How To Seasoning Juniper

Will Power

Will Power

Gold Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
33,318
I live in Scandiland and cold winters are the norm but last one was notably bad -37C Then in May as spring began a serious cold wind and long drought. Lost a number of trees in the garden- a favourite Pear some Conifers and a Juniper. Juniper is used a lot in France for knife scales due to its appearance and scent.

When I get somebody to cut down the dead Juniper in the autumn I like to save some for project purposes (not enough to line a Sauna with unfortunately!) How should I save or cure it for knife handle purposes? Is it best to leave it in rounds with the bark or cut it into slabs? How long to dry it out? Indoors is hot and low humidity in winter, this could be too fast or?

That fragrance...:cool:

Thanks, Will
 
You didn't say how large the pieces are. Size determines a lot on drying.

Generally for most woods, cut the tree into logs about a meter long and paint the ends with latex house paint.
Set in a protected area (shed, garage, etc.) and let cure/dry for one to five years ... depending on density and moisture content.
Check the moisture content with a meter if you have or can borrow one.
Cut into boards and stack with stickers (small scarp slats) between the boards and let dry another year.

Juniper should dry nicely ... and I know what you mean about the great smell. Juniper has much less water in it, and can be dried in 6 months to a year. Let sit 3 months after slabbing.
 
I haven't worked with juniper, but i've found for eucalyptus splitting the logs into half seems to help. I mostly process them into chunks for turning bowls
Weighing each chunk is also a good way to track moisture
 
I was under the impression juniper was soft and didn't make good handle material.
 
Juniper is a pretty tough wood, and is harder than most folks think. It makes a very dirable knife handle. Some folks stabilize it.

Nordic knives often have handles from materials that we don't use in the rest of the knife world. They were designed to use what grew locally as well as survive extreme weather. Juniper, birch, antler, etc.
 
Rocky Mountain juniper is soft enough to indent with a finger nail. Don't think I would use it for knife scales but it was historically used for bows by native people.

Birch is much harder than Juniper.
 
The ranch my son works on has some forested areas. They logged quite a bit of jumper over the winter to help manage their forested areas. Still, having trouble with lots of lightning strikes starting fires.
 
I am assuming he is talking about common juniper (Juniperus communis) which is usable as a handle or other wood project. Obviously, the tree would need to be large enough to get suitable pieces of wood to slab and dry. Scrub juniper would not work, but it is a different type.

Is it as hard as maple or oak - NO, but it will make a usable handle for a work knife.
 
If you're milling it yourself consider grain orientation, a lot of softwoods seem to have softer and harder areas in the grain. Quartersawn might get you a better result
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top