drying Dogwood

[xlogger]

Got a guy that wants to bring over some live edge dogwood slabs,  he said they were crotch cuts. I've not seen any dogwood myself that was big enough to make slabs. But who knows. He said that they are around 20% MC. Anyone dried dogwood before? He only has a few 4 ft slabs, wonder if I can just put them in with some maple that I just put in the kiln and they were around 20% also.

Or better yet maybe I should just send him to Scott :D

[Southside]

If you do get them post a photo - I have never seen dogwood sawn.  

[Texas Ranger]

I have worked dogwood, beautiful stuff, but sensitive to mold and such, tell your client you are not responsible for color change.

[xlogger]

If he does bring them today wonder if I stand them up on a wall inside kiln. I hate to unload and re baffle the load again. If I do he going to pay extra. Also wonder what # on my Delmhorst should I use to test MC?

[K-Guy]

Putting the dogwood in with the maple is no problem. If it is below 20%, mold shouldn't be a problem. 

If it barks, I recommend smacking it on the nose. :laugh:

[xlogger]

as long as it doesn't bite ;D

[GeneWengert-WoodDoc]

There might be something funny here, as the largest dogwood trees are seldom over 18" in diameter. For example, the single largest in Texas is about 22" in diameter.  Further, the height of dogwood is around 30 feet which means the lower section is fairly knotty.  Tension wood will be abundant.  Flat drying will be tough.  Cracking is likely.  Make sure your customer knows you will do the best, but wood quality may result in poor results. Maybe you need a partial payment up front.

In terms of drying, use the persimmon schedule.  For color, treat it like hard maple, not soft maple.  But, with crotch wood we have unusual shrinkage.

As far as the moisture meter, the species correction at low MC is very small with a pin meter.  I would use hard maple.

[kelLOGg]

I air dried a dogwood black 6 x 6 x 30 (approx.) and splitting occurred fast. This one was cut about 1 to 2 years ago.