Darn manzanita!

A

Angry- ogre

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I have some manzanita chunks & did the boiling method followed by the paper bag, boiled 1hr per in of thickness. I noticed a couple of the pieces were developing small cracks in the core. I promptly drilled a .125 in hole completely through the pieces. Has anyone tried this before? Could it work to stave off the cracking? Is there anything else i can try? What about drilling out the wood for the tang, all the missing wood should allow it to dry crack free no?
I've searched entensively for any info on this but never found any.
Any input on this would be immensely appreciated.
Thank you.
 
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Why are you boiling manzanita? I see it is done sometimes for aquarium use, but for knife making?
 
What I understand about Manzanita from a woodworker colleague of mine is it is prone to cracking even with careful, slow, kiln drying. Where did you source the information for the boil method?
 
Coat the ends with glue when you cut it. It might stave off the checking.


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Wood turners use a lot of different methods to dry wood. If you check some wood turning sites like "Saw Mill Creek" and do a search you will get a lot of ideas.
I have tried boiling wood and it didn't work very well for me. Some do like it.
I have microwaved wood with different results. Some like that method.
The best method I have come up with is to if possible cut out the pith. Wood starts cracking at the center, or pith. Now if your wood is a small branch that won't work. Wood working supply houses sell a product that is a wax emulsion that you can paint on the wood, especially the ends.
Watch the wood and if it starts to crack, fill the crack with super glue.
Coating the ends with glue like A. McPherson said will also help.
 
For knife making, as far as I know Mark and myself are two of the few people who have prepped large blocks of clean manzanita. It's a real pain for sure. The thing is, it HAS to start with the slab when it is first cut out of a larger burl.
 
It sounds like you are using a trunk or branch piece.
Unless it was cut from standing dead manzanita it will continue to move and crack some.
Standing dead manzanita will be dead bushes. This usually occurs when the bush is diseased and dies, or from forest fires.
The branches and trunks will be gray or black. When you sand away the grey exterior you will probably see some gold sapwood and then the red/purple heartwood.
If it was cut from live, growing manzanita it can tear itself apart as it dries.

My advice would be to only use pieces cut from standing dead manzanita.
Cut it into chunks slightly oversized, seal the ends and set it aside in the garage for a couple years.

If you are using burl cut it into slabs and let them sit a couple years.
Then if you have big enough solid areas left between the cracks cut those portions into blocks and set them aside for a couple years.
If it is still solid after that then send it to K&G to be stabilized. You are not getting it stabilized to make it harder but to lessen the chances of further checking or movement. Good dry manzanita takes stabilizing well but does not have much weight gain.

At the burl shop they use branches and trunks for furniture legs and arms. Mostly standing dead that we have let dry further for a couple years or more.
Burl gets used to carve freeform bowls. It doesn't matter if the wood moves a bit with them. Those are projects where cracks and twisted wood just add to the character of the piece.

I hope I don't sound too negative. My opinion is based on about 10 years of working with manzanita.
 
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I have some chess set pieces I turned about 15 years ago from manzanita burl. A couple were coated with lacquer, most just wax while spinning on the lathe. They haven't moved in that time.
I am starting to use various manzanita for knife handles, both burl and heartwood. I plan to just use Boos block board cream which is beeswax and mineral oil to preserve them and keep them stable.
It's working well for my ironwood handles. It seems like a reasonable stabilization methods.

Interesting thread! It's nice to seem some good info on manzanita from experienced folks.
 
I used to do a lot of wood turning with green wood, and did several things to prevent cracking/warpage.
1) Coat the entire block in many thick coats of latex paint prior to storage. This helped prevent cracking and was cheaper (often free) than buying anchorseal. It slowed the drying.
2) Do a rough shaping and let it dry while wrapped in lots of newspaper. Shaping equalized the thickness and together with newspaper evens and slows the drying rate throughout the piece to prevent cracking.
3) Shape to your desires. It should be totally dry when you do this, otherwise it will warp/crack.

So following my methodology from making bowls, I would drill tang holes and roughly shape the handle, even if that's just very rough profiling. Then I would wrap it in lots of newspaper and forget about it for three months or until its dry - you can tell by the newspaper being dry. Also if the blank is large enough I would cut the cracks off to prevent their propagation deeper in the piece.

Hope you find that useful.
 
Angry- ogre said:
http://www.woodturningvideosplus.com
Click to expand...

This boiling article isn't about manzanita. Manzanita I think is fairly unique in the wood world. It is one the harder side, and appears to me on the drier side (not oily).
And of course the heart wood vs burl wood. These two manzanita cuts are not the same as has been noted.
It would be interesting to understand the various characteristics of wood that might affect it's stability, including the various cuts from the same type of wood.
Hardness is the one we all think about, but what about cellular structure, oil content, etc...
What are all the factors?
 
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