New Guy, Wood

[Fizz]

The wood that I have been using keeps checking. I've tried different methods of preparing my blanks.

The first method I tried was cutting a fresh limb off a hedge that had grown to be quite thick. I cut the limb about 12 inches long and then stripped it of the bark. I set the blank on a vent with a soft flow of heat to dry the wood. I woke up the next morning and wow, this wood was completely split everywhere.

The next method I tried was letting my wood dry out in my closet for 2 weeks before stripping the bark. This piece was also 3 inches in diameter, and 12 inches long. I finally stripped the bark off of it last night, looked amazing and I was very happy to have some progress going before calling it a night... Well, I woke up this morning, and had a split from one end to the other right in the middle, and then some more all around the wood, making it useless Someone said the hedge I have been cutting from is a privet hedge.

Is my problem the wood? What am I doing wrong? I really like this wood, and there is a lot of it easily available on my property, so I would like to keep using it if I could.

-Fizz

[Dicky]

I think your problem is peeling the wood too soon. I usually seal the ends of my sticks and leave them for about a year - thats green wood. The rule of thumb for drying is 1 year per inch of diameter. However there are several threads here on drying wood in the microwave and it does work. Go up into the search area and enter microwave drying or some variant. Good luck.

[Fizz]

Microwave... a fantastic idea!

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Welcome to the forum.

Dave

[Mitchell]

You need to seal the ends. Glue, wax or similar will work. Those are still not a quarantee.

Cutting green wood is not the best option.

[Riverman]

Hi Fizz, welcome to the group!
Bob

[Fizz]

Thanks guys. So, I was at the store here in town and I asked one of the gentlemen behind the counter if he had any scrap wood that he didn't need, and he directed me to a bucket full of scrap pieces. I dug through some scraps that were no good, but to my luck, I managed to dig out a pretty decent 4x4, and thought that this would be better than the wood I was using previously. I've been working on my first project and hope it goes well. I guess I've got to learn as I go and one thing I did learn is that carving on the floor causes carpet burn on the arms. I will post up pics of work as the project progresses.

-Fizz

[Old Codger]

Welcome aboard Fizz!
Kenn

[kev.b]

welcome fizz i've been told that PVA glue is good for sealing wood as well