Green Wood Drying Question

[Bruce Ferm]

A project necessitates my drying forked branches. I won’t be turning them, but it was suggested I ask my question here because the turners are the group with the knowledge about drying green wood.

I’m using Red Oak, Maple, Cherry and Apple forked branches. Size = 4”-5” diameter below the fork; 2”-3” diameter above the fork; ~18” length. I presently have forks I cut in mid-winter (to get minimal trapped moisture) and sealed the ends by painting them with Titebond glue. I’m just now starting to debark them. They’ve been stored indoors at home (warm and dry, but unfortunately my only option---no basement, garage or shed available).

I have to season these forks in the round. I have to debark them and I can do that any time, but I can’t split them or cut the pith out and I need to avoid or absolutely minimize splitting.

I’d like to be able to cut forks year-round, but I’m hesitant to do so when they’re saturated with moisture because of the splitting problem. Is there anything I can do to mitigate that problem?

Any help with drying green branches in the round so as to avoid splitting would be greatly appreciated.

[Bill Boehme]

The bottom line in avoiding splitting is to dry very slowly. Keep the wood in a relatively cool place. That means no Texas garages that aren't air conditioned. Coat the ends with Anchorseal or equivalent wax emulsion green wood sealer. You don't want to completely block moisture from slowly evaporating -- just slow it down considerably. Your concoction for sealing the wood might work, but I can't hazard a guess about how well it might work. The other thing that you need to do is avoid wood that loves to split regardless of how much TLC you use. That would include most fruit wood and oaks, especially white oak. If you can convince your significant other that they would make good decorative items in the den or bedroom while they dry for a couple years, that would be ideal. If your pieces of wood that you cut several months ago haven't split by now then you are probably OK because splitting usually happens within the first few months.

[Thomas Canfield]

I expect that you will get several different options given. I would suggest that you leave at least 6" or 2 diameters of length beyond your final length in any case. The cut ends should be sealed, and Anchorseal original works best for me. The wood should be stored off the ground with moisture protection and minimal air circulation. It might be easier to debark (strip) the wood when first cut, and wrap with kraft paper or multiple pages of newspaper to allow moisture to pass from outside with ends sealed.

[robert baccus]

I would endseal top to bottom and try to use very soft woods. Old Forester

[John Thorson]

One method worth considering is a more controlled drying cabinet. The temperature is raised in the box and the humidity is slowly brought down by controlling the venting. For your purposes you would bring it down much slower than mentioned in the threads on this site. The higher temperatures help the water move through the wood. Warm and humid can mean you increase the fungal discoloring of the wood though.

No matter how you dry these down you will have some percentage of loss. Knowing how to treat each species of wood becomes a part of the game too.

[Reed Gray]

I am curious as to what you will be making out of them. Drying with the pith in is always more difficult, and some of your woods (fruit woods) are more difficult than others. Boiling is one method for stabilizing the wood, but you have to boil for 1 hour per inch of thickness, then allow to come back to room temperature in the water before removing. Sinking them in a pond for a year or so is another similar method, but it can really cause color changes.

robo hippy

[charlie knighton]

i have not tried drying branches with bark and pith still in, if I were to do it I would put in wood in 55 gallon cardboard drums and seal, leave for 4 months, discard the bad add more wood. that will slow your moisture loss, I would not seal the ends.

[Bruce Ferm]

These are for making raw forked carving blanks that can be sculpted into carved slingshot frames. I’m cutting forks that are considerably larger than I need so I can start with well-oversized blanks and have plenty of room to do extensive shaping and carving.

The drying cabinet sounds like an elegant way to tackle my problem. Sadly, I’m hamstrung by space (and other) limitations that preclude my going that way, but I wish I wasn’t. That sounds like quite an idea and I really wish I could explore the idea of being able to possibly induce spalting.

All the ideas here do have me thinking about another possibility. I know a couple loggers and I may see if I can beg a couple forked log chunks from them. If I could split one of those and end up with a pith-free fork that was still bigger than the size blank I need to start with and then seal that piece and let it dry slowly, I may have a viable possibility there.

[Jamie Buxton]

... I’m cutting forks that are considerably larger than I need so I can start with well-oversized blanks and have plenty of room to do extensive shaping and carving.. ..

The drawback to starting with overly large blanks is that the blanks take longer to dry, and are more likely to split.

[Jamie Buxton]

Look into pentacryl. It is a fluid which displaces water to help reduce cracking during drying. Use that as a search term here on SMC to see lots of threads about it.

[Steve Bistritz]

I make some things out of branches and have found that the larger you leave them the less thing happen to them. leave the forks real long and i thin you may find less damage done...when i rough turn a bowl, platter, etc I soak it overnight in Denatured alcohol then double bag it in brown paper grocery bags....i weigh them once every few weeks and write down the weight...when they stop losing weight they are dry enough to continue...hope this helps...

[Bob Bergstrom]

How about roughing out the shapes you want and then use the Pentacryl treatment. Similar to roughing out a punkey wood bowl and then treating it with Pentacryl.

[Bill Boehme]

..... I know a couple loggers and I may see if I can beg a couple forked log chunks from them. If I could split one of those and end up with a pith-free fork that was still bigger than the size blank I need to start with and then seal that piece and let it dry slowly, I may have a viable possibility there.

One potential problem is that the further you move from the center line of the limbs where the pith is located, more cross-grain wood will be in the forks of the slingshot. So, it appears that being as close to the pith as possible while still avoiding it would be the best solution.

[Ron Rutter]

Bruce . My experience with branches is that they are generally resistant to splitting. Something to do with their density. You can cut 1/4" wafers off a 3" diameter branch & they will not split. Ron.