Storing Wood

Jens Schuetz

Jens Schuetz

Joined
Jun 24, 2013
Messages
4,162
Hi guys, I'm not a knife maker and just working on my first so there might be a few more question posts in my future :o

Anyways recently I found a lot of nice looking and dense wood and want to use it on my first knife and maybe on some later projects (not necessarily knives).
The wood pieces were wet from rain and are each about 1 foot wide and 3 feet long.
I am storing them in my garage since about 3 weeks and turn them over every few days. They dried up nicely on the surface. A few cracked but most are fine.
Now my questions:
How do I store them best (very dry, a little bit moist, soaking in oil)
Should I remove the bark?
Is it good to let them dry completely (even if it takes a year) before turning them into handles?
Should I cut them into pieces so they dry faster?
Any other tips would be appreciated too.

Sorry for so many questions and Thank You for your help!
:thumbup:
 
If they are found wood, (meaning like out in the woods) I would suggest painting the outside surfaces with house paint and storing in a cool and relatively dark space. Humidity moderate; a basement is an ok atmosphere provided it is the unfinished variety and stays pretty cool.

Check em at about a year, and cut em into scale or handle block sized pieces then. Allow to complete drying. Then depending on variety you may or may not want to have them stabilized. You are gonna lose some wood to cracking... it just happens. Unless you have the resources of a professional.

And no matter what you may read on the internet... DO NOT under any circumstances stick em in the microwave...
Cheers.
 
Noooooo.... I come from a line of carpenters dating back to about Jesus... I always had enough common sense than to do that. Microwaves work on just that, microwave radio emmissions. They vibrate water molecules inside something generating heat. The water subsequently achieves a higher state, steam, and has to go somewhere..... fast. If it is deep down inside wood, where's it going to go? Best case scenario it simply causes the pores in the wood to be stretched by this action and recondenses back to liquid, still trapped inside the wood. Worst case scenario.... well, you know how popcorn pops, right? My guess is some people think because the very surface feels dry the whole thing is...
Wood has to dry through the natural evaporative process. In cut off chunks of new wood, or wood we have found out in the woods, we actually want to slow down this evaporation. Rapid evaporation is what causes cracks.
I said that because it has been asked on here and other forums before, and even had some vehemently argue the microwave's case. However no samples of work more than a couple weeks old could be supplied to prove it was a reasonable way to dry wood. Somewhere on the internet, with all the other boobery concerning our craft, someone has stated this worked. Thus it became instant fact. Much like the 'how to make a knife' videos on YouTube touting a still black hot blade being quenched in Tab soda or something as the end-all-be-all of knifemaking. 'If you follow my instructions this will be the bestest blade evar!!!' type stuff.
Sorry... soapbox put away now. I just hate that anyone can post on YouTube some how-to doing potentially serious harm inducing or deadly things and it will get 'liked', followed, copied and even touted as fact. And there is very little if any recourse should someone follow it and actually get hurt...

Cheers, good luck with your wood! What species you pick up anyhow? Some nice Quercus Alba maybe? Lol.
 
I would cut it up to well block size because smaller stuff will season better and take the bark off and store somewhere that doesn't get wet, to cold or too hot this is coming from experience I had to do this same thing when a made bow and arrows from wood I cut a from the forest surrounding my house. Good luck -Calvin
 
Remove the bark.
Saw at least 1" off the ends and pain the ends with house paint. Be sure you have cut past all cracks.
Set on stickers ( small slats of wood to raise above the floor or shelf surface), and leave to dry for 1 year.
Cut off the ends, removing all cracks. Check with a moisture meter.
If below 15% moisture, cut into oversize blocks and let sit for at least 3 months, or as long as is necessary to reach 10% moisture content. It may be another year.
Trim a few promising blocks to size and sand to see grain and pattern. Look for cracks and other problems.
Depending on the wood type and purpose desired, have the best blocks stabilized.
 
Thank you
LucyCustomKnives,
Spartanwarrior,
Hengelo_77,
and bladsmth

So much wisdom is really helpful. Given that a batch seems to need ~2 years, it could have taken me well over a decade to figure this out by trial and error. :eek:

Tomorrow I will get me some house paint from Home Despot. Is it just normal paint for the house or the actual stucco?
I could also use some leftover polyurethan for wood which I had used to seal a chess board.

Thanks again for everybody's help.
You guys are awesome!
 
Any sealant will work. Old house paint, polyurethane, etc. Quality and condition won't matter. All it will need to do is slow the evaporation from the end grain, to prevent or slow down cracks forming. This way the wood dries slower as the moisture evaporates from the side grain. If the wood is large or thick, cutting into flitches ( thick planks) after it has dries for about a year is a good idea. If it is smaller or thinner, you can cut the wood into oversize blocks after a year. This will allow it to complete the drying better and quicker....but it can take a total of several more years for some thick and dense wood to dry enough to use. Two years is a minimum for most woods.
 
Does the same rule apply to other woods, such as Zircote, Lignum Vitae, or Ironwood?

I ask because from time to time I find interesting wood samples at estate sales from people involved in crafts like pen making, wood turning, etc. One never knows how aged those woods are, but if a wood is sufficiently dense and oily, is it safe to assume the standard drying procedures don't apply?
 
As already mentioned, trim and seal the ends.
Tryppyr, especially with dense woods.
Stacy gave good overall advice.
LucyCustomKnives is correct with what he said about microwaving. Some woods will actually combust in the microwave. Years back I put a rain wet piece of walnut burl in the microwave. Smoke started coming out of one of the burl eyes. I cut the chunk in half and there was a burning ember inside the block.
If you are bringing in wood that is wet it may already have cracks and checks. You just can't see them yet because the wood is wet and swollen.
Keep the wood out of direct sunlight too.
 
LucyCustomKnives said:
I just hate that anyone can post on YouTube some how-to doing potentially serious harm inducing or deadly things and it will get 'liked', followed, copied and even touted as fact. And there is very little if any recourse should someone follow it and actually get hurt...
Click to expand...

Bit off topic, but speaking of microwaves and youtube..I actually saw a video otherday in which somebody apparently thought they could temper the blade through the use of one. All I know is that the video showed him placing one in one unless he was using some strange oven with a revolving plate.
 
Wood cracks starting at the pith. If you can cut the pith out it will help with the cracking. If the wood does start to crack, super glue will stop further cracking.
 
Thanks again. I have now cut off all end pieces and used Elmer's on most since it's super cheap.
I also figured out the wood.
It is Interior Live Oak.
If that behaves like normal oak wood I think it will do well for knife handles.
 
Tom Lewis said:
Wood cracks starting at the pith. If you can cut the pith out it will help with the cracking. If the wood does start to crack, super glue will stop further cracking.
Click to expand...

I don't know if we are describing the pith differently or what.... but what I was taught was the pith is only the very centermost portion of the tree/branch/log.. On trees say 2' in diameter, the pith is maybe the center fraction of an inch. Removal would mean centerboring the log if it is a fully intact log.

Wood cracks because it shrinks unevenly. Duh, right? It shrinks lengthwise least, within the grain some, and widthwise across the grain most (viewed as a standing tree.) Cracks can form anywhere the shrinking builds up enough tension between two areas in the wood to pull them apart. In a perfect cross section of a tree, this would appear to start with the pith only because it is the weakest portion of the wood. (The pith lives a short life as new groth then dies. Once surrounded it decays. We rarely want the pith in anything we make out of wood if it is avoidable.) Any other rotted portion in the wood will do the same...

To seal up a perfectly cross sectional log to dry, don't attempt to remove the pith, just seal it up on the ends and place it away from direct sunlight in a cool and stable environment. Our biggest concern is sealing the ends. Water leaves the tree the same way it flowed through it when it was alive, up and down, not across... Even in a piece of split wood, the concern is still the endgrain.

I was taught house paint is fine, minwax wood sealer and glue work fine, melting some paraffin wax and using it is great, etc. Basically anything that will slow down the rapid drying that takes place from the ends is what we are looking for.

If we are talking about two different things, my apologies. This is what I understood to be correct.

-Eric
 
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