Drying and cutting wood

[poolhound]

We had a big storm come through here last week. It took out lots of trees including one in my back yard (willow type) and many in the surrounding streets.

I trimmed back the one in my yard and I could see it had not been very well which is probably why it blew over. I am going to salvage them main trunk which is probably 12-16" in dia and around 6' long.

The ones in the street were euculyptus they city had already been by and cut it into chunks which were left by the side of the road. the ones from the main trunk have been cut into slices 1-3' long. the heart wood looks good but these things weigh a ton and I dont know how I would cut them they are about 3' in dia.

Anyway I did pick up some of the smaller/younger growth which looks to have some interesting rings. these pieces are about 12" dia and 1-3' long.

They are sappy and I wondered what the best thing was for them. should I just leave them outside to dryout before cutting or cut first. The sap is real sticky and would gum up any machine I used.

Like wize with my downed tree trunk. This is dry (not sappy as far as I can tell) so should I cut it now or not. Also should I be looking for some form of special blade for my BS or can I just use my regular 3/4 resaw blade? Will it ruin it?

[leehljp]

Grainy eucalyptus is popular in pen turning circles.

[LCHIEN]

far from expert in this but drying time is supposed to be about 1 year per inch thickness. If you leave a log it will take many years to dry, if you saw it wet to 1" slices then it will dry in a year stacked and stickered. make sure you seal the ends to prevent checking (uneven drying out thru the ends will cause the ends to split).

[cabinetman]

You might consider having your stash kiln dried. That process is much faster and has some advantages. There will be less checking and cracking, and will reduce the moisture content to a lower percentage than the ambient conditions it would be if air dried. Air drying doesn't eradicate fungus or insects as kiln drying would.
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[poolhound]

You might consider having your stash kiln dried. That process is much faster and has some advantages. There will be less checking and cracking, and will reduce the moisture content to a lower percentage than the ambient conditions it would be if air dried. Air drying doesn't eradicate fungus or insects as kiln drying would.
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I dont think I have enough nor is it necessarily high quality enough to warrant paying to have it dried. As temps around here are above 100 deg for at least 4 months of the year and the average daytime temp for the rest of the year is in the 70s drying shouldnt be too much of an issue.

[poolhound]

far from expert in this but drying time is supposed to be about 1 year per inch thickness. If you leave a log it will take many years to dry, if you saw it wet to 1" slices then it will dry in a year stacked and stickered. make sure you seal the ends to prevent checking (uneven drying out thru the ends will cause the ends to split).

Thats what I think I will do with the trunk from my yard. I was more concerned with the "sappy" offcuts from the Euculyptus. If I just leave them for a while I wondered if the sap would dry out and not make a mess of my bandsaw.

Does anybody know if you should use a special blade for "wet" wood?

[shoottx]

Jon

All the information you would want to know about drying wood is in the US Forrest Service's Forrest Products Lab book and site.

Check Here http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fp.../fplgtr113.htm

[poolhound]

Jon

All the information you would want to know about drying wood is in the US Forrest Service's Forrest Products Lab book and site.

Check Here http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fp.../fplgtr113.htm

Wow - everything you ever wanted to know about wood but never dared to ask!!!

[bthere]

Jon

All the information you would want to know about drying wood is in the US Forrest Service's Forrest Products Lab book and site.

Check Here http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fp.../fplgtr113.htm

That is a pretty nice site in general. It sure is good to have resources like that handbook to make sure I understand how little I know.