My father brought home a pretty good sized "cookie" from a white pine I cut a couple weeks ago. Its a pretty unique piece and it would be nice to make a table top out of it. We both have tried drying pieces like this before but they always crack badly. I'm wondering what sort of methods folks here have used and/or can recommend to get this piece dried without serious cracking.
Dimensions as it sits now are 44" diameter and roughly 6-8" thick.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/23720/IMG_20150202_121547717.jpg)
I've never tried drying one, but I think I've read about using anchorseal or something like it to retard the drying.
Quote from: 1270d on February 02, 2015, 09:31:17 PM
We both have tried drying pieces like this before but they always crack badly.
I believe that is an absolute law, they all crack. You can soak them in PEG and that stuff is supposed to replace the water in the cells and stop the shrinking and cracking, but eventually they all shrink and crack.
Some people cut them into pie shaped pieces, dry them and then recut them with straight edges after they dry and glue them back together.
I would try Pentacryl.
Thanks for the replies guys. Now I need to find out what PEG and pentacryl are.
Also considered glueing and screwing plywood to both sides and letting it sit to dry. Think that might work?
I don't think so. The stresses are still there.
The stresses are there and it will crack but my next door neighbor does saw carvings. Some are huge. Pentacryl helps.
Thanks for the info on pentacryl. I checked out their website and used the calculator to determine how much product is needed. Looks like I'll need about 10 gallons for 2 cookies. 480$ quite a bit more cost than was expected.
It will crack, no doubt about that. I use "cookies" a lot in my furniture business. I like to let them dry in in a cool area, like a basement. I try to avoid large temperature swings. This seems to cause one large cracks instead of a bunch of them coming from all directions. I don't work with pieces that large, but have used several in the 24" range. Anchor seal will help but it sucks to get that stuff off when you want to work with the wood. If you use anchor seal, be sure to put it on both sides. I've had customers bring me pieces that had it on one side and the piece developes a crown.
Geoff
I have never bought any Pentacryl. That is expensive but the cookies might be considered to be worth thousands.
I have read the sales claims for pentacryl. If you do use it, please let us know how it worked.
Note that PEG treated wood will never shrink.
I'm thinking that shape of a cookie might stand a fair chance of drying with just minor cracking.
You guys have funny looking Pine up there. :D
We have some that are just plain old round as well. :D