Green wood stabiliser help please

[supernube]

Hello all. I have just joined the forum in the hope that I might find some help with regards to finding a stabiliser for fresh cut wood - to stop it from cracking / shrinking.
I have heard of Pentacryl etc but they are far too expensive for the projects I have in mind...plus it doesnt seem to easy to find in the UK.
I basically want to cut some wood slices for wedding cake bases etc and for many other small projects involving wood slices.
I have plans on using a poly resin / epoxy resin finish on some things but dont think sealing the slices in that will stop them from shrinking ...
I appreciate this is probably not quite the best place to ask about this sort of project but I really do need some advice please....is there another way of doing the same job without it costing so much ?
Anyway ...thank you..and any advice will be very much appreciated.
Daniel

 

[Sheffield Tony]

When you say slices, do you mean cross grain slices, like thin rounds cut from a log ? If so, you are unlikely to stop it splitting. Water loss is very quick from a short length of wood because of the orientation of the vessels which are meant to transport water along the trunk. The resulting shrinkage is higher circumferentially than radially, so radial cracks open.

It's pretty much inevitable, which is why you rarely see things made from thin cross grain slices of wood.

 

[Jacob]

You can soak small pieces of green wood in PEG (turning blanks etc). It works but is pricey.

 

[supernube]

Ok...not sounding too good. How do people do it then ...I see things made ...including the slices used at weddings ...like rustic cake bases...in fact LOTS of things ...different things not just the slices...but all sorts of things ...how do they make things without the wood splitting / cracking....
Im a hand cutter for various forestry contractors in my area so I have access to as much wood as I want....but all fresh ...I didnt want to start buying seasoned pieces to do the things I want.
Its funny..Ive spent years cutting down trees...but apparently know nothing about wood :-(
Thank you for all your advice

 

[ColeyS1]

I posted a very similar query a while back- found the same things as you regarding difficulty in sourcing stuff and as Jacob mentions, expense !
My query was mainly for smaller bits (around 6-8 inchs) I've still got a massive pile I'd like to slice up, just couldn't find an easy way to do it. I did cut up a load of really small bits (1-2 inch diameter)got fed up of nuking them in the microwave, so just stuck em on top of a radiator. The majority of those smaller bits behaved.
I don't think I've got the patience to try and nurture big slices so they don't split :lol:
Coley

 

[ED65]

How do people do it then ...I see things made ...including the slices used at weddings ...like rustic cake bases...in fact LOTS of things ...different things not just the slices...but all sorts of things ...how do they make things without the wood splitting / cracking....

They're probably produced by people who are willing to pay for the PEG or whatever they use to stabilise the green slices. Buying it in larger volumes would help reduce the unit cost obvs.

They may still have a failure rate of 10-30% maybe but it's obviously a viable business model for some, which could be mainly due to the raw material being essentially free to them.

 

[ED65]

My query was mainly for smaller bits (around 6-8 inchs) I've still got a massive pile I'd like to slice up, just couldn't find an easy way to do it.

Just in case it's needed, worth noting that PEG and a few other things only work when soaking the wood from green. From what I've read the effectiveness goes down proportionally with how dry the wood has become.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Ok...not sounding too good. How do people do it then ...I see things made ...including the slices used at weddings ...like rustic cake bases...in fact LOTS of things ...different things not just the slices...but all sorts of things ...how do they make things without the wood splitting / cracking....
Im a hand cutter for various forestry contractors in my area so I have access to as much wood as I want....but all fresh ...I didnt want to start buying seasoned pieces to do the things I want.
Its funny..Ive spent years cutting down trees...but apparently know nothing about wood :-(

I can't think I've seen that many. Then, I don't go to many rustic weddings ! Periodically people ask on here how to make a table / stool top from a crossgrain slice; I can't say I've seen many successful attempts. Diagonal slices for house names/numbers is about the most common thing that comes to mind.

If you're used to cutting down wood, you must have noticed that radial splits start appearing in the ends of a freshly cut log within hours. If it is sliced thinly whilst green, it is all ends !

Perhaps if you slowly dry a longer log (will take ages), the middle bits might be OK to slice up when fairly dry. Maybe ?