Green Wood Preparation and Storage

[Mike Cutler]

I need some advice on how to "prepare" and store green wood for turning.

My neighbor needed to remove some trees from his yard. All of them are Cherry trees, that were originally destined to become firewood. That's not going to happen now.

I will be cutting some of the material into log lengths, one of them is 18+ inches at the base, and some of the wood had already been cut into 24" lengths.
I know to put Anchor seal onto the material that will go through the bandmill someday, but what about the material not big enough to be cut into boards?
How is turning wood "stored"?

[jason lambert]

Same thing Anchor seal on any end grain or where you cut. usally I take the log slice it right down the pith length wise to release some stress and seal the whole thing except the bark. Basically you need to Anchor seal where you cut and store it in a normal humidity place don't leave it outside since the Anchor seal will wash off in the first rain.

[scott schmidt grasshopper]

I agree with most of what jason says,seal all the cuts, split the logs. however anchor seal once dry will stand up to rain fairly well.. its sad to have to cut wood during the summer it is soo prone to crackage.
when I cut during this time of year I end seal immediately and then store under a white tarp with shade cloth on top of that. I toss in some shavings and wet those down to raise humidity. in the shade ( north side ) of a building works good too. be sure to tarp it so no wind gets to it . the wind will dry it too fast and split it . also you could pile it under a load of sawdust/ shavings which works wonders for holding wood. you have to moniter the pile for moisture content. too wet = fungus, too dry= cracking. I only work the logs during the early morning hours and even go so far as to spray water on the blocks I am going to cut up the next day . it raises the moisture content just a hair and gives me a couple more hours before they start to crack ( if roughing or finish turning the still green wood) after I cut blanks I will hold the blocks in buckets of water for the 6 to 24 hours I am working in the shop . if you let it dry for 15 minutes before mounting it on the lathe it will be almost dry. good luck

[Frank Drew]

Mike,

Any logs left fully round and not floating in the mill pond will likely crack, so Jason and Scott's suggestion to split the logs down the middle then seal should be your first steps. If you don't have enough sealer to coat everything, seal the ends of the logs first since moisture loss is faster through end grain. In fact, I had good results just sealing the ends, but I left nothing fully round.

You can hasten the drying process by rough turning a bunch of shapes to an even thickness (1"-1-1/4" maybe, even a bit more, depending on the diameter) then recoating the entire thing with green wood sealer.