drying walnut for stock

[fisherman66]

I have purchased a stock blank that was cut into logs in 03 and shaped into block form in 05. It's covered in a light coat of spray wax for prevent splitting. How long do I need to wait for a complete dry before final machining and finishing? What kind of environment would be best?

 

[fisherman66]

Would storing it in a sealed container with desicant help, or would that draw moisture too quick?

 

[brickeyee]

No desicant.
It will get shrinkage cracks (checking) as the outside dries faster than the inside.
I would leave wax only on the ends to slow moisture movement there, and then dry at least one year for every inch of thickness.
This is the general 'rule of thumb' for furniture grade hardwoods.
Since the stock may have high figure (as opposed to straight grain), doubling the time might be a good idea.

 

[fisherman66]

Thanks for the response Brickeyee. I guess I ought to state the dimentions since that will determine the drying time.

<Block size 24x14x3.5> It is burl wood across 90% and waxed on all sides. I can cut a rough shape if it will dry faster and not check or split.

It's been drying 4 years, but only 2 years in block form.

Ambient air humidity fluctuates in N Texas. It gets pretty dry in the summer, but the other 3 seasons ? depends.

It has spent the first 4 years in Fresno, Ca.

 

[Double J]

Walnut

--Here in the soggy bottoms of So. Illinois, it's difficult to air dry walnut. With 100% humidity it takes forever to dry. 10 years or more for a 3x8. Most mills here kiln-dry and it makes pretty funiture but poor gunstocks. Kiln-dried makes the wood brittle and splinters like cedar.
--I search old barns for the beams that have aged as much as 100 years or more and find some good deals (sometimes). This old wood is hard as iron and tough on blades and mill bits, but makes nice stocks. I think the old wood is better because the shrinkage was slow and confined inside the thickness of the old beams. Most of these beams had their ends pegged or pinned that also kept them from splitting.

 

[brickeyee]

The older wood is better since it was usually slower growing.
The tighter grain makes for a better material.
If it is old enough it might even have come from virgin timber that was never even cut before.

Constraining wood does almost nothing to prevent movement.
Slow uniform drying is better.
There is not structural difference between correctly kiln dried wood and air dried wood.
If the kiln guys rush they can ruin the material, but air drying can have the same problems and produce bad checking also.

 

[fisherman66]

It sounds like it could use another year or so of drying from the above comments. I think I will weight it and leave it in wax and place it in the attic for the summer. By fall I will reweight it and prepare it for cutting if there is little change in the weight (indicating it was dry).

Does this sound like a good idea, or will it still dry it too fast if moisture is present? If so where would you place it, just leave it indoors?

 

[williamd]

Thought there was a liquid that wood was soaked in to displace water/moisture (yes, sounds weird). polypropoleneglycol ... or something like that!!!! Yea, sounds like anti-freeze! Thumbed through Brownell's and found zip .... some thing in the back of my old cobwebs?

I have worked several blanks and most were sealed as described (waxy). Doinf a full length one now. Always thought the wax was to it from absorbing after drying. Have had trouble with only one and it had really wavey grains (very pretty, too) and twisted until I had to turn it into pistol grips. It was okay in the blank slab but trimmed down started to do the twist. W/o music.

 

[fisherman66]

PEG (you got really close to the chemical name) is that liquid. I found a long article on it today, but it's for fresh green wood, not almost dry wood according to that article. It may already have undergone that treatment and the seller just called it "waxed".

 

[srtrax]

I have several blanks that i keep in the garage, most are still green. Bought em that way. I took the wax off off what i think was one of my nicer looking blanks, because my stockmaker at the time told me it needed to breath. It took a deep breath and split and warped like crazy . The ones in total coverage with wax are doing just fine, two at 2 yrs. old. be nice to know when wax can come off and adjust to N.E. Oklahomas moisture, or stablize to it. Other blanks bought said 4 to 6 years dry, had only ends sealed, and i unsealed them to let them get stablized to my area, with no problems.I guess i did'nt answer your question, but gave you my experince with what i've gone through. I would think if you went back and asked the supplier, they should be able to answer what is the right way to do it.

 

[T. O'Heir]

Get yourself a moisture meter. It'll tell you the moisture content. How long it takes a stock to air dry, naturally, depends on the average humidity etc where you are. This guy figures 10% is ok. http://www.gunstockblanks.com/

 

[Horseman]

Drying stocks in attic

Fisherman66

I would not recomend storing any wood in an attic. The attic has very dramatic swings in temperature and more importantly humidity. The swings are even more pronounced than outside. Even a properly vented attic can act like an oven certain times of the day. Here in the midwest we can see attic temps swing from 130 to 60 in the same day. That swing means a lot of expansion and contraction for any wood to tolerate. I think it would be better off in the house even if it takes longer IMHO. Good luck.

 

[fisherman66]

Thanks Horseman. I'm keeping it inside (bedroom). I keep it behind the door that never closes (a phenomenon that starts upon having children). My wife has yet to notice. Here it is BTW.

Forgot to add...that's not the original piece I purchased. When I received the first order it was half the stated dimensions. I was given this block to replace it. Since I can get straight grain in the wrist area I quite pleased with the way it turned out. I believe I can get 2 stocks out of this billet.

 

[Harry Bonar]

drying

Sir:
Air dry walnut and maple or cherry 1 year per inch of thickness with the ends coated heavilly with melted wax!
Harry B.