Plum and Apple proper drying help !!!!!!!

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gandsande

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Ottawa, Canada
I was granted a wish come true when the House behind my mother in-law was sold to a developer that started tearing out the wwII old house to re-build. This meant the OLD very mature Fruit trees the previous family had were cut down. Broke my heart as they were very healthy, but the new house is going to be huge.

So that's the story, now my situation.

I now have a pile of lovely Plum and Apple. I want to use as much as possible obviously its Green cut 2 days ago I got it into 7 and 13 inch lengths today and waxed the ends as of now un-split.

Should I Split the pit out?
Will the wax on the end hold the cracking down? with out without splitting
Should i bake to dry faster to avoid cracking?
should I bag in a paper bag to slow down cracking?
should i rip to pen blanks as green?
if ripping to pen blanks should i wax just he ends or the entire thing?

Should i just burn it all cause it was cut in the spring and the sap is running allready?

And finally a very important question. should i be using log sealer or a paraffin wax?
 
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Don`t know if there are absolute answers for some of your questions . Log diameter and presence/absence of crotches and other things probably dictate what would be best , depending on the piece . Sawing longitudinally through the pith should reduce but not eliminate end checking , but I probably wouldn`t on anything less than 6 inch diameter (Note that I say this with zero experience on these woods) .

Wax or other sealer will reduce the checking , but isn`t a guarantee against it . I would say a definite no to the baking . Very rapid drying increases checking . Paper bag with sawdust will give somewhat controlled slow drying , which is desirable . One rule of thumb sometimes used is 1 year /inch of diameter for natural air drying .

I would try a piece or two ripped green , recognizing that some warpage of the blanks will occur . Definitely need to be end sealed , ideally cross stacked with gaps to allow air movement , and bound together .

A most definite NO on the burning . End sealer is a wax based product . Probably thickness applied is the determinant as to which is best .
 
Fruit woods are known for splitting. About all you can do is wax the ends as you've already done.The larger diameter logs I would cut the pith out. Stack everything so air can get to it but stack it out of the weather preferably under some kind of cover. Being cut in spring means the bark is more lible to stay on if you decide to do some natural edge bowls. I have a great place you can stack some of it in my shed. :biggrin:
 
Fruitwoods, especially with the sap running in the spring will be splitty. it helps to split them down the pith so the radial cracking will not be as severe. It can (and likely will) still occur, but you are likely to have more solid wood and fewer cracks.

Plum can be spectacular and makes great bottle stoppers, bowls, boxes, etc if you can get it to dry.
 
Fruit woods can easily yeild a 70% loss due to cracking and warping. Cut whatever you want to be twice as big as you need! Get rid of any pith, sticker and stack it with lots of cinder blocks on top and seal the ends. It's going to crack, absolutely, but sealing the ends slows it down. If you cut the wood way extra thick and then run it through a planer, it will reduce surface cracking tremendously and allow for more even drying. Keep the wood high off the ground or concrete. Assuming it's just a few hundred pounds of wood, I find the attic in the shop is ideal for drying wood. Sticker stack it up there and you get nice warm temps and constant air flow, assuming your attic is built properly.
 
Get the bark off. When you sealed the end grain the moisture has really nowhere to go with the bark on.

I prefer to cut the 'blanks' then seal the endgrain.




Scott (get the pith out) B
 
I dried some plum and cherry in a dehydrator set on the lowest possible temp. Probably at around 100 degree. As yet, I haven't had any cracking. The wood had air dried for about 2 months first, though. I haven't tried any fresh off the tree.
Russ
 
I dried some plum last year that I cut about three years before that. I cut the usable parts and then dried them in my table top kiln.(A small charcoal grill with a 100 W bulb on a variable transformer with a thermometer in the top) After a couple of weeks watching the temp and keeping it below 150 I had some well dried blanks. some were somewhat circular and made fine segments, so you should cut many more than you are going to need. YMMV
Charles
 
I would seal the ends until that don't absorb anymore sealer, usually this is at least two applications of Anchor Seal. I really like Apricot and it certainly makes nice pieces. When I use green wood I have rough turned it and then put it in a bag with shavings and roll the top and set it aside. Some minor warping but it turned out with the final turning.
 
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