Drying plum wood

Stromberg Knives

Stromberg Knives

strombergknives.com
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Hi!

I had to take down a plum tree and I think it would be a waste if I didn't salvage the wood for knife handles.

How do I do this the right way?

I have both fairly large pieces (like 10 inch thick and 2-3 feet long) and smaller pieces (like 3-4 inches thick and 2-3 feet long).

My intention is to use it for knife handles. I believe I should paint or wax the ends to prevent cracks, but in what sizes should I cut and dry the wood?
 
Take a can of cheap house paint and pant the ends. Set aside in a cool place to dry for one to two years. Cut the last 1" off the ends and slice the large pieces into 2" thick slabs. The smaller pieces can be cut into square blocks. Paint the ends again and set aside to dry another six months or so. If the moisture content is below 12%, they are good to use. If you want to have the best pieces stabilized ( a good idea), then dry to below 10% moisture ( 7% is even better) and have K&G stabilize them.
 
Make sure the thickness is below 3". Figure a year per inch to dry. Sticker it so all sides dry at once. Plum is a problem wood to dry. (I deal in gunstock blanks and have cut a lot of plum). It grows curling around and uncurls when drying. It OFTEN developes cracks. This really hurts for gunstocks but is usually OK for smaller knife handles. The prettiest wood is in the lower two feet of the tree. The grain is pretty. The color resembles the inside of a plum fruit. The lower two feet often have worm like areas that are lavendar in color. Very pretty.
 
People who turn wood and make bowls often do it when the wood is green. They accelerate the drying process by putting their creations in the microwave oven. How long? It depends upon the size of the object and how much risk they are willing to take. There is always the chance that the bowl could crack with such forced drying. It is also possible to char the wood if left in too long. I would suggest a person experiment on expendable pieces of wood before attempting on your good scales.

- Paul Meske AKA Lonepine
 
Microwaving wood for knife handles is not a good idea. Ask any wood professional about this and I guarantee that you will get the same visceral response.

Wood needs to dry slowly and evenly if you don't want damage or problems later on.

Stickering the flitches, or using drying shelves ( wire shelving) is how to get even slow drying.
 
What Stacy said..Slow cure..It Takes years to do figured fruit wood & nut trees..Any real special looking grain gets sent to the dry room in the basement..Ends Sealed..On Shelf that allows for air circulation...Date Tagged..Leave it alone..2 years Min..Then Pick it up & feel if the weight seems right..If so it can be cut into slightly oversize slabs..Return to drying racks at least another year...I don't send wood out for stabilizing so I need really dry stable materials to use in knife making..Even then you can run into issues..So Stack plenty of stuff you want to craft with...Mike In Ct
 
Make sure the thickness is below 3". Figure a year per inch to dry. Sticker it so all sides dry at once. Plum is a problem wood to dry. (I deal in gunstock blanks and have cut a lot of plum). It grows curling around and uncurls when drying. It OFTEN developes cracks. This really hurts for gunstocks but is usually OK for smaller knife handles. The prettiest wood is in the lower two feet of the tree. The grain is pretty. The color resembles the inside of a plum fruit. The lower two feet often have worm like areas that are lavendar in color. Very pretty.
Click to expand...

Thanks for more good info! I see what you mean about the lower two feet. It looks very nice.
 
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i use beeswax on the ends, sometimes a little bit oh Howard's paste wax into any knots irregularities to slow the drying in that area. Make sure your stickers are adequately sized to allow plenty of air movement.

If doing any planks, I always put a line of stickers on top and put a flat piece of two by stock on them, then set evenly spaced weights along that top piece. Once in a great while I go out and reorient and restack the whole thing just to be nosy.

Make sure you elevate the bottom course off the slab enough to keep the slab from interfering with the drying process. I use 4x4 to make it tall enough that I can vacuum under them as needed

Forced drying in my experience results in cracks appearing and opening after the work is done. Almost like anti-stabilization.

EDIT: If you can pull the root ball out, you may find some prize pieces in it. The tap root sometimes has value as well
 
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Like Peter said, plum is slow and difficult.
Dry a lot and do it slowly and you might be able to salvage some usable pieces.
As Stacy said, microwaving wood is a bad idea.
We will microwave carved bowls when we want the shape to distort and cracks are ok.
As mentioned by several, seal ends, stack and sticker the slabs and.....keep out of direct sunlight.
 
Thanks everyone for helpful answers. I've now cut the smaller ones into squares and sealed the ends. I've sealed the bigger ones, next step is to cut them into 2" slabs and stick them.
 
Just for clarification since english isn't my native tongue.

A slab is a piece of wood that's cut on one side and with uncut edges?
A flitch is a piece of wood that's flat on two sides and with uncut edges?
 
A flitch is a slice out of a log that will be re-cut later on.
A slab is a large flat section of something...like a thick slice of wood cut from a log.

They are basically the same thing. The bark sides can be left on or cut off.

Since mete posted a link that uses the old term slab for the first cuts on squaring a log, yes, a slab in that term is the half-round piece cut off. However, in the modern use, a slab is a large slice of something.
 
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There was here,NY , a program to use microwave to dry wood at a time when there was a shortage of wood especially for gunstocks . The state was to help fund it. Unfortunately they changed their mind.
It is a viable method using lots of electric power ,but it's still a slow process [off and on , not all at once] patience is necessary !!
From the comments apparently plum is similar to apple with warping problems.
 
I would get it off the ground if it was going to be a while before I sawed the log up , some logs attract bugs bad if left on the ground.
 
Plum is often rotten in the center on bigger trees. Not a problem. Treat as normal. Fancy grain like feather in walnut is often coated with bees wax/parafin, etc also. It slows drying, but a larger piece like for a gunstock out of feather English with gorgeous mottle might be worth many thousands of dollars. Keep turning the pieces now and then and mark with the dates and weight and moisture per centage. It will let you know how drying is progressing. Remember it can gain weight depending on the time of year. Some will gain weight in Summer if very humid. Some will gain in Winter if wet. KEEP AWAY from sunlight...always...even when dry.

The Turks cut their gunstock blanks thinner to dry faster then BOIL the wood. It dries in about 11 weeks. The natural oil is removed and the replacement water dries quickly. The outside of the blank might look fine. The inside often has HUGE cracks. DON'T FORCE DRY! Browning bought a process that used salt to dry. This resulted in many stocks in the 1965-73 time frame rusting their guns and costing them MILLIONS of dollars. DON'T FORCE DRY!

"Stickering" wood is using ANY form of wood to separate the wood being dried from the surface or other wood upon which it is resting. It simply allows air to get to the wood evenly to dry evenly. A necessary technique.

"Dry" is a relative term. A particular % of moisture is dependant upon your climate, time of year, altitude, humidity, and even the type of moisture meter you use. You might not EVER get air dry on the Northern/Central Oregon coast. I have seen old wood still 20% moisture readings on the coast. You would like to get down to 12% but some places (and meters) get down to 5%. Important in gunstocks, is to weight a year AFTER you reach the lowest number. It adds stability to the wood. I don't know if anyone REALLY knows why, but I would GUESS that the natural raising and lowering of moisture in the wood might cause the interior grain structure to interlock and give greater natural stability. Since knife makers use plastic for stabilizing, this may not be important.

One other piece of food for thought. There is a natural process called TEMPERING. Wood naturally dried for ...say...70 years becomes damnedably hard. I have cut and sanded some and it is a bitch to work, but makes GREAT gunstocks. It is also required for the finest violins for the best tones. I knew a master violin maker who confided much to me. He was an old old world master who would slap me in the head if I used sandpaper in front of him instead of breaking bottles and scraping surfaces.

Anyways, probably more than you wanted to know.

By the way, Aug 18 in Bend, Oregon, there is a lecture by an Oregon State University Associate professor on spalting in wood. I am guessing it will include info on spalting your own wood with different colors. I leave Thur morn for the Reno gun show but will be back Sunday night to check my messages.

Pete
 
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