wax is available in the canning supplies section of most supermarkets, or use surplus candles (preferably cheap from garage sales or such); melt the wax in a frying pan on a hot plate, or an electric frying pan (also all surplus), and dip the log ends. If you brush the wax on, use a natural bristle brush (also surplus), not plastic (also DAMHIKT).

Joe

[Mike Vickery]

All good advice.
I will add this though the best way to keep the wood from cracking is turn it. I store all my logs in the garage and try to get them roughed out with in a couple weeks.
I know other store logs for long periods without issue, but that is what I do. The way I figure it I worked to hard cutting hauling and sealing to let in crack waiting for me to get around to it.

[Reed Gray]

Your local weather plays a role also. I live in wetter Oregon, and I can leave logs out whole this time of year with little worry about degrading, as it is cool and wet here. I do store them on the ground. If they have been cut into firewood sizes, then I put one end down on the ground, and cover the other with a tarp. Cut the log in half, down the pith or center of the log. If there is already cracking radiating out from the pith, line up your cuts with the crack. Of course, rough turning works well, you reduce the mass so there is less stress in the drying process, and you get warping but little cracking. I turn to final thickness (1/4 to 1/2 inch) and slow dry them. In the summer, it is very dry here. I end seal. The sealers work better on a fresh cut than on an old one. I will cover with tarps, and even pile on fresh shavings, and wet the shavings down. I try to keep all edges of the tarp down so the dry summer winds can't penetrate and destroy my stash. I have too much wood to keep in the garage. Some day after I win the lottery, I will have a special, humidity controlled room just for log storage. But until then.......

robo hippy

[Frank Kobilsek]

Jon,

Everything said above is true but I will add.

I have horrible luck with Apple. I have great luck with cherry.

Apple I end up with small piece good for boxes, stoppers & pens, after storage even in the best conditions. If apple is cut and rough turned in the same day success rate increases. My experience ...

Cherry on the other hand is much more tolerant of poor storage methods. Keep the pieces as big as possible until your ready to rough turn. Even then recoat the cut parts. For example I slabbed up about 25 bowl blanks this past Sunday from stored logs. All were re-sealed despite the fact that all will be rough turn over the next week.

Good luck, If you have a fireplace, wood from friends that is unsuitable for turning can go in the firewood pile. If you don't have a fireplace you really need to train your friends well.

Frank

[Paul Engle]

Pretty much true all of the above, understand fruit wood does not act like other woods. One experiment is to seal one end and put the other end to the ground and let is sit for a few months to see if it will spalt.Another is to cut one in half length wise, seal the ends and lay the exposed cut to the ground for a couple of months. another would be to cut the biggest square blank out of it you can turn , seal up the cut areas and let sit for say a year, and another would be to turn another piece right now today to 10% finished size , make sure is pretty much even all the way around, you can soak in DNA, soak in Dish Soap/water,boil for 2 hrs, micro wave, soak in thompsons deck seal or ,toss into a brown paper bag with the chips from turning, seal it up, weigh it once a week till it stops loosing weight and finish turning it. Then you will not have to guess which one of us is correct.....:eek: :D

[Matt Hutchinson]

I too like to stack shorter lengths end on end. Not only does the bottom log have a chance to spalt, but if the logs are not dripping wet they seal each other effectively. (If they are too wet they sometimes will still crack badly.) With this method I can save on sealer. All I have to do is seal the top log. Of course, you still don't want to keep the "cellulose monolith" in the sun.

As far as fruit woods go, I cannot give specific advice. I have not had the opportunity to acquire any yet. But living near the fruitbelt of Michigan makes me think that all I have to do is contact farmers. Anywho, that's my third cent.

Hutch

[Bernie Weishapl]

Jon I have used anchorseal, paraffin and latex paint. All have worked well. If I can't get to turn them within say 3 weeks I leave them in log form and stack them on pallets I get from different businesses. I then take 6 mil plastic and cover them with two layers leaving the ends open but leave the plastic long enough it hangs over the ends to keep rain or snow off. If they are cracked big time I trim them down and then seal. I have some ash, elm, cherry and walnut in logs that have been prepared like above and still in relatively good shape that were cut 6 to 9 months ago. If I have time I will cut them into bowl blanks making sure I cut the pith out of the middle and then seal. They can be easily stacked in the garage then again on a pallet to keep them off the floor.