I cut an Acacia tree stump down and got a slab out of the middle – dimensions are 50 x 14 x 3 inches. The wood is green. I stabilized some cracks with butterfly keys and got it pretty level. I plan to make a live edge hall table. The slab is the entire top and will not be joined with any other wood.
My question is on drying time in this case. (I know the rule on “1” per year” drying time.) I thought I might let it dry for a year, thinking this would make it stable enough and the outside fairly dry. I know the inside would not be dry but cannot see how that would matter. I would then level it, finish it and attach it to the legs with allowance for future movement. What am I missing here? Does anyone see any problems that might develop in this case?
Thanks
Replies
Dry Time
Why not level it as much as you can while it's green. After a year you can build the project but the possibility of cracks developing will always be a possibility. May not be extreme cracks but hopefully if they occur they seem part of the slab wood design.
SA
My guess would be that if you finish both surfaces in the same manner, and both are equally exposed to the air, you might be reasonably safe to use the slab (in the manner you describe) after a year.
The worst that can happen is warping and splitting that would require resurfacing (again, both surfaces equally) so you'd end up with a 3/4" top. ;-)
well...........
" I know the inside would not be dry but cannot see how that would matter "
Please don't take offense, but that thought is as about fundamentally flawed as things don't have to be square. On the surface yea you have stablizied the cracks but if it's 3" thick and its only dried a year with out a kiln, then you are only about a third of the way there. While I'm not familiar with that species of wood so not knowing the chararaistics and how it moves(moisture content) it may only move a bit, but have not second thoughts it still has some moving to do. Also impacting your situation is how stable is your area related to humidity chage. Not how humid, but how much it swings. I lived in different parts of the country and it makes a difference. You can level but it won't stay Now that does not mean you can't deal with it as you go along flatten / re-finish. I also wonder how attachment point will impact things if it moves.
If you absolutely cannot wait and before finishing, I'd flatten set it in the shop and watch it with winding sticks for 1-3 months and if it stays pretty good then you can go ahead. Unfortunately this craft has a lot of patience built in. In my early days, wound up with some oopsies by not being patient. Being older now its not as hard. Good luck and post some pictures. We'd love to see the nice piece you are doing.
Machining, finishing, and bringing the table into your house before it is dried is crazy talk. The moisture in the middle of the board will continue to wick to the outer surface which ruin the finish. Not to mention that the board will continue to shrink radially and tangentially which will cause the board to cup, twist,and bow. A three inch board could take three years to air dry to an equilibrium moisture content. If you are in such a hurry have it kiln drie.
OK, I am convinced. I'll take my time.
I am thinking maybe you can dry the wood by kiln which can speed up the process rather than just relying on air drying. It is also ideal to cut the wood as desired for use and dry them. Making it thin will make more surface exposed to air therefore it would take shorter time to dry. - J.S.
the harder the wood, the longer the drying time. Harder wood means more dense wood pories, so the cells are tightened together which disable the free moisture flow from the inside to the outside. It is true that once the outside of the board is dry, it does not mean that the inside is also dry, which make the board crack on the surface... We therefore recommend kiln driy (artificially drying)
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled