How do I dry and prepare a round to make a table

[Gamedic]

I cut a huge red oak a couple of weeks ago and kept several rounds including the 60 inch butt cut. I would like to make some tables out of these rounds. What is the best way to dry and prepare the rounds for milling. As far as milling goes I plan to get the rounds close with a chainsaw and finish them up with a router sled. Thanks for any advice you can give me.

 

[BobL]

There is a 99% probability it will crack, so if you cut and dry 100 cookies you might get one that won't crack.
Seriously - this is why there are so few things made from cookies.
To reduce cracking on cookies folks try all kinds of things like burying them in wet sawdust for a year or two. I know a farmer that buries his in the bottom of a dam in the dry season and recovers them in the following dry season.
I have a friend that makes stool tops using cookies, the tops are around 4" thick but they still crack and she lives with this as a feature.

 

[Dave Boyt]

Best strategy is to plan on cracks and make them part of the design. One option is to fill them with epoxy (after the cookie is dried to its final moisture content). Slow drying helps, but doesn't guarantee crack-free pieces, since there is more wood, and more shrinkage as you go from the center to the outside of the cookie. Other strategies include cutting the cookie in half before drying, then jointing and gluing the halves back together once it has dried (quartering might work even better, though it would be more difficult). Another technique is to saw a kerf to control where the cookie will open up, then cut a kerf in another part of the next cookie above or below it so that you can cut a wedge-shaped piece to glue in place where the first one cracked. If you have multiple cookies, you can work your way up so that each cookie donates a wedge for the one above or below it. Cut the kerf before the cookie cracks, and patch the wedge in after it has dried. Good luck!

 

[BobL]

The other problem with cookies is that they are still liable to crack 6 months or even 6 years after the wood is supposedly dry enough to work.

 

[MGoodwin]

I can attest to them cracking after 6 years. I made an end table six years ago from ~3' maple round. It has held together great but this year there have been several cracks showing up on the perimeter. Not huge, about 1/8" wide going in about 3-4". I think the core problem is shrinkage happens along the growth rings, so even shrinkage/drying rate aside, the outer rings have a further distance to go than inner rings. Hence take any pole, round etc, and the cracks are nearly always tapering inward. I have some 5' doug fir rounds drying and my friend has a 4' round (of the same tree) drying them in different methods and they are still fine (sitting about 13% MC I think). There are hundereds of small hair line cracks but nothing bad. Like Bob said, some trees hold together, but good luck finding one .

 

[lone wolf]

Dried in a non heated building one year. the Oak will crack you are going about it wrong get an Alaskan Mill and mill the wood into boards dry slowly like I said. Paint the ends too and wait a year or two then you can make some nice stuff without any large checks.

 

[lone wolf]

 

[lone wolf]

 

[BobL]

The OP is not talking about boards, but very large (60") cookies, and there is a bit of difference between drying a clock size cookie, and one that is ~60" in diameter.

 

[lone wolf]

The OP is not talking about boards, but very large (60") cookies, and there is a bit of difference between drying a clock size cookie, and one that is ~60" in diameter.

I think he would have better luck with milling it or at least cut on a diagonal so you go with the grain cookies always check more than boards.

 

[swen2jef]

I have been experimenting with some 36" White pine cookies for furniture. The ones drying outside on the north side of a building have not checked yet. The ones in the heated shop checked fast. I sprayed polyurethane on them thinking it would slow the drying. The jury is out yet.

 

[lone wolf]

D

I have been experimenting with some 36" White pine cookies for furniture. The ones drying outside on the north side of a building have not checked yet. The ones in the heated shop checked fast. I sprayed polyurethane on them thinking it would slow the drying. The jury is out yet.

Dry them inside a non heated building a year or more then polyurethane them fast with lots of coats after you make something.

 

[SDB777]

Pre-make a bunch of 'bowties', when the crack happens...get the chisel out and make it a feature!

I've tried removing the pith, soaking in water, mud, wet leaves, sealer, BLO soak, waxing, and haven't had one yet that is 'useable' without the bowtie!



Scott (maybe I forgot to hold my tongue on the right side) B

 

[millbilly]

I've heard if you soak them in ethyl glycol it will replace the water, and the glycol won't evaporate. Therefore the wood won't shrink, check and crack. Not saying this will work never tried it but it makes sense.

Remembering when I was much younger, I had cut a cookie from a very interesting cherry stump. It had a big crack in it but I still looked cool. I had it sitting on a wall shelf looked nice. Anyway one night I had my girlfriend over (now my wife of 36 years). We were both asleep when suddenly there was a crack, as loud as a 30/30 being fired. Only to discover the cookie had cracked almost in half.

 

[millbilly]

All right I was kind of close. Its called Peg 1000, a derivative of Ethyl Glycol, here is a link http://books.google.com/books?id=5H...v=onepage&q=ethylene glycol soak wood&f=false

 

[Pfin]

All right I was kind of close. Its called Peg 1000, a derivative of Ethyl Glycol, here is a link http://books.google.com/books?id=5HBH2ibu-ZwC&pg=PA136&lpg=PA136&dq=ethylene glycol soak wood&source=bl&ots=cmSPdFugCg&sig=bMsNpKdGios-wA6YrOBsJzzpWDo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VJzJUsmKDMutsQSPzoD4Dg&ved=0CGQQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=ethylene glycol soak wood&f=false

Does anyone have any experience using this stuff on a large cookie? Would be awesome if it works.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

PEG is a VERY old trick, that "sometimes" works.......mostly bowl turners use it. It adds weight and leaves a film on the surface of the wood, that many finishes don't like.

The way i've seen it work, was to heat it in a bbl. to something like 140* ? , then soak the wood in the heated soliution...

I doubt ANYTHING will work 100% on big cookies.

SR

 

[Dave Boyt]

PEG is pretty pricey, and you could well use several hundred dollars worth on a slab that size. I like the bow tie idea, but there will still be a lot of stress.

 

[jagchaser]

So if you are going to use bowties and make the cracks a feature then should we even worry about treating the ends or anything to slow dry? I suppose they might crack in half if you didn't slow it somewhat huh? I have a bunch of 2-3' walnut cookies air drying now, some painted, some in plastic bags. Hope I can do something with them eventually.

 

[waldtricki]

Remembering when I was much younger, I had cut a cookie from a very interesting cherry stump. It had a big crack in it but I still looked cool. I had it sitting on a wall shelf looked nice. Anyway one night I had my girlfriend over (now my wife of 36 years). We were both asleep when suddenly there was a crack, as loud as a 30/30 being fired. Only to discover the cookie had cracked almost in half.

This happens in my shop semi frequently and it scares the piss outta me nearly every time. The first time it happened i had earplugs on and i could still hear it. I thought some vibrations from running power equipment had knocked something off the walls or shelf but i could find no evidence... I realized months later when it happened again it was the sound off drying slabs cracking.

On topic, there is nothing i am aware of to prevent this. I have only had success with 10 or 11'' cookies that have been sealed on both ends and dried for 3 to 5 years. I have 3 big redwood cookies that are 44-46" in diameter and about 6 inches thick and they all have huge cracks.