Free? Holly

[5thumbs]

A neighbor had an old holly tree taken down last week and asked me if I wanted the wood. When I looked at it, I saw that it had been cut into pieces varying in length from 10" - 12". Diameters vary from 6" to 30". Apparently, the tree was over 60 years old. There were some larger pieces that I couldn't lift that were over 36" in diameter and 16" long. The wood is very creamy white; so far I haven't seen any signs of blue stain.

I've Anchorsealed the ends of some of the pieces. I was thinking of using my bandsaw to cut some small boards to use for stringing on boxes. I know Holly tends to warp like crazy but I'm thinking that small pieces for stringing won't be affected too much.

If anyone wants a piece or two, you can either stop by and pick it up or you can have it for the cost of shipping.
What doesn't get used will become firewood next year. I'm in Northern Delaware. PM me if interested.

[TomFromStLouis]

May I suggest that you saw that gem into big chunks and put a fan on it right away? Get that surface dry-ish as fast as possible because blue stain is your primary enemy, not warping or other drying defects. You will get those - you certainly should risk them - because nothing will ruin holly like blue stain. The wood is awesome to work once dry.

[ianab]

I was going to suggest what Tom has mentioned. Get it cut up and drying ASAP. Even if you don't get true blue stain the wood tends to start going gray as soon as it's cut down. The sooner you can get it dry the whiter the wood will remain.

[5thumbs]

Thanks for the drying tip. I've never worked with green holly, so I'll get right on it.

[SteveS]

Getting it drying fast isn't good enough. You need to shoot an aqueous solution of citric acid on the surface to keep it from turning green or gray. It should be sprayed on almost immediately after cutting.

Cutting it into thinner sections so that they dry faster is your best bet to keeping it light colored. Thick sections will dry too slowly.

I had a 16" diameter holly cut down in february, but we don't have winter around here so the wood was as wet as could be. Stacking and stickering the pieces after cutting has kept them pretty flat but the thicker sections still checked some badly, some very little. Keeping pieces 2" and under has been most successful for me.

[JerrySats]

Winter is the best time to cut Holly for lumber and as the others suggested , milling it and drying ASAP is important in keeping it white .

[thai_woodie]

But if you get it processed and keep it white, even with small pieces it is worth the effort. Great stuff to work with and really makes nice accents.

[5thumbs]

I cut a couple of thin slices (~3/8"?) and brought them in the house to dry. The humidity here is brutal right now but the A/C keeps the house at just over 50% RH. So far, they are staying white and not warping too much. We'll see how it goes.....