Craigslist laughs

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

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

From my own experiences, there isn't a silver bullet answer to this problem. The answer is "it depends". In a nutshell, several techniques work sometimes, on some species, on some specific cuts/trees.

It depends on the cookies youre trying to keep from cracking as well- my coasters were about 3/4" thick , 4-5" diameter, and I could use a combination of microwaving, soaking, PEG, salt, anchorseal, and kiln to get most of what I cut to come out without cracks. It also took time. To go bigger you really have to expect a mixed bag. Wet shavings can slow the drying in a blank or cookie, but the math is not on your side. The shrinkage factors opposed are usually 2x the other.

PEG can be used but it has limitations. The issues with PEG are that you need to start soaking when fresh cut, need lots of coverage, need lots of time to let the PEG get into it deep enough - think months - (and over 2" good luck) , and the PEG is pricey. I made tubs and submerged turning pieces in the PEG for months. I also used many different recipies found online that used all kinds of different soaking solutions. Pieces were in there for months to over a year. When I took out a piece i was soaking I cut into it and it showed that the solution had only penetrated less than 1/2". I tried walnut, cherry, chestnut, maple, etc.

There are also just some trees / blanks / cuts that are very resilient to cracking for some hard to determine reason. I have a 14" cube of walnut heartwood that hasnt even surface cracked in 7+ years of being in an unheated/uninsulated building that hits near 100 and super low humidity at times.

Some people who did cookies for weddings just cut them green and used them green and expected that they only would have to last the day.
 
From my own experiences, there isn't a silver bullet answer to this problem. The answer is "it depends". In a nutshell, several techniques work sometimes, on some species, on some specific cuts/trees.

It depends on the cookies youre trying to keep from cracking as well- my coasters were about 3/4" thick , 4-5" diameter, and I could use a combination of microwaving, soaking, PEG, salt, anchorseal, and kiln to get most of what I cut to come out without cracks. It also took time. To go bigger you really have to expect a mixed bag. Wet shavings can slow the drying in a blank or cookie, but the math is not on your side. The shrinkage factors opposed are usually 2x the other.

PEG can be used but it has limitations. The issues with PEG are that you need to start soaking when fresh cut, need lots of coverage, need lots of time to let the PEG get into it deep enough - think months - (and over 2" good luck) , and the PEG is pricey. I made tubs and submerged turning pieces in the PEG for months. I also used many different recipies found online that used all kinds of different soaking solutions. Pieces were in there for months to over a year. When I took out a piece i was soaking I cut into it and it showed that the solution had only penetrated less than 1/2". I tried walnut, cherry, chestnut, maple, etc.

There are also just some trees / blanks / cuts that are very resilient to cracking for some hard to determine reason. I have a 14" cube of walnut heartwood that hasnt even surface cracked in 7+ years of being in an unheated/uninsulated building that hits near 100 and super low humidity at times.

Some people who did cookies for weddings just cut them green and used them green and expected that they only would have to last the day.
That 14" cube is heartwood.. You might have your key to fixing your issues right there. Sap wood is a chronic problem in many woods. Bugs-checking-warpage-stability-stain-......
 
That 14" cube is heartwood.. You might have your key to fixing your issues right there. Sap wood is a chronic problem in many woods. Bugs-checking-warpage-stability-stain-......

your post jarred something in my head, so thank you. 2 things I should've added to my first post:

1) to your point - I know with bowl blanks that having both sap & heart can add an extra layer of dynamics to the drying success so it is a good point. if you want to trim the cookies/blanks down to the heart you will have more consistent success

2) the "most" universal success (across all sizes of pieces and species) is a controlled failure path. Cut out a path to the heart so it can move without cracking, then patch it up. You get some up/down disjointed warping surfaces sometimes but can patch that too. I read about that technique in some old wood carving books but wasnt thinking big enough until I found 2 entire 8' black walnut logs in my great uncle's wood building in his wood rack (bottom shelf hah). These were put in there more than 6 decades ago, and he had not only cut off all the sapwood around these logs (which are maybe 15-16" in diameter of just heart) , but had also done been cut to the pith down the entire length and left in the round. Who else puts entire logs into their wood rack?

Thanks for your post again. It made me reminisce about a good man who is sorely missed.
 

still pole saw - $150 (Glide)​

1

make / manufacturer: stihl
has curved shaft, runs good
 
Even worse. It says only one saw for sale. $350 for one $40 saw!
People around here are desperate.... many storms have left a lot of damage. Saws, bar oil, chains, and mix oil were hard to come by. As such, tree services are being absolute robbers and people who don't know better are being robbed. This morning I went over to a friend's house for less than an hour and felled and bucked a storm damaged oak. It was all easily done from the ground. I was pressed for time so he's going to drop off the rounds for me for firewood... The town will take the brush. He bought a saw but lacked the skill to do the job... Tree services quoted him between $2,000 and $4,800. So yeah... I can see someone paying $350 out of ignorance and being happy doing it!
 
A "fairly easy" fix. :laughing: o_O If you've seen what a cylinder looks like after it sucked a valve, easy fix isn't the first discription that comes to mind.
"Condition: fair", as in fairly trashed.
**************

Stihl FS110-Z Brush Cutter - Parts or Repair - $125 (N. Corvallis)​

1

condition: fair
For sale is a Stihl FS110 weed eater. It’s in really good shape. One of the valves broke so it won’t start, but it should be a fairly easy fix if you know anything about motors. Otherwise it’s a good parts machine. These retail for almost $500 new.
 
One thing I especially hate on Craigslist list is ‘keyword spamming’. E.g. when someone is trying to sell a truck, and lists 2,000+ unrelated words (I copied one ad, pasted it into my word processor, and did a ‘word count’ once, out of curiosity), including brand names, in the bottom of the ad, so that almost any search will bring up that ad.

I don’t know why Craigslist software doesn’t just automatically block these. ‘Flagging’ does not seem to stop them.

Anyway, one of these a******s recently posted an ad with the admonition, ‘Won’t reply to single line texts due to high levels of Spam’.

Philbert
 
Back
Top