sealing/drying walnut spindles?

[alex grams]

I had some walnut I cut into 3" square x 8-12" lengths to dry that I wanted to eventually make salt/pepper mills from, but an getting a lot of cracking down the length of them. The wood is solid, and I painted the ends with anchorseal and up about an " along the lenght, and left the mid bodies unsealed. They are cracking pretty decent now and I am curious on methods others use to avoid cracking.

Thoughts? Should I wrap them in kraft paper/paper bags? Should I seal the entire length? I've done the same process with osage, mesquite and ash, and not had a problem, just the walnut.

Thanks in advance.

[Grant Wilkinson]

Walnut can be a bugger. Is the pith in these pieces? If so, you may try soaking it in thin CA. The other option would be to drill out the center, smaller than you need for the mills.

[alex grams]

no, it doesnt include any pith, and it is pretty straight grain wood with no signs of pre-existing cracks.

I could DNA soak them for a day or two, would that help? Then paint the entire piece in anchorseal?

[Grant Wilkinson]

That one is beyond me, Alex. DNA may help. Many bowl guys swear by it. I've had excellent results with bowl blanks just coating the end grain, putting them into paper bags and letting them dry very slowly. I would imagine that your spindle situation may require different processes, though. I have bought some spindle stock that was entirely wax coated. Maybe that's the way to do. With luck, someone here will be able to advise you.

[philip labre]

I did some curly ash and maple that I rounded wet, dipped the ends in anchor seal and put in my bowl kiln. Had no checks. Tried it with some square chunks and had lots of checking. Maybe I just got lucky with the rounds. Don't know if this will work for walnut though.

[alex grams]

I am set up for DNA. I may try rounding them like you said philip, maybe that will help. The cracking seems to be prone to the quartersawn grain side. plain sawn faces dont seem to crack as much...

[Pat Scott]

I've had Walnut blanks crack like that also. If it's a crotch piece or highly figured wood it can crack more readily than plain grain wood too. Sometimes the wood will crack no matter what you do. If you've had good results with other wood, then your process is probably OK.

For wood that gives me fits, I coat the entire blank with Anchorseal, and sometimes put 2 coats on the end grain. Then I'll put the blanks in a paper bag or cardboard box for several months (3-6 months), before taking them out and putting them on a shelf to dry the rest of the way. If you put the blanks in a box, try to put them on stickers, or else where the blank and box touch the moisture loss is greater on that side. The box acts like a wick where it touches the blank. The moisture will eventually ruin the box where it touches if that's a concern. I usually use boxes because they stack better and are more durable that bags. I can get empty photocopy paper boxes from work so that's what I use.

I put the box on the floor in a corner of my basement. If I have a lot of boxes or am running out of room then I'll stack them 2 high, but no more than 3 high. The temperature difference between the floor and 4' off the floor is enough to cause cracking, so try and keep them as low as possible for the first few months. The blank will lose a lot of moisture in the beginning, and I've found that if it makes it through the first few weeks or month I'm usually safe. But leave it in the box 3-6 months. Then I take the blanks out and put them on a bottom shelf to dry for another 6 months or more before moving them up higher on my shelf. After a year I can put them on the top shelf with no worries.

Resist the temptation to peek at the blanks during the 3-6 month period. The whole purpose of putting them in a box is to reduce air movement, and when you open the box you're letting in a lot of cool fresh air. Same principal applies to the oven door when baking a cake - if you open the door the cake can fall. You might get some surface mold if the wood is really wet, but it won't hurt anything.

Rounding the blank is a good idea, otherwise a quicker way to accomplish the same thing is take it to the bandsaw and cut off the corners. I built a V-jig for my bandsaw so I don't have to tilt the table.

[Dennis Ford]

Prepped like you did; I would expect few problems with walnut unless they are stored in a heated space or the pieces were cut from wood with internal stress. Some pieces of wood are destined to crack; better to find out before you turn and finish instead of after.