Drying time for cookies

BLJ · July 17, 2019, 05:46:50 PM

A friend of mine approached me recently about sawing some decorative cookies for his wedding. It's in October. Would I be better off to saw them the week before to limit cracking or saw them now and take a chance. I'm thinking the week before to limit the possibility of cracking but I'm looking for other opinions . Thanks

barbender · July 17, 2019, 06:43:07 PM

I've did a couple of those, I sawed them shortly before.

doc henderson · July 17, 2019, 07:19:36 PM

what kind of wood. rough sawn or sanded and finished? what diameter, for each table or head table to sign?

Stephen1 · July 17, 2019, 10:56:00 PM

I used to saw them 1-2 days before .Now with the IDRY kiln I saw thm by the hundreds and dry them in 4-5 days. I only loose about 10% to cracking. Now they can be sanded and finnished.

YellowHammer · July 17, 2019, 11:40:55 PM

I saw mine the week before and prefer to use relatively low crack prone wood.
Eastern red cedar, soft maple, pine, and box elder work great.

BLJ · July 19, 2019, 09:36:51 PM

Wood options would be red oak, EWP, hard maple, yellow poplar, wild black cherry, hickory, and possibly black walnut. I have no access to a kiln. They will probably be sanded some to knock the edges down. No signatures that I know of.

doc henderson · July 19, 2019, 09:46:32 PM

oak tends to split long term, walnut is better. larger diameters also have more stress due to the shrinkage. 12 inch walnut is good, soaking in alcohol decreases splits. but short term will be ok if you want to throw them out after. I soak mine, dry in a box, sand on a drum sander, and finish with Danish oil. I have about 50 stored.

doc henderson · July 19, 2019, 09:48:59 PM

some are using them for the head table for people to sign like a guest book. some are putting a cookie on each table with decorations like a mason jar with flowers and or led lights.

BLJ · July 20, 2019, 07:28:09 AM

Speaking briefly with the groom, I gt the impression that this will be a one time deal and thrown out afterward.

GeneWengert-WoodDoc · July 20, 2019, 10:06:59 PM

For our 50th anniversary, our daughter ordered disks from Walnut Hollow in Dodgeville, wi and they worked perfectly. This might be a painless way to handle this.

I did visit them and they were drying disks with over 97% success rate. They had a hot air kiln. Do not know how they did it so well.

Southside · July 20, 2019, 11:33:08 PM

375° for 16 minutes, butter the sheet, leaves a gooey center with melted chips and a crispy outside. You don't want them dry, much better this way. :D

doc henderson · July 21, 2019, 09:21:26 AM

@GeneWengert-WoodDoc I cannot believe you did not get the skinny on the entire schedule.

. good to know it can be done. how big were the discs.

GeneWengert-WoodDoc · July 21, 2019, 07:35:43 PM

The slightly oval disks we had were about 12" x 18". They were dry and sanded smooth with bark on.

WDH · July 22, 2019, 08:08:00 AM

I looked them up and noticed that they cut them thin.

TBrown99 · July 18, 2024, 07:49:28 AM

I had a large black cherry come down in this Winter and pictured below are the cookies from the based stump which I managed to slice up on the LT35 H.

Is there a tried and true way to dry these? I run a Nyle l-53 though these are still very green. I understand that with black cherry lumber it's important to remove all sap wood as it can cause degrade during drying but I'm not sure this applies with slices.

Pics,
NOTE FROM ADMIN. OFFSITE PHOTOS NOT ALLOWED. PHOTOS MUST BE IN YOUR FORUM GALLERY

Thanks.

Stephen1 · July 18, 2024, 08:32:47 AM

Tried and True, not really all sort of ideas and different methods that people try. I have an Idry and if I put the cookies in and soon as I saw them I can get 70-80% of them out without cracking.
I have some 40" pine cookies that cracked and I put in a pie piece of walnut , great contrast.

doc henderson · July 18, 2024, 08:46:15 AM

slow. at that size it may be impossible. also, these come from near the base of the tree, and have heart check. The heart check may help with a little give in the center, and you may see the crack close up some. if there is wild grain it makes it more prone. I have done the alcohol soak, and it helps, especially if done soon after cutting. the split that happens to cookies starts from the outside in the sap wood usually.

doc henderson · July 18, 2024, 08:53:36 AM

If you start to get a crack, or your experience is that they will crack, you can do a controlled cut outside to center. I would try to follow existing crack lines, and then fix as mentioned. you could take a pie wedge from a sacrificial cookie. If grain matters, you might get a pie piece from the next cookie like book matching for color and grain. I have a 2.5 inch thick 30-inch round cottonwood cookie in my dry storage (dehumidifier in a container) and I am afraid to take it out as it may still be drying/shrinking. It has been 2 years. the walnut cookies are still good after 5 years, no cracks or a few with a hint in the sapwood and this may have started before the denatured alcohol. I got mine at Menards, in 5-gallon pails. they were 30 bucks back 6 years ago. others at the time were 150. not sure of the price now. you will need a container and for large irregular cookies maybe a tarp so you cannot use too much alcohol. or you can add impermeable object to take up volume surrounding the wood.