What do I do with green wood

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J

Jwardle81

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Joined
Nov 4, 2012
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7
Location
Ohio
Hello,

Total novice here. Due to wonderful hurricane Sandy, we had some nice size limbs that I needed to cut up and do away with. Soooo I figured might as well turn them into pen blanks. Can anyone tell me what I need to do? I've read some people say paint the ends of the logs and let them dry for 6 months, others say put them in the microwave to dry them out. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you,


Jimmy
 
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I would say the quickest way is to cut them into pen blank sizes (I would probably oversize ie 1x1x6) and drop them in DNA - leave them for 24-48 hours take them out and put them in a brown paper bag with top slightly open and let them dry out for 5-7 days! Check the moisture content (I usually turn if under 12%) and turn a pen.
The DNA displaces the water in the wood and then evaporates faster than water when you take it out. Put it in the paper bag to try to slow down the evaporation.
 
jzerger said:
Is moisture content measured by weight (before/after)?
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I picked up a moisture meter ( I think for under $20 at Woodcraft a couple of years ago) and use that.
Weight would only help if weighed every day until the wood was stable in weight for two or more days.
 
Keith,

Thank you! What is DNA? Denatured Alcohol? I will definatley pick up a moisture meter from wood craft.
 
Jwardle81 said:
Keith,

Thank you! What is DNA? Denatured Alcohol? I will definatley pick up a moisture meter from wood craft.
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Yes - I get it by the gallon at Home depot or lowes - woodcraft probably has it but they are kind of pricey. I learned the DNA technique from some bowl turners- works great! One gallon lasts a long time. I use a two pound plastic Folgers coffee can. Put the wood in, put the lid on. Leave the lid on to keep from evaporating. The DNA can be used over and over and over and over. It gets kind of dark looking but doesn't seem to effect other woods even lighter ones - UNLESS you soak black walnut! I keep a separate container for that - it does stain other woods!
 
Thanks Keith!

I'm going to steal that advice as well! I bought some nice looking blanks off EBay and neglected to read the "green" part of the description.
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If your not in a hurry put them in a paper sack and set it in a closit or corner out of the sun for a few weeks. The smaller the blanks the faster they will dry. I also have cut them up in blanks and wrapped them up in a newspaper or paper towel and that worked great. The main thing is they have to dry evenly or they will crack.
 
What I've found works well is cutting the wood to pen blank size and drying them in a food dehydrater. I can dry about 30 to 40 blanks in 2-5 days depending on the wood and original moisture content. I got the dehydrater at a yard sale for $5.00, but they have them at WalMart for about $30.
 
Do they twist or check if they are in a dehydrator?

Bet you are able to find some good wood that was blown down.
 
If the wood is from limbs rather than the main trunk then it will most likely warp and or twist during drying (regardless of drying method, it's just physics). Limb wood is also known as reactive wood. The grain structure on limbs is such that the grain on the top of the branch is tighter than the bottom of the branch, this is what keeps the limb from falling down. Once the opposing forces of gravity and continuous tree growth are removed (cutting and drying) warping and twisting can ensue. Due to this fact, limb wood is usually discarded by mills and such. It can make for some interesting blanks for small turning like pen, and small bowl, etc.

Once limb wood is dried it can be considered stable enough to use for small turnings. I wouldn't use limb wood for shop jigs or furniture building (where stability is important) but for small decorations, it does great and have some interesting figure.

Cut the blanks oversize 1" x 1" x 6" or more to account for warp and twist. Once dry, they can either be trimmed again to square or just drill it the best you can, square the tubes and go to town. Root wood and crotch wood can have the same issues as well.
 
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Drying Wood

Haynie said:
Do they twist or check if they are in a dehydrator?

Bet you are able to find some good wood that was blown down.
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I haven't had an issue with any cracking. On some wood I have had some slight to moderate warping, but not to the point that it is unusable. On most wood I have no issue at all.
 
Depends on what kind of wood it is.

I can take a fresh cut piece of Mesquite and turn it without having to worry about twisting/warping/checking.

Take a chunk of green wood and turn a bowl out of it. Green wood is really nice to turn, but can be wet. Stick it in a brown paperbag and open it for x-mas to see what type of twisting/warping you get....
 
el_d said:
I can take a fresh cut piece of Mesquite and turn it without having to worry about twisting/warping/checking.
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And here I though mesquite was a mineral of some sort:biggrin:

I've never tried mesquite. (Other than chips in the BBQ to bring up the smoke!)
 
Ok so today I was at woodcraft, looking for a moisture meter. Through general conversation with the salesman, I told him I needed the meter for when I dry pen blanks. He gave me a weird look and asked why I wouldn't just turn them green. He said if I turn the blanks green, and finish them I should have no problem.....thoughts anyone?
 
I thought the same. I turned some flame box elder and black walnut that had been cut for probably 6 months - stacked as logs on my patio. Turned into pens and within two days - cracks! To me why take the chance - a few days to dry and good to go!
 
I use a dehydrator all the time as I am often cutting up logs. I slice short lengths into 1" thick mini slabs (around 6" long) and seal the end grain with parafin wax if the timber is very vulnerable to cracking. I then dry for 40 hours in dehydrator at relatively low temperature, then take out and cut into 1" widths, then dry again in dehydrator for another 12-40 hours (softwood to hardwood respectively). Check if dry and if not, dry some more, otherwise sand blanks to 7/8" SQ x5.5" long on disc sander.

Works for me with minimal losses due to cracks. Yes some softwoods collapse, another reason for cutting them oversized to start with. For example Umbrella tree, a noxious weed over here, often collapses by 50%.

Cheers
 
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This is interesting. I was going to post basically the same question. I just ordered a bunch of "green" wood spindle blanks to cut into pen blanks. I never considered a food dehydrator. I've never used one before, what kind of settings do they have? What do you set it on? Someone said "relatively low heat", what would that mean (around 150degF?)?
 
My unit is an Airite 6 tray rectangular unit off Ebay, plenty drawer room for large blanks, you can vary the temperature and timer. Basically I use 145 F for the majority of my blanks, 135/120 F for those cranky woods prone to cracking.
 
nativewooder said:
Using a moisture meter on pen blanks would be like building a solar kiln to dry pen blanks! Nice to have but totally unneeded!:rolleyes:
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Agree not NEEDED but rather than lose a good blank by turning too early it is a nice safety check! I have made enough mistakes and lost enough blanks that a little safety net is worth it to me!
 
Not to get off topic, but, I have used the bag method and learned a little interesting trick if you like spalted woods.

Take your green lumber and put it in a plastic garbage bag, dont bother closing it up tight, it needs to be able to breathe some. Find some scrap pieces of wood or short blanks that have spalt, or even sawdust from wood that had spalt and toss in the garbage bag. Put that bag in a closed up paper grocery bag. Let it sit for 2-3 months or more depending on size, then check it.

Almost every time I get lumber pieces that are covered in fungus. I peel or scrape off exterior surface fungus and voila. My green wood is now spalted and somewhat dried depending on size. Wood must remain above 20% moisture content to continue spalting. Also it needs to remain between 70-88 degree's Fahrenheit.

Usually I split the wood on my bandsaw to see just how much spalt I have and how dry the wood is. If I like what I have, I use it. If not I soak the wood for 30 minutes, put the split edges together and tape it back up and place back in the plastic bag inside the paper bag and let sit another month or two. This usually finishes the job.

The plastic bag holds moisture, providing the environment the fungus that creates spalt needs. The paper bag blocks light, which the fungus also enjoys and the paper bag holds moisture inside to a degree, alowing for slow drying which prevents warp and checking or cracks.

The point of the shavings or pieces of wood with spalt is to introduce the fungal spores to the moisture laden, dark environment you created, causing them to grow and multiply.

Wear a mask when turning spalted woods. Your working with wood that has a large quantity of mold in it and it has been shown that some molds can cause allergic reactions in some people.

Spalting wood is kind of like making wood or cheese, it requires patience, technique and a little knowledge, but the results are awesome.

Just so ya know, the black lines formed in wood by spalt are toxic barriers created by individual fungus colonies. Kind of like a wall, that keeps out other colonies. It provides us with some very beautiful wood to work with. Just another example of some of the wonders nature provides.
 
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