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Drying Spalted wood ( Pecan )

R

Raif Harik

Joined
Jan 14, 2020
Messages
317
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122
Location
Austin, TX
Hi, I have some ~3' X 15" logs of pecan. They are from the tree that was growing in the middle of my shop which I eventually cut down cuz the roof I built around it was ... well basically a gaping hole. But I digress.
I cut open one of the logs the other day and found it was pleasantly riddled with spalt. Looks very nice. But the the wood is still wet. I roughed out a salad bowl and salad serving bowls and have stuck them in some paper grocery bags with wood chips. This is the first time I've done the 2 stage or the paper bag thing. I think I know the process from reading up on it. My question is, given spalt is live fungus and is very closely coupled with irredeemable decay, do I need to/is there anything I can do to arrest the spalting in the bag?
Secondly I have 3 more of those logs. I fear they will be mush before I get to them. I can't store them inside, but I could I guess put a tarp over them :). Should I cut them into blanks now? I guess the answer to first question might help inform second question.
Also some nasty ass grubs or worms in there. Man those are gross. I guess it's better to get em out first other wise they end up on your face shield. I should probably read up on fumigating.
Thanks for any thoughts.
 
I’ve generally found that spalted wood dries very well without special precautions. If you think the logs are ‘ripe’, you should arrest the spalting before it goes too far. I do that simply by roughing out bowls or sawing spindle blanks and leaving them in a pile out of the weather. Being porous, they dry quickly and the fungus stops growing. But I suppose a lot depends on the species, climate and degree of spalting. I wouldn’t use very porous wood for salad bowls though.
 
I’d suggest roughing out as many bowls as you can before the wood progresses to punky.

Raif Harik said:
nice. But the the wood is still wet. I roughed out a salad bowl and salad serving bowls and have stuck them in some paper grocery bags with wood chips. This is the first time I've done the 2 stage or the paper bag thing.
Click to expand...
I don’t use wood chips just makes a mold factory

I check bags daily untill they are dry
Damp bags I swap for dry ones. The removed damp ones dry overnight for use the next day.
I check the bowls for mold. If I see mold I wipe the whole bowl wet with Clorox and discard the bag that held the moldy bowl

After 4-5=days the bags are no longer damp. These bagged bowls go on a shelf.
 
hockenbery said:
I’d suggest roughing out as many bowls as you can before the wood progresses to punky.


I don’t use wood chips just makes a mold factory

I check bags daily untill they are dry
Damp bags I swap for dry ones. The removed damp ones dry overnight for use the next day.
I check the bowls for mold. If I see mold I wipe the whole bowl wet with Clorox and discard the bag that held the moldy bowl

After 4-5=days the bags are no longer damp. These bagged bowls go on a shelf.
Click to expand...
Add to that is a daily weighing, which will show you how much moisture has been lost and after the loss becomes less the interval can be more until there is little or no change in the weight, then they are ready for the finish turn.
 
Man, you said it. Mold factory. Yuck. Well I removed the shavings and will wipe them down and trade out the bags.
@hockenbery you use straight Clorox? Or just a mix?
Thanks again
 
Raif Harik said:
Man, you said it. Mold factory. Yuck. Well I removed the shavings and will wipe them down and trade out the bags.
@hockenbery you use straight Clorox? Or just a mix?
Thanks again
Click to expand...
Straight Clorox and a 1/4 sheet paper towel.
If it’s a regular bowl I just pour a little in the bowl wet the folded paper towel in it and wipe down the outside and then the inside.
Add a little Clorox as needed. Dump any excess Chlorox and. Re bag.

One Clorox wipe always kills the mold for me and doesn’t discolor the wood or bleach it.
Texas mold may take 2 doses - every thing is bigger there? :-)
 
Raif, getting once turned bowl blanks to dry quickly, without cracking or mold is a very individual sport. Possibly involving dark magic. What works for me, with the trees I get, in my climate, and my shop, may not work for someone else, especially if they live in a different climate. Terry Vaughn lives in England and Al Hockenbery lives in Florida. You might want to survey your local club members to see what methods work well where you live. They'll also tell you how to manage those larvae (powder post beetles, maybe? those have been discussed on here before) If you don't have access to the expertise of a local club, you should probably be sure to get some feedback from the Texans here on the forum.
 
This might sound funny but here in AZ, to stop spalting just take it out of the mud puddle you have been maintaining with the garden hose. I don't paper bag, even with spalted wood. I got elm from my mom's house in TN and I had to anchor seal the spalted peaces because it was 8% humidity and they were starting to check so fast. Petracycl or something like that is what I use when it gets super punky.
 
So, here is a quick bowl I turned out of one of the blanks. It was still wet and is already starting to break. Just thought Id give it a try. I measured the inside when turning and it was like 35% and outside was around 13%. Just about perfect. I don't know what went wrong.
One thing I decided was that perhaps one of the best tests of quality of cut (sharpness, technique etc) is to try and get a smooth surface on some punky wood. My tests which probably reflect by skill showed that a push cut with a 40/40 was excellent, followed by a NR scraper with burnished burr (ala veritas. Thanks Santa Claus! ) which was acceptable. Pull cut was not acceptable. I recommend either not using a pull cut, or at least doing a pull cut correctly. That probably would have help in my case.
 

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I tried the paper bag method and lost around 20%. The last few years I rough turn and seal the outside and inside with anchorseal and put them on a shelf. I have never lost a bowl using this method.
 
@Rusty Nesmith here's my concern. I have about (12) 14x14x6 blanks. I don't want to commit to ... Anything on every one of these blanks. But they are already starting to split. That's why I said screw it and turned a wet one.
Is it effective to paint the ends with ankorseal? Should/do I have to - cut round on bandsaw? Then seal?
Thx
 
Raif Harik said:
here's my concern. I have about (12) 14x14x6 blanks. I don't want to commit to ... Anything on every one of these blanks. But they are already starting to split. That's why I said screw it and turned a wet one.
Click to expand...
Turning green to finish or rough turning green and drying are good options.
In a rough turning with equal walls and nice curves the wood can move as it dries and usually won’t crack.

Really hard to store solid cut blanks. The wood can’t move as it dries so cracks open.
Sealing with wax will keep them but that is hard to do. Storing in a freezer well wrapped in plastic will work for years.
Storing under water will work too but comes with problems.

Anchorseal slows the drying might buy keep them from cracking for a few weeks maybe a month or two.
 
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I normally put a coat of Anchorseal on all of my rough turned bowls and way them after it dries. Put it up for a few months and then weight them until they quit losing weight. I seldom loose any that way and now have way too many that need to be returned. I live in SE Tennessee and my shop is climate controlled. No bags or chips used this way.
 
Charles Cadenhead said:
These turners will frequently take excess wood to club meetings for give aways, raffles and bring backs. ;)
Click to expand...
I know, have to read the underlying humor of my statement. In fact when I visited my first club meeting I put/bought $10 worth of raffel tickets to give back for having me as a guest. Of the 12 tickets I had bought i won 3 of the drawings. One was for old turning magazines (might have been only ticket), two were for 5 pieces each turning stock.
 
I’ve been having very good luck with my once turned bowls and hollow forms, of late. Oak, especially has been very satisfying given the Oak failure rate many turners talk about. Instead of using the box filled with x, or the paper bag methods (I understand these are tried and true methods), I’ve been: cutting it thin, wall thickness uniform (or near). Then, I let the surface dry enough for sanding, not long,,maybe an hour or so. I should state here that I’m starting with fresh wood, still throwing water. I sand to my desired finish, usually 2000 grit. Then I oil it. I soak it with walnut oil, set aside, wipe down after a few hours. Repeat every day for a week or so. That’s it.

One of the things I’ve found so enjoyable about this practice, besides the fact that I’ve never had a piece fail doing this, is that the wood will move, of course. Early wood and late wood will bring about texture. Even though there will be ripples etc, the underlying wood is still wonderfully silky smooth.

Cherry calabash, about 9” diameter, Oak crotch 7”, and Oak crotch 10”

IMG_3615.jpegIMG_3616.jpegIMG_3619.jpeg
 
hockenbery said:
Turning green to finish or rough turning green and drying are good options.
In a rough turning with equal walls and nice curves the wood can move as it dries and usually won’t crack.

Really hard to store solid cut blanks. The wood can’t move as it dries so cracks open.
Sealing with wax will keep them but that is hard to do. Storing in a freezer well wrapped in plastic will work for years.
Storing under water will work too but comes with problems.

Anchorseal slows the drying might buy keep them from cracking for a few weeks maybe a month or two.
Click to expand...
Read this over and over it details all the steps necessary for successfully processing wood into turnings.
I might add that this same subject has been brought up on this forum probably as many as 2 times per year if not more with the same answer so read the QUOTE
 
Raif Harik said:
@Rusty Nesmith here's my concern. I have about (12) 14x14x6 blanks. I don't want to commit to ... Anything on every one of these blanks. But they are already starting to split. That's why I said screw it and turned a wet one.
Is it effective to paint the ends with ankorseal? Should/do I have to - cut round on bandsaw? Then seal?
Thx
Click to expand...
I have 45 blanks that I cut round and sealed with anchorseal and put on the drying shelf. They are 7” in diameter and 3” thick and are doing good. You only need to seal around the outside and not the flats. I turned one Saturday for my Woodcraft class and it was a nice blank. They have been drying for around six weeks and should be ready to start using for my February class.IMG_1003.jpeg
 
@Rusty Nesmith Thanks, that's the information I need. didn't know anchorseal was blue now. Been a while I guess.
I appreciate the information about twice turned drying etc. I've pretty much got that down. But my most recent post was to bring up the point that I don't KNOW what I want to turn out of all these pieces. I can't rough turn a blank if I don't know what the final shape is going to be. The good news is that Rusty has experience drying basic blanks so I can try that. As I know what I may want I can either rough turn one to speed it up or maybe one will be dry enough.
Thanks all
R
 
Also our club has a "wood depot" a wonderful member, actually the founder of at least the CTWA, happens to have an "extra drive way"! :) He used to park an RV on it. That is a pretty wonderful story in it's self. But now he parks wood on it. People drop off and pick up at will. Sometimes we have "chainsaw parties" if there are some really big pieces. Also various folks have ... various connections, if your neighbor takes down a tree, or you know someone who works for some nearby town and they tell you the city took down some trees, we'll go out there and haul it back to the old depot. Pretty fun and pretty cool.
 
Raif Harik said:
@Rusty Nesmith Thanks, that's the information I need. didn't know anchorseal was blue now. Been a while I guess.
I appreciate the information about twice turned drying etc. I've pretty much got that down. But my most recent post was to bring up the point that I don't KNOW what I want to turn out of all these pieces. I can't rough turn a blank if I don't know what the final shape is going to be. The good news is that Rusty has experience drying basic blanks so I can try that. As I know what I may want I can either rough turn one to speed it up or maybe one will be dry enough.
Thanks all
R
Click to expand...
Anchorseal comes in many different colors. Our club received a 55 gallon drum with around 30 gallons left in it for free. We are selling it to club members for $20 a gallon. When it is gone we will buy a new 55 gallon drum and should be able to sell that for around $20 a gallon.
 
Raif Harik said:
Also our club has a "wood depot" a wonderful member, actually the founder of at least the CTWA, happens to have an "extra drive way"! :) He used to park an RV on it. That is a pretty wonderful story in it's self. But now he parks wood on it. People drop off and pick up at will. Sometimes we have "chainsaw parties" if there are some really big pieces. Also various folks have ... various connections, if your neighbor takes down a tree, or you know someone who works for some nearby town and they tell you the city took down some trees, we'll go out there and haul it back to the old depot. Pretty fun and pretty cool.
Click to expand...
That sounds very cool.
 
Rusty Nesmith said:
will buy a new 55 gallon drum and should be able to sell that for around $20 a gallon.
Click to expand...

Yikes, the price must have gone up. The last time I bought a 55 gal drum of Anchorseal I sold it to club members and friends for what I had it it: $6/gal.
I used a lot of at at my sawmll.

JKJ
 
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