Drying Question: air drying to garage drying

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Phile10

New Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2019
Messages
2
Reaction score
1
Location
Baltimore
I have recently moved in some Ash slabs that were air drying for about a year. They were cut 3 inches thick and were doing well air drying. I brought them indoors into the garage to dry them a little quicker. They were around 21% MC when I brought them in. I’m notocing some cracks/splits starting to appear, below are some pictures. Is this a result of stress from drying too quickly? I’m curious what’s causing this and how to prevent it in the future.

https://imgur.com/gallery/CSsxUrK
 
Some wood is going to crack / check no matter how careful you are. It just has stress that needs to release. Those slabs look nice, is there any heartwood in them? Or close to it? That'll cause cracks for sure. Is there heat in the garage?
 
Looks like the last pic definitely has heartwood. It looks like the pith runs right through that piece. You'll almost always get cracks there. The other photos are of crotch wood, again a likely area to have crack. Crotch wood is made up of end grain and long grain, drying at different rates. I've cried many times over cracked crotch wood.
 
Looks like the last pic definitely has heartwood. It looks like the pith runs right through that piece. You'll almost always get cracks there. The other photos are of crotch wood, again a likely area to have crack. Crotch wood is made up of end grain and long grain, drying at different rates. I've cried many times over cracked crotch wood.
Yes getting your crotch wood “cracked” will make you cry!
 
My plan it to dry my ash wood slabs in a temporary plastic shelter. Then make a kitchen table. To finish it with a varathane clear coat that will fill all the cracks and level off even.
 
Back
Top