Air drying hardwoods

[Sutcliffe]

I've collected some fruitwoods that seem to have some nice grains to them. The cut edges crack and split. How deep do these cracks go? Should I treat the exposed surface with something to prevent this? Where should I think about storing them? Cool, dry or humid, and warm?
Thanks much

 

[tom mayo]

wood should be cut into planks one or two inches thick and stacked carefully with small square 'stickers' between each plank to allow for air to circulate...commom formula is one year per inch thick....they should be stored out of the direct sun and somewhere out of the rain.....you cant stop the cracks but you should paint or seal the ends with wax or thick paint.....to slow drying of the end grain...which cracks readily....

 

[fenixforge]

I had some beautiful wood from a decorative plum tree I cut in my yard. It had about 5 or 6 colors in it and awesome looking patterns. It was easily the nicest looking wood I have ever seen. However, the stuff cracked and split like crazy as it dried. If I had it to do over again, I would have it stabilized by a professional asap.

 

[Cougar Allen]

As wood dries it shrinks more in the circumferential direction than in the radial direction so if you try to season it while it's still round it is extremely difficult to avoid radial cracking. Cut or split it while it's green and then it can shrink without cracking. Paint the end grain with something -- any kind of paint will do or wax or linseed oil. Otherwise the end grain loses moisture much faster than the other surfaces and that'll cause cracking. If you cut it to not too much bigger than the size you want it'll dry faster than in big chunks. The formula Tom gave is the best way to produce the best quality seasoned hardwood, fully seasoned and not prone to any more dimensional change. If it's not a dense hard wood you probably won't have to wait as long, but if you follow Tom's formula to be on the safe side you will definitely have some good fully seasoned wood when you're done.

You'll often see the formula "season hard wood a year, soft wood six months." That's good enough if you're going to build houses out of it, but if you fit the guard to the wood perfectly and then a month later it isn't a perfect fit any more you're not going to be very happy about that....

It's possible to kiln dry wood and you can even do small pieces in a microwave oven, but air drying is the best and safest way.

-Cougar Allen :{)