Wood slice's

[Bert Kemp]

Not sure were to post this but this looks like the most likely. First question are there any SMC members with a sawmill here from AZ? Second I'd like to know what species of wood when cut in a slice or cookie about 1 to 2" thick is least likely to split or at least not split really bad. Third were could I get some cookies cut say about 6 to 12 inches in dia.?
Thanks for your replies.







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[Danny Hamsley]

I have found sweetgum to be be more crack resistant than most woods. Another good choice would be elm or blackgum. Also sycamore. These woods have spiral grain are naturally tough to split.

How many cookies do you need?

[Bert Kemp]

Hi Danny
I'd like to get a few cookies of a light colored wood to try some laser engraving on them, like I said 6 to 12" dia . I see some for sale on the net but the prices are crazy. I could buy a chain saw and cut my own for what they want to sell them for LOL .




'

I have found sweetgum to be be more crack resistant than most woods. Another good choice would be elm or blackgum. Also sycamore. These woods have spiral grain are naturally tough to split.

How many cookies do you need?

[Gary Price]

Because my girlfriend is a wedding planner, I get a lot of request for these cookies. Any wood is going to work if you use denatured alcohol. Unfortunately 1 gallon cost $35, and you can only get 3 or 4 cookies done with this much alcohol. (at least that was my experience.) My girlfriends dad had a sycamore tree that had fallen on his farm and he cut us up about 14 of 15 of these cookies, 3 were not treated with alcohol that never cracked, and not a one of the ones I soaked in alcohol ever cracked. All the others cracked, my guess is about 9 or 10 cracked. Funny thing is once I took them out of the garage the cookies didn't appear to be cracked anymore. So what I would say is if its not sycamore try using the alcohol, and you don't have to soak it long, I could tell when the alcohol had absorbed to the other side of the cookie. It was probably was in the tub of alcohol 30 seconds and I pulled it back out. 1 don't dry them out in your basement, 2 have more cookies than you need, some will not crack,if any.
I have also tried this with cherry, I had about 10 cookies and I have 3 that never cracked, but they were untreated and never placed in my basement. I was a little skeptical about seasoned logs, I recently purchased 5 really old Cherry logs that had low moisture %. My last order before was about 57% moisture, and this load of cherry was about 19% so if you have a log that was allowed to dry a little before you chop it up it may help too. Cherry looks much nicer than the Sycamore in my opinion, but Sycamore has a larger area of sapwood and a smaller area of heart wood, so its a two tone effect where the cherry has a lot less sapwood, and the bark is much nicer too. The trick to keep the bark in tact is to saw the tree down in the winter, but I don't know that for a fact.

[Bert Kemp]

Thanks Gary I'll try the alcohol is I ever get some slices. I want to laser engrave some so the less heart wood the better I think.

Because my girlfriend is a wedding planner, I get a lot of request for these cookies. Any wood is going to work if you use denatured alcohol. Unfortunately 1 gallon cost $35, and you can only get 3 or 4 cookies done with this much alcohol. (at least that was my experience.) My girlfriends dad had a sycamore tree that had fallen on his farm and he cut us up about 14 of 15 of these cookies, 3 were not treated with alcohol that never cracked, and not a one of the ones I soaked in alcohol ever cracked. All the others cracked, my guess is about 9 or 10 cracked. Funny thing is once I took them out of the garage the cookies didn't appear to be cracked anymore. So what I would say is if its not sycamore try using the alcohol, and you don't have to soak it long, I could tell when the alcohol had absorbed to the other side of the cookie. It was probably was in the tub of alcohol 30 seconds and I pulled it back out. 1 don't dry them out in your basement, 2 have more cookies than you need, some will not crack,if any.
I have also tried this with cherry, I had about 10 cookies and I have 3 that never cracked, but they were untreated and never placed in my basement. I was a little skeptical about seasoned logs, I recently purchased 5 really old Cherry logs that had low moisture %. My last order before was about 57% moisture, and this load of cherry was about 19% so if you have a log that was allowed to dry a little before you chop it up it may help too. Cherry looks much nicer than the Sycamore in my opinion, but Sycamore has a larger area of sapwood and a smaller area of heart wood, so its a two tone effect where the cherry has a lot less sapwood, and the bark is much nicer too. The trick to keep the bark in tact is to saw the tree down in the winter, but I don't know that for a fact.

[Danny Hamsley]

Bert,

I need to cut you some and ship them to you. Need to tie a string on my finger.......