How to dry Apple and Red Oak

[Don Lamothe]

Here’s a wood drying question for you all. I have some pieces of apple trees that look like they will make some beautiful bowls some day. Some of these apple pieces are straight sections of the tree while others have lots of knots and twist in them. These trees were cut down last spring. I also have a 3 foot long piece of red oak from a tree I cut down last week that I would also like to make some bowls from. This red oak is a straight piece from the bottom of the tree that’s 9 inches in diameter at the top and 12 inches at the bottom. I could cut it into smaller pieces if that’s the right thing to do. The question is how to dry these pieces so that they don’t split and how long will this drying process take? Thanks for your input.

[Prashun Patel]

Lots of opinions on how to do this. My favorite is to cut the log in half along its length. Eliminate the pith from each half.

Wax the ends until you are ready to turn them.

[John K Jordan]

…. I could cut it into smaller pieces if that’s the right thing to do. The question is how to dry these pieces so that they don’t split and how long will this drying process take? Thanks for your input.

I’ve cut green wood into many 100s of blanks and dry them before turning. Best to cut through the pith as mentioned. Even better to cut away as much of the wood as you can, easy if you have a shape in mind such as a round blank for a bowl. Then seal at least all end grain. It can help to seal the entire blank to slow the drying and reduce the chance of drying cracks. Large blanks may take months or years to dry. To monitor drying, weigh each piece every month or two and record the weight - a blank is dry when the weight quits dropping.

Most bowl turners don’t want to wait that long so they rough turn the blank while green, leaving enough wall thickness to allow for warpage on face-turned blanks, then dry and finish turn. This can also minimize loss since the rough turned bowl is less likely to self destruct than a solid blank.

If you want to turn things other than bowls (boxes, vases, ornaments etc) best to cut the logs into smaller end grain blanks and seal. These should dry much quicker.

What ever you do, cut up the log sections as soon as possible to minimize loss from checks and cracks.

JKJ

[Don Lamothe]

Thanks Guys, here’s another follow up question for you. I have now ripped the Oak log in half and cut it into small pieces (4-8” long). I have read that I must now remove the pith from these pieces. The pith is on one half of the log since my cut was not in the exact center of the log. Do you know how much of the pith should be removed? These pieces were 9-12 inches in diameter before I ripped the log in half.

[John K Jordan]

Thanks Guys, here’s another follow up question for you. I have now ripped the Oak log in half and cut it into small pieces (4-8” long). I have read that I must now remove the pith from these pieces. The pith is on one half of the log since my cut was not in the exact center of the log. Do you know how much of the pith should be removed? These pieces were 9-12 inches in diameter before I ripped the log in half.

It varies with species and circumstance but I generally remove a least 1/4” of the pith when processing relatively small logs, sometimes more depending on the type of blank and where the pith is in the blank. Some bowl turners have said they cut away 1-2” from the center of a larger log with a chainsaw before further processing. After cutting away the pith I often cut a thin slice off the blank and bend it to disclosed invisible cracks radiating from the pith, then cut away further until the crack is gone. (This is the same technique used to disclose and remove end grain cracks.)

The second thing I do is inspect the blanks periodically over the first few weeks or months, if large. I mark any cracks which have appeared and cut them away on the bandsaw to keep them from spreading, sealing that side. Due to the mechanics of the shrinkage stresses in wood this type of crack often, but not always, starts on the side of the blank away from the pith.

If I leave minor cracks in a turning blank I mark them with a red sharpie making them easier to inspect later to see if they are growing. I sometimes leave minor end-grain cracks on one end of spindle and box-sized blanks since that end can be gripped in a chuck with no detriment. But I do mark these for two reasons, one, to monitor in case they get larger, and second, to remind me where they are at turning time.

If I have a good-sized turning blank which has developed a crack in the middle of one side of the block (usually from the bark side) I sometimes decide to just cut the block in half down the crack. I’d rather turn smaller blanks that larger blanks with cracks. While some embrace the defects, I hold with those who say life’s too short to turn bad wood.

BTW, unless I’m processing a log section into bowl/platter blanks where I want one side to be wide, I’ll usually mark the largest square I can get from a log with one corner at the pith and saw directly through the pith. This gives me square blanks with the pith at one corner. I still monitor these while drying but large cracks rarely start and radiate from a corner on most species. This method also makes a blank where one side is not parallel to the rings on the bark side, eliminating a common starting point major shrinkage cracks.

The oaks are a little tricker then some other species such as walnut, y.poplar, cherry, maples, etc. since their T/R ratios for oaks are high. I generally try to dry oaks and some other species as slowly as possible, coating with heavy sealer on all sides. I don’t know if I mentioned this earlier but the best way I’ve found to get a thick, heavy coat of sealer is to pour an inch or so of Anchorseal into a wide-mouthed container and let it “dry out” for a time, maybe days or weeks depending on the humidity in the shop. I use a lidded plastic coffee container with a cheap brush inside to keep sealer handy - the brush never needs to be cleaned. The thickened sealer works far better than trying to apply two coats of thin sealer since as the second coat of the thin water/wax/surfactant emulsion comprising Anchorseal won’t stick well to a dry or partially dried first coat.

JKJ

[Prashun Patel]

To second John's advice: sealing the ends is imperative. It's arguably more important than even getting the pith out.

I am not scientific on how much of the pith I remove. It ends up being about 5-10% of the diameter.

For the past couple years, I process most of my bowl blanks by splitting them along the pith. This doesn't always result in a flat surface, but it does follow the grain. Red oak splits especially nicely... It's quite easy with nothing but a hatchet and a deadblow hammer. You can then just excavate the pith with the hatchet once the log is opened up. Often I don't even carve out the pith. I notice these riven blanks are pretty stable as is. But that's just my experience with the particular red oak around here.