Replies

1. 
   roy.unit8c | Dec 16, 2019 08:28am | #1

   I think that location of the wood as it dries makes a difference. I have red oak that is quarter riven outside on cider blocks under a tarp for over two years. It is wet still and you can smell it when you saw it. Boards that were sawed two years ago that were one and a half inch and stored on a concrete floored porch that gets evening sun are dry. The concrete and sun make a kind of micro-climate that I believe speed up the drying process. A solar powered drying kiln sounds like a good idea that I might try some day.

2. 
   Eideann | Dec 20, 2019 10:48am | #2

   Hey there,

   You don't necessarily need to have it outside to dry, however you get a nice breeze which circulates airflow, helping it to dry. Taking it inside you can at least have some control over the conditions. If you're going to take it in, stack it on some blocks or something like that with stickers. Sticker again over that with some plywood or another flat piece of something. Add some bricks on top to keep it "Flat," at least as flat as possible while it drys.

   I hope you're not planning on doing this project soon, because it's going to take a couple years to fully dry it... You might be able to get away with not drying it all the way as some kind of floating mantle, but you still could come across problems (cracking, twisting). That might be fine depending on your aesthetic, but personally I wouldn't. A board that thick has a lot of internal tensions and it's going to do what it wants to do. At least by drying it you are limiting the amount of potential movement down the road.

   Get a moisture metre and see what some other wood items are reading at in your house. That will tell you where you should try to get to. If you are looking to get this done asap, i'd suggest getting another board that's already dried. Alternatively, you could get some more oak and build a faux beam/slab. In other words, use some thinner material that is joined together to look like it's a big thick slab. There's lots of ways to do this (ripped and flipped, mitered joinery, etc).

   Or just be patient!

3. 
   BossCrunkReboot | Dec 20, 2019 11:05am | #3

   Cut it to approximate size and store in your house if you can. Don't paint the ends if you do this. It needs to finish all its twisting and moving before you start working it. Painting the ends just delays the inevitable. You don't want the thing moving a lot when you start working it to final dimensions. Red oak is notoriously unstable in its flatsawn form. If you trim a painted end one day, it has the potential to be a pretzel the next.

4. 
   _mj_ | Dec 20, 2019 08:31pm | #4

   I must respectfully disagree regarding the painting of the ends.. moisture is lost faster through the ends of "the straws" that make up the structure of lumber than through the "walls" of those straws as lumber gives up moisture to reach equilibrium with the surrounding air. This is especially true with open grain woods like red oak.
   Painting the ends retards moisture loss through the open end grain and equalizes moisture loss to make the board lose moisture evenly over it's full length.
   The likelyhood of sudden movement of a board properly dried because thd painted ends are removed is remote, and more likely due to sudden absorbtion of ambient moisture than the reverse.

5. 
   Eideann | Dec 21, 2019 08:20am | #5

   I second what MJ said. The point of the paint is to try to better equalize drying and minimize checking and cracking at the ends where it's would otherwise dry far quicker.