Replies

1. 
   Upraiser | May 09, 2002 03:32am | #1

   I hope you have better luck than I did. The section I had was 48" long about 20", Nice looking stuff.  I resawed mine into 1" to 4" material, sealed the ends with paint and wax, stacked & stuck it, and let it air dry inside. 

   It twisted something terrible, split and became fire wood.

   The tree was a nice one, lots of long clear trunk, but also with lots of built in stress. It was a big back yard tree that a friend had.

   I do not get my hopes up much for the back yard specials.  I have had good luck with trees from the forest.

   I still will give it a go.

   The only fast way of drying wood that I know of is with a kiln, or you can microwave  it on low.  Makes a nice smell and you won't believe the amount of water you get.

   Curt

2. 
   woodshaver | May 16, 2002 07:36am | #2

   try  soaking it  in  poly ethelynglycol (peg)  to displace  the water in the wood. and  keep it out  of  direct  sunlight. good luck.

1. 
   t6543ab | May 17, 2002 03:45am | #3

   Hi WoodShaver,

   Thanks for your tip...

   Can you (or someone else) explain to me, how exactly PEG works? Where can I find that stuff. Is it toxic, flammable, etc? Do I have to submerge the whole piece or can the PEG be "painted" on?

    Regards

   Andreas

1. 
   woodshaver | May 17, 2002 07:24am | #4

   Hi Andreas  (peg) is none toxic,none flammable.   its available at most  woodworking stores and mail order catalogs.  you would have to soak your wood in it , but for how long I dont  know.  Its used alot in green  wood bowl turning.  good luck .  mark.

1. 
   bobhallsr | May 18, 2002 06:33am | #5

   What Woodshaver said.

   PEG treatment of wood was covered in FWW a long time ago, before they went to color printing, maybe. I'd need an index before I'd haul my old copies out of the attic to look for it. Maybe there's a better way.

   PEG comes in a very large range of molecular weights. The lower weights are liquid and not suitable. The stuff you need is a solid that needs to be dissolved in water before soaking the wood. PEG replaces the water molecules in the wood, thus stablizing it. It is not flamable, but it is combustable.

   BJ Gardening, cooking and woodworking in Southern Maryland

2. 
   UncleDunc | May 18, 2002 08:37am | #6

   Fairly thorough discussion of PEG in Bruce Hoadley's book Understanding Wood. Probably available from Taunton. I can't imagine that they would let it go out of print.