Home made wood stabilizer for Green cut wood

[lewisclan]

 Hi,
I currently have a bunch of Ash cookies 4-8" thick   40"-60" dia just cut last week. Theses are sacked atop of each-other  & bar clamped to steel welding tables and covered with a old piece of carpet to help slow down the drying/shrinking.
I am looking for a cheep stabilizer that I could soak these into to keep the cracking down, I have so many I can only soak 1-2 at a time and have several awesome pieces.
I read here about the 1:6 dish soap/ water did any of you try it?
Any suggestions would be great.
Thanks in advance.
Jay

[Jeff]

As I replies to the same question in the other topic you posted in. You will not dry them without a crack. Any information to the contrary is just setting you up for eventual disappointment.   The best you can do is determine where you want your crack to be, and plan on that. I've said this before, if you can figure out how to fry a slice of bologna lunch meat without it cupping, then you might figure out how to dry a cookie without it cracking. By analogy, the same type of process is taking place as the drying/frying occurs.

[lewisclan]

I would agree its going to crack, and that some cracking will just add to its character.  I was just wondering if any of you had a curing process you wanted to share, or a inexpensive stabilizer solution that slowed the processing down

[woodmills1]

canadian bacon also cups

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

I have sawn a lot of cookies for different projects. My way is probably the best, for me anyway.

When I saw them.....I saw a BUNCH. I stack and sticker them in my Dad's cool basement. I like to saw them at the beginning of the fall season when the high humidity goes away. This will slow down the drying some.

When they are dried in about 1-2  years, I weed out the bad ones for firewood and use the rest for projects.

I really like the smaller cracking, it adds to the beauty.

[lewisclan]

I have sawn a lot of cookies for different projects. My way is probably the best, for me anyway.

When I saw them.....I saw a BUNCH. I stack and sticker them in my Dad's cool basement. I like to saw them at the beginning of the fall season when the high humidity goes away. This will slow down the drying some.

When they are dried in about 1-2  years, I weed out the bad ones for firewood and use the rest for projects.

I really like the smaller cracking, it adds to the beauty.

I also have a bunch of them, but I have them stacked on top of each other not on stickers. They are outside but covered with a piece of carpet, I live in the Southern Ca. Desert. Hot & dry. I have them bar clamped down to keep them from warping in the curing process. I know some will be fire wood and some will make it. What do you think about having them face to face ?

[lewisclan]

canadian bacon also cups

I have No idea what this means please enlighten me
Thanks for your support

[Jeff]

It is a response to my post about frying baloney.  ;)

[beenthere]

lewisclan
Welcome to the Forestry Forum.

How about some pics of your stacks of wood?  We like pics and it may help with some recommendations what to do, or not to do.

Limiting the cracks is best you can expect, as others have said. Avoiding cracks not likely if, and when, your cookies do dry.
When wood dries, the water in the cell walls leaves and each of the wood cell walls shrinks a little. There are more cell walls in the outer growth rings to shrink than the inner (core) growth rings which leads to the failure of the bond between cells.
Simply put, the compression strength of the cells in the inner rings is stronger than the tension strength between the cells in the outer rings.

[lewisclan]

I see that now about the bacon, I will snap a few photos this weekend.
I actually never thought that the cookies would not crack of course they will, I just figured if I could limit the amount of cracking that would be a plus.
Last week before internet research I never even heard of wood stabilizer, I just figured the cookies that made it through the curing process I would use, the ones that did'ent are fire wood, I am still in that frame of mind.

[beenthere]

Ash is probably one of the woods that will check easily, as it is a wood that splits easily. Meaning it has low tension strength perpendicular to the grain.
Elm on the other hand is harder to split because it has higher tension strength perp to the grain.

[Farmerjw]

Is it as positive that half of a cookie will crack while drying?  If not, then cutting it in half, dry and glue together would be an alternative?
Can a crack be "cut with a chainsaw" to the middle and then the cookie won't crack?

[Ianab]

Is it as positive that half of a cookie will crack while drying?  If not, then cutting it in half, dry and glue together would be an alternative?
Can a crack be "cut with a chainsaw" to the middle and then the cookie won't crack?

Cutting in 1/2, or even cutting a single "crack" to the centre might work. But in either case, as the wood dries that crack will open up to look like a slice of pie is missing.

Hence the suggestion to have a spare matching piece to glue into the hole.

Ian

[opticsguy]

Why not cut a large cookie in half.  Let i dry for a few years and then flatten the cut edges and glue back together, properly done you migh not even be able to see the seam.  any one tried this?

The OP orignal question was about home made stablizers . . . and recipes?

[jueston]

Why not cut a large cookie in half.  Let i dry for a few years and then flatten the cut edges and glue back together, properly done you migh not even be able to see the seam.  any one tried this?

The OP orignal question was about home made stablizers . . . and recipes?

if you have 2 halves, both of which shrink, and when you go to glue them back together there will be a piece missing from your pie.

but you could cut a curf in several cookies, let them dry, then once they are dry cut them in half and glue two halves of separate cookies together.

[jimbarry]

.., if you can figure out how to fry a slice of bologna lunch meat without it cupping, ...

Work with the laws of the universe and use the cup to pour in the ketchup (or is it catsup?)

But back on topic, when you sear bologna with high heat it doesn't cup. Has anybody tried to fast track the drying process?

[Jeff]

You need to prove that one. If it doesn't cup when you sear, then you sealed the moisture inside, so it didn't escape and shrink the outside. That might work for tasty fried Baloney, but it aint no good to seal in the moisture for preserving wood.

[jimbarry]

True, but I was thinking if a person rapidly dried the wood, maybe it would check, maybe not? I dunno, just thinking out loud here.

[thecfarm]

jimbarry,why don't you just go ahead and do it your way. I use to tell some guy at work that all the time. Than he would wonder why it did not work.

[Ianab]

Has anybody tried to fast track the drying process?

Yep.  ;D

Well not actually drying wood for use, but using a microwave to dry samples and hence work out the water content. You can take wood from green to 0% moisture in about 1/2 an hour.

But it's splits and warps even more than normal  :D

But feel free to experiment, this is how we learn things. Just don't use the little ladies microwave, it will smell like tree sap for ever after.

Ian

[jueston]

i was at the local asian grocery store a few days ago and found these....

i don't know what kind of wood it is i assume the reason it didn't check was because they choose a very stable wood.... but i don't know anything about them other then that some have some tiny checks, some don't have any....

[giant splinter]

might be bamboo, I have to ask ...... Does spam Cup when you cook it? :D

[red oaks lumber]

an old bowl turner that lives near me, told me his secret to keeping the cracking to a very minium. all his green blanks get buried in kitty litter for 30 days. then taken out and fresh litter put back in. this process is done until the wood is dry enough.
this method does make sense, the wood is not exposed to the light or air and the litter will draw out moisture at a very slow rate. i have never done this just passing on info.

[opticsguy]

I used a freshly cut, very slightly spalted alder (live tree) to make a wood ball, 12" diameter.

I put 2 or 3 coats of Polyurethane on and sitting in my house for 1.5 years  No cracks. 

This is not the same as a large diameter cookie but worth try???

[ancjr]

My mother used to have a treasured antique nut bowl which was turned from a solid bark-on walnut log section.  I think it had some sort of thick yellow tinted varnish on it.  It was quite old.  Anyways, one Christmas we heard what sounded like a shot gun blast in the kitchen.  Turns out the bowl had finally given in to its radial stresses after all those years.  I figure it was somewhat  green when it was originally varnished, and the hot dry holiday kitchen did it in.