Cutting veneer from green wood.

[C Scott McDonald]

Hello folks,

I got a two inch thick block of walnut crotch which is green. If I resaw it down to 1/8 thick veneer slice will I run into any problems with it drying to fast and spliting out? I would hate to ruin a perfectly good piece of wood.

Thanks,
Scott

[Jamie Buxton]

When you're drying wood, the usual procedure is to constrain the wood so that it can't cup and twist as it dries. With thicker wood, a sticker every few feet and weight on top of the stack does the trick. With your thin slices, the stickers would need to be much closer together.

[Jamie Buxton]

There's another approach which I've read about, but never tried. You slice the green wood, put some small stickers between the slices, put a few rubber bands around the stack, and then you put it in a self-defrosting freezer! The water freezes solid very quickly, and the ice holds the wood from warping during the drying process. The ice slowly evaporates, leaving dried wood behind. Yes, ice does "evaporate" in a self-defrosting freezer. Think of what happens in an ice-cube tray which has been in the freezer a long time. The ice-cubes just disappear.

[Dan Barr]

the self defrosting freezer might be faster than air drying. :D at least it sounds like it.

ciao,

dan