Why wrap tree chunks in plastic?

[weo]

Hello all. Question for the wood handle processors out there. I've read many times that the best thing to do with wood intended for handle material is to wrap it in plastic for a year or so before cutting it up. Why is that?

The reason for my question is that I did wrap up about 10 chunks of maple and cherry burl in plastic about 3 months ago, and today I decided to check on some and noticed that, in addition to the mold and slime I've read about, there was also a significant amount of rotting/punky wood that wasn't there when I wrapped them up.

I proceeded to cut up the 3 chunks into over-sized blocks (~2"x1 1/2"x5") and stacked them in an unused room in my house. I'm not too worried about them drying too quickly (we'll see) as I live in the wet part of WA, and don't use much heat in my house. I heat with a wood stove, which isn't even burning for most of the week while I'm working out of town, and the room doesn't get much of the heat anyway.

Should I leave the 6 other bags wrapped up or should I cut up the rest of the wood? The trees were felled in the spring of last year.

Thanks
~billyO

 

[Lieblad]

They still need to breathe. The moisture has to escape somehow.
Needs a few holes punched or otherwise just not 100% sealed tight.

 

[12345678910]

The ends of the limbs lose moisture faster than through the bark/skin


To prevent the ends from cracking, checking, splitting, you coat the ends with wax, or paint, or something.


It still allows drying at a more controlled moderate pace



Then after a time, maybe longer than a year
you cut into oversized blocks.

 

[Burl Source]

The only wood that I have wrapped in plastic was Madrone. That was to slow drying down so the wood would not pull itself apart while drying. Madrone is also very slow to decompose so it did not become soft like you experienced. If you are drying woods like maple and cherry you should be fine just sealing the ends. If it were me, I would unwrap the others and cut them slightly oversized like you mentioned.
It is a good idea to seal the ends or they will very likely check, even in western Washington.