Drying freshly cut walnut and woodworm help

[Treeeeee]

So for the meantime what should I do in terms on insect damage?

Nothing?

Cheers for the advice

I've heard of people treating freshly felled Holly with disinfectant to guard against blue staining, but I've never heard of anyone trying to protect wet boards against worm. When looking at Walnut boards in timber yards I occasionally see some worm holes in the sap, but it's not all that many. Personally I'd make sure there's no rotting timber in the immediate vicinity where your board is stored, after that I'd just take a punt and hope for the best.

Good luck!

Thanks so much for your advice Gary! I've got a couple of photos to send you actually!

Thanks

 

[Treeeeee]

When the wood is freshly felled it has tannins in it. The natural tannins protect it from wood boring insects.

There is less tannins in the sapwood, and the sapwood is softer. There is more tannins in the heartwood and it is harder.

The insects come when the wood is wet for prolonged periods and the tannins washes out of the wood but this is usually a long process. Ergo, drying freshly cut timber is usually safe and if it is going to get eaten the wood is either old / dead and rotting already , or the insect damage will be to just the sap area.

I would keep the wood under cover and do nothing or if your in a rush to use it kiln dry

Thank you so much for explaining that. Very helpful for me. I'll just leave it to sit then.

Cheers

 

[hanser]

Hi
I had some walnut rings planked up by Mike Cawthorne at MacTimber about 3 years back. Cut to circa 35mm they took around 2 years to dry in a shed. No infestation. I don't think your moisture meter will be much use - the surface will be 'dry' long before the innards. Your best bet is to use the weight of the piece to monitor the reduction in moisture content - a set of bathroom scales should do. My guess is that from 'green' to 'dry' you would expect a weight loss of around 50%. The bark will want to fall off when the piece is dry. The contrast of the sap wood to heart wood is attractive and the sap wood is quite a dense wood in its own right.

 

[hanser]

And here is a photo of a platter I made with one on the pieces of walnut. Sure was difficult to plane down that crutch. It's had a paraffin wax food finish hence the slightly dark finish. (To get an idea of scale -roughly 16" long)

 

[Beau]

I have some walnut boards in a shed. First thing I did was spray them with some Baratine clear wood preserver. Worm loves the sap on walnut and is pretty happy with the heartwood as well. Getting it air dry is no guarantee against worm either.

 

[Treeeeee]

Hi
I had some walnut rings planked up by Mike Cawthorne at MacTimber about 3 years back. Cut to circa 35mm they took around 2 years to dry in a shed. No infestation. I don't think your moisture meter will be much use - the surface will be 'dry' long before the innards. Your best bet is to use the weight of the piece to monitor the reduction in moisture content - a set of bathroom scales should do. My guess is that from 'green' to 'dry' you would expect a weight loss of around 50%. The bark will want to fall off when the piece is dry. The contrast of the sap wood to heart wood is attractive and the sap wood is quite a dense wood in its own right.

Thanks so much for your advice! I'll weigh the piece asap.

Thats a gorgeous piece too!
Thanks

 

[Treeeeee]

I have some walnut boards in a shed. First thing I did was spray them with some Baratine clear wood preserver. Worm loves the sap on walnut and is pretty happy with the heartwood as well. Getting it air dry is no guarantee against worm either.

Funnily enough the guy I bought it off said the same. Worms love walnut be sure to spray it asap.

Thanks for your help

 

[Treeeeee]

I've taken a couple more photos today of what looks like a decaying knot?




Had a bit of soil/ a few critters in there but all cleaned out now.

This isn't a further reason to treat the wood or am being paranoid.

Thanks a lot

 

[Treeeeee]

I've also just found that this was the tree's base.



Will this make a difference?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Treeeeee]

Any recommendations for Vacuum kilns in the Uk?

Thanks

 

[Ttrees]

It might be worth mentioning, that I don't see any rotting that indicates the inclusion of sapwood.
This could be a fungus that decayed the tree ...a fungal partnership as its known,
judging from what I saw on David Attenborough's life on land series, the secret life of plants.
It might not be the common furniture beetle aka Anobium punctatum, but the three other species to watch out for ...
The house longhorn, Hylotrupes bajulus ...the wood boring weevil and the death watch beetle ..haven't memorised the latin for these yet .
Have not needed to as they don't reside near me ..at least, I don't think so .

Very keen on seeking more knowledge on this kind of scenario ...
The toxic reclaimed African woods that I work with, are proving to be toxic to me too, so I need to pursue this route down the road.
Excited to read more on this ...
Cool to keep a piccy of the tree stump and know where it was ..

Could there be any point of hoking around in that area where the stump was, for dead wood and spotting some critters?