Tiny project from felled tree - questions!

[jlawford]

Having moved house and now got round to sorting out the garden, two fruit trees have had to come down - one pear and one plum.

I thought what the heck let's have a look inside, and chopped off a section of branch. And hour or so over a couple of evenings and I knocked up this attracts doorstop which is about the largest thing I could have made.

Looks lovely, but I expected it to split and it has done so slightly along one side. The sap wood is also shrinking slightly.

Like I said, I totally expected this to happen as I made no effort to dry out the wood, but I have two questions:

1) Could I have prevented the split if I coated with shellac immediately after finishing and sanding?
2) Any tips for drying out small billets of wood like this?
I'd quite like to use some of my wood on some small pieces for gifts, or maybe attempt to cut some small boards of out the thicker pear tree.
Thanks.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Paint the ends as soon as cut with candle wax, old paint, varnish, pva, pretty much anything that will stop them drying to quickly. Plum is notorious for splitting, so you'll be lucky with that. That your piece split after using indicates that it isn't dry, so no, you probably couldn't have stopped it.

 

[nev]

You can dry small pieces of wood in the microwave.
https://www.google.co.uk/#q=microwave+drying+wood

I used to dry pen blank sizes, 25x25x150mm, in an old microwave. Defrost setting only. Weigh the wood, nuke for 3 or 4 minutes, allow to cool. repeat. when it doesn't get any lighter - its dry enough to use.

 

[swb58]

There's probably no way of making that piece and it not splitting to some degree as its been made from what is essentially a whole length. Whatever the diameter of your branch or trunk, your best bet is to rip cut lengthwise, aiming to cut through the centre of the timber which relieve a large amount of the stress that will occur during drying. You'll have smaller bits of wood to work with but it will be more stable.
I keep meaning to take a photograph of a section of Ash which cut and kept to see what happens during drying. If your interested I'll try and do it.

 

[Bm101]

I just read 'The Man who made things out of trees'. It's the (true) story of a fella who fells an Ash tree and then gets other craftsmen to make as many different things as possible, from arrows to bowls to a toboggan.
Really it's a bit of a tribute to Ash and it's history with people since the dawn of time. I found it fascinating. But its also full of information about drying, felling, wood at a cellular level and so on. Granted you can pick up a dedicated book to find this out but he intertwines it sparely enough for the casual reader that it doesn't feel like you're sitting down to learn about it if you see what I mean. As he recounts meeting the craftsmen there's also a lot to pick up.
I always knew that you felled wood in the winter because the sap's down. I didn't realise in how many ways this also affects the quality of the timber available afterwards.
Granted there will be lots of people on here that have an encyclopedic knowledge of all things wood, but if you haven't you might enjoy it. And you might enjoy it even if you have.
Not meant as a thread hijack, just thought it was relevant.
http://robpenn.net/

Cheers
Chris

 

[jlawford]

Thanks Chris- I've bookmarked that link for when I have time to check it properly. Looks interesting and maybe the book will be for the Christmas list!
I just like the idea of making some stuff out of these bits of tree I now have in my garden waiting to be disposed of (in several trips of my car no doubt!). I figure that's a great way to learn about wood, and seeing a relatively unattractive lump of barky log, turn into beautiful grain as I hand planed to reveal heartwood, was actually quite special, only 30 minutes after I chopped it off the tree.

Thanks for the tips.

From what's been said, I figure the way to do it is chop into desired lengths, square the logs, seal the ends and store. My split is minor and I may be able to plane it out. Again, could use it as an experiment to see if it splits further.

 

[Claymore]

We have a large Chinese Windmill Palm tree and her indoors has decided its got to go, do you think i could use the wood from such a tree? its approx 12" diameter and 10ft tall but got badly damaged in the storms last year so looks a mess.

 

[DTR]

I just read 'The Man who made things out of trees'. It's the (true) story of a fella who fells an Ash tree and then gets other craftsmen to make as many different things as possible, from arrows to bowls to a toboggan.

Sounds interesting, thanks

 

[ED65]

1) Doubt it. I don't think the shellac would stick very well anyway.

2) Coat the end grain with melted wax and wait patiently for some months or longer is the safest way. If you're an experimental sort you can try force-drying the wood in the microwave but it's difficult to control and your other half won't thank you for the smell! This isn't just "God the microwave smells, what did you put in it?" at worst it's "We need to buy a new microwave!"

 

[jlawford]

We have a large Chinese Windmill Palm tree and her indoors has decided its got to go, do you think i could use the wood from such a tree? its approx 12" diameter and 10ft tall but got badly damaged in the storms last year so looks a mess.

Think I've got enough on my hands trying to squeeze my woodwork into a busy family. Perhaps someone else could benefit from the wood? Thanks.

 

[jlawford]

1) Doubt it. I don't think the shellac would stick very well anyway.

2) Coat the end grain with melted wax and wait patiently for some months or longer is the safest way. If you're an experimental sort you can try force-drying the wood in the microwave but it's difficult to control and your other half won't thank you for the smell! This isn't just "God the microwave smells, what did you put in it?" at worst it's "We need to buy a new microwave!"

Thanks! I'm going to do just that- chop, square, seal and store. Small wooden pieces might have to be Christmas presents next year.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

You are in the realms of green woodwork here, and there is much suitable reading matter, Mike Abbott's books being good.

The key is that wood shrinks as it dries, but not equally in all directions, maybe about 5% radially but 10% circumferentially. Hence the radial cracks. To make something stable, you usually don't use the log in the round, but split it into havles, quarters, etc* That allows the wood to shrink without cracking (although all your turnery still ends up oval). Most woods will split if left to dry in the round. Plum and pear especially distort an awful lot in drying, so you have done well if you escape with only a small crack.

* The sad thing about this is that you often end up losing a lot of the more attractive heartwood from smaller pieces.