Drying wood rounds

[JasonCNY]

Hello out there. I'm very new to the art of wood carving and can't justify paying the prices wanted at my local hobby store for wood rounds just to practice and hone my skills. I've tried several times to dry my own wood rounds but have had all of them split in half on me. None of it went to waste of course, but any help on how I can remedy my problem will be greatly appreciated.

[AlArchie]

Jason, I almost wonder if those rounds from suppliers are not treated with PEG or the likes to stop the cracking. I've tried several and they all crack. Tried getting them cut in the fall and winter and that didn't seem to stop it either.

Maybe there is a trick out there and if there is, I'd like to find it, too!

Al

[Claude]

PEG would stop the cracking. Here's a reference for you: http://owic.oregonstate.edu/pubs/peg.pdf

PEG is fairly expensive, so one way to not have to buy so much is to put the wood to be preserved in the bottom of a plastic bag, then pour in some PEG - maybe a pint or so. Seal the top of the bag with as little air as possible in it, then place the sealed bag in a bucket of water. The bucket of water will cause the PEG to surround the wood without having to use a lot of it.

Claude

[JasonCNY]

Thank you so much. Very informative and I'll definately give it a try. I live in a very wooded area so if I can make my own rounds then the cost of the PEG would be well worth it.

[Robson Valley]

Jason: Some woods dry better than others. Expect 1" of thickness per year. So a 4|| round might be ready (MC = 12-15%) in 3 years, just to be on the safe side. The guy down my street builds diamond willow furniture. He cuts the wood in spring, strips & pulls all the easy bark and it went into the 2014é2015 shed. Crazy, huhÉÉ

[Bill102M]

I would also be very interested in hearing any other methods for drying wood, and avoiding checking. I carve large subjects, 3' to 8' tall and up to 26" in diameter. I have encountered many problems with checking. I find a huge difference in the types of woods, and how they are drying. I have tried drying basswood, butternut, white ash, white cedar, and poplar. I find the best results, that is , almost no checking is with poplar. The worst results with air drying logs is from basswood and butternut. I have hear about a number of methods to reduce checking. Such as sealing the ends with end grain sealer, soaking the logs with PEG which is very expensive( and in my experience not worth the result). I now have learned to live with a few small checks. It is still very dissabpointing to work on a piece for months and walk into my carving room and find the piece cracked up the middle. I now resort to making up my own carving blocks by laminating kiln dried stock. Quite expensive, and labour intensive, but you don't risk losing a piece after months of work. Any new ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Bill

[Ripton]

I've heard that painting/tarring the end cut after peeling the bark, will avoid the checks.

[Bill102M]

Yup! Your quite correct. Sealing up the ends of the logs does reduce the amount of end checking that occurs. I have purchased end sealer, a wax based product, and quite expensive. I have found that any good exterior grade latex paint also works just as well. I have also found that once the log is debarked. I try and get as much of the sapwood carved down as quickly as possible. This also reduces the amount of checking. In the end I think we are working with a natural product and checking is just a natural result of shrinkage when drying. I was once told that if you soak a log in glycol it will never check! A friend of mine took a 28" basswood log it was 4' high. He put it in a barrel and soaked it for 3 months in glycol. I was given the log after this treatment. It check very badly over the next six months. I think this is one of those impossible to solve situations. At least with drying whole logs.

[Robson Valley]

The diamond willow furniture guy down my street had several observations:
a) the 1"/year drying time estimate is pretty good.
b) expect to lose 2 - 6" off the ends from checking, with or without paint/wax (so he does nothing).
c) after bark stripping (Spring cutting), the next 6 weeks are critical = really hot and dry and major checking & splits over the next couple of years = fairly expensive firewood. He's all excited right now as it has been cold, and daily rain for more than 6 weeks. Yesterday's haul of walking stick/cane blanks (70), the bark strips like it did in Spring.
= = =
I got a 6" x 24" bit of willow from a tree-trimming across the street. Guessing that it would eventually split badly, I used a Skilsaw to cut a wedge out of what I decided was the "ugly" side, right to the core of the log (totem pole carving trick). It's been a year in my basement workshop wood pile, still looks just fine!

[davidinsarasota]

What is a "wood round"?