How do you dry fresh sawn timber fast successfully? Also can you use epoxy resin to seal fresh sawn to stop warping
randomwoodguy
| Posted in Wood and Materials on
Hello I was wondering if anyone knew the quickest and easiest way to dry timber quickly ready for furniture builds from fresh sawn timber , and if I used a wood moisture checking device is there a general figure for when it’s dried enough for all timbers ?
Also if you sealed fresh sawn wood with polyester resin or epoxy resin without proper drying would the strength of the resin and the seal it created stop it from warping and cracking ? Thanks
Replies
Quickest and easiest is to find a local kiln and pay for space in one of their runs. Q#2...my guess: The resin would seal the green wood from outside air, but would probably delaminate from the wood over time. I think you would be left with a board in a bubble. It might be stable, but certainly useless. I encourage you to try it to test my "theory".
I think after reading the reply’s today I think the kiln drying is the best way forward . Thanks for your reply.
But yes I’m curious about it to so I am actually going to get some fresh sawn timber , resin it an it’ll become an experiment !
This experiment has been done several times and demonstrated that sealing wet wood will cause the wood to decay and the resin to peel away.
Ok thanks for the information !
What is quickly to you? A year? 8 years? Air drying, and it depends on the type of wood but I'm in the 8 year catagory. Dry kiln is the answer for fast. I had friend that did an art installation years ago at a high end New York gallery that was stuff like dead fish and vegetables sealed in blocks of resin. They blew up right there in the gallery! So, maybe if you seal your wet lumber good enough you can make a bomb!
A bomb haha .. brilliant !
Ye kiln drying is the best bet not taking chances ruining a build by using half green wood , thanks for your help
But, never done it myself but some people attempt to accomplish that with PEG.
One of the finest presentations on wood and preparing wood that I have found is in the book "The Fine Art of Cabinet Making" by James Krenov. Good Luck
And the ends sealed to prevent splitting.
Thanks for you feedback . Just for interest if you leave it stacked up outside how can you tell when it’s ready to use for furniture building? Is there tell tale sign ? Or if I used a moisture gage device what readings should it show ? Thanks again
Hello thanks for your information do you have any recommendations what’s best for sealing the ends with ? Thanks again
Anchorseal
I don't really aim for a specific number with my moisture meter. What I do is find a piece of scrap in my shop of the same species, something that has been around for a while and measure that first. That is my target. What the moisture should be will depend on the humidity of your shop, an will even change seasonally. I do this with kiln dried wood that I bring into the shop as well, sometimes if it is really freshly kilned it needs a few weeks to come up to equilibrium with the shop air.
Using the same species is important because meters can read different species a little bit different.
A rule of thumb is 1 year per inch of thickness for air dried, but that is just a guess.
Thank you that’s very helpful information !
Cheers mate
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