sweetgum slabs

[xlogger]

Has anyone had any luck with sweetgum slabs? I know where I can get a crotch log about 4 ft wide to slab if I think any would lay flat. (hoping to make the deal with Jake on getting a slabber by the end of Jan if shipping does not break me).
This guy also has some 3 ft wide red oak pieces that are anywhere between 2 to 4 ft high. I was thinking about trying one to make 2-3" small table tops. Think they would crack? The wood is cheap to free just my time with it.

[pineywoods]

Unless it's quartersawn, sweetgum gonna warp and twist due to the spiral grain. It may or may not split and crack. I gave some 2 inch thick slabs to a woodworker friend, we'll see how it works out. Spalting seems to help stabilize sweetgum..

[Magicman]

I like that; the more rotten Sweetgum is the better.   

[WDH]

Slab sweetgum?

Ricky, you are a brave man  :D. 

[Den Socling]

Let me show you a couple interesting pictures. These flitches were from a Mulberry yard tree. The first picture is of a nightmare.


 

I had never seen warp that bad. Second load same wood I added a bag on top of the kiln charge. When you pull vacuum, the bag expands and presses the wood flat.


 

Quite a difference!

[Joey Grimes]

I had similar experience in the past with warp and twisting with sweetgum but I recently cut some 2.25 thick live edge slabs and I've had good luck they are drying flat and no twist the only difference is these were mostly heartwood only about 1 inch of sapwood on a 20 inch log that may be the difference 

 

[YellowHammer]

Those are nice. 

[Den Socling]

They look good, Joey. About what is the moisture content?

[GeneWengert-WoodDoc]

Decades ago, sweetgum was almost always steamed before any drying occurred to supposedly help remove the stresses that caused the warp.  Such steaming also moderated the color differences...made the dark color more uniform.

[WDH]

I believe two things make sweetgum more manageable.  Larger diameter logs with mosty heartwood and older logs (as in age in years).  Since they both go hand in hand, they are probably the same thing.  Small, young sweetgum logs are delinquents. 

[Den Socling]

It would be a real shame to steam wood like Joey's. All of those different colors are beautiful.

[Ljohnsaw]

Let me show you a couple interesting pictures. These flitches were from a Mulberry yard tree. The first picture is of a nightmare.


 

I had never seen warp that bad. Second load same wood I added a bag on top of the kiln charge. When you pull vacuum, the bag expands and presses the wood flat.


 

Quite a difference!

Den, Help me out with your pictures.  I don't have a kiln and I know that yours is a totally different animal then the standard kiln.  In your second picture, it looks like plain plywood sheets being used as "stickers".  The first picture look like plywood again but with a series of large holes drilled through them.

Seems (to me) that the solid ply would slow down the drying (I know, you are vacuum/dehumidifying) quite a bit due to lack of air flow.  Also, in the first picture, what the heck is up with the near ends of the plywood?  Looks like some pipe fittings?

[Den Socling]

There is essentially no air in the chamber while the wood is drying. Aluminum plates go on top of each 1, 2 or 3 layers of wood. The extrusion is hollow and warm water is circulated through it.


 

You lay down the plates as you build the kiln charge.


 

You winch the load into the chamber and then hook up heating water hoses.


 

Then you close the door, push a couple buttons and walk away. Then in 5 or 10 days, depending on thickness and species, you winch the dry wood out and unload.

[thecfarm]

That's quite the drier!!!

[Ljohnsaw]

OK, now I understand the process and the product cost.  Pretty cool idea.

[Den Socling]

Yes, they are expensive to build but they can do things that many people would consider just plain unbelievable fantasy!

[Den Socling]

Peruse this one, John. Another one I'm very proud of and it again shows that our kilns can dry wood that can't be dried any other way. If you Google Amboyna burl, you find it advertised as "stabilized" and they never claim that it is dry.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,14752.0.html

[Magicman]

Thank you Den for the link to a very nice read.  Well done and beautiful work. 

[Den Socling]

Thank you Magicman. That means a lot to me from you. And it's hard to believe that was 11 years ago!

[scsmith42]

That was a great thread and read Den!  Thanks for sharing.

One of these days....

[Joey Grimes]

The slabs in the pic were around 25-30 % mc think I had a total of 14-16 most of them went in kiln this week about 3 showed some twist but nothing serious I'm in the process of building a tortion box so I can true the twisted slabs up in the plainer 

[Den Socling]

I say again that they are beautiful. I wish I could get some freshly cut but it does grow up here.

[Joey Grimes]

The slabs in pic are now about 25-30% mc out of about 15 slabs 3 have some twist but nothing severe 

[xlogger]

Joey, looks like you are air drying the slabs in a shed. Is that right? Do you have any air blowing on them or trying to dry them slow?

[WDH]

You can put them back on the mill and skim off a flat face, then run them through the planer with the flat face on the bed of the planer to remove that twist.  They will plane a little thinner.