cypress knees

[knotthead britt]

i have run out of fat lighter and found plenty of cypress knees.i just dont know how to get them ready to carve.i found information on here about how to peel them.do i have to seal the cut with wax to dry them,do you boil them before or after you dry them and how long do you have to dry them for.are they bad about cracking

[Thomp]

britt,

in the past I have harvested the knees, brought them home and boiled them 30-60 minuets, in a 5 gallon can, or a 55 gallon drum, the bark peels right off, peel them hot, if the bark aint peeling good toss it back in the drum,

i been told you can place them in a drum of water weight them down and leave them 6 weels, and the bark will seporate easier but my experiance is that it stinks and raises misqueto larvi. also stains the knees dark to black,

if your carving santas, boil peel and coat the raw cut end with wax oh latex house paint, dry them off the floor or ground.

keep the center from drying first

[Doug Ridley]

Boil them in water . Weight them down . If they are dry it will probably take about 4 hours, if fresh cut, less time. Peel them immediately after you remove from hot water. Do NOT seal the ends, it is not necessary and will slow down the drying time. They should be lain on their side to dry and will dry in a few days. I have done hundreds and have never had one crack.
By the way, what is fat lighter?

[Paul_Guraedy]

Doug, I too have used your method of peeling and drying cypress knees. But, I have had some crack after a few years inside a dry house. Not many, but some.

I am curious about a woodcarver and fat lighter. Certain pine tree stumps contain a wood that is saturated with pitch. That wood lights real easy and is used to start the kindling for a fire. Never would have thought of carving one.

[Doug Ridley]

Paul, I'm not saying they can't crack, just that I've done hundreds and never had them crack. The very next one may split on me. I really don't think it is necessary to seal the ends as all I'm really saying is that cracking is not a problem.

I will soon be 75 years old and never heard of a fat lighter. Just proves the old adage, "You're never too old to learn".

[Paul_Guraedy]

Doug, I have been thinking about the cracking knees since I sent the post. The ones that have cracked have actually been slabs (pieces cut from cypress knees and used as bases). They are also in a house heated by wood stoves. Don't know what the humidity drops to; but, it causes us to use skin cream like we did in the desert. Then, in summer, the humidity goes back up. It's a wonder that we don't have cracks in every piece of wood in the place.

I have coated the ends of other woods; but, like you, have never coated the ends of cypress knees. I laid them on their side and used them the next year. They are so porus that they dry very fast.

[Thomp]

Doug, i was raised in Colorado, by alabama country folk, i been in Louisiana 34 years i never heard of fat pine till my baby sister in law got married to one deep southern Cajuns, he ran around adding the fat lighter to conversations, we all knew he was nuts, but lighting your wood stove with weight challenged trees, seamed extreme in eccentricy to us.as we told him as often as he brought it up.. (guess you had to be there)
heck we used rich pine or pine knots as my wives family called them,

pine knots are from dead standing pine trees, the limbs and core concentrate the rosin resin, they use to bleed the longleaf pine in this area for thr pitch, the woods use to be full of stumps that looked like washboards, sapline was cut a long lip was carved downard angle to where a peg and a can/ bucket hung on, peg was drove in a hole like maple tree sap tapping.

but being my elder, me telling you this is certainty preaching to the choir

but im so full of useless information i just have to tell somebody....

[knotthead britt]

if you would like to see what fat looks like,all of my pics in the gallery is from fat.when i first start with them they are bright yellow,then the wood turns orange to dark red.the wood smells just like turpentine.all of mine are from pine knots but the indain with the big feather is from a pine stump

[knotthead britt]

thomp your info isn't useless.always looking for info.thank you all for the help,info and coments