Drying slab

[Eazyduzzit]

A friend off mine is experimenting with a chainsaw mill he rigged up. He brought me an approximately 24” X 30” X 3” oak slab this evening. It’s from the crotch of an oak that almost fell on his house. I thought he was bringing it by just to show me and I was admiring the beautiful grain and he said he was giving it to me because he had 2 more the he had cut. I have never come across any anything like this. I usually buy my wood already dried. I’m wondering if someone can tell the best way to let this dry without ruing it. Thanks in advance for any help.

[jteneyck]

A friend off mine is experimenting with a chainsaw mill he rigged up. He brought me an approximately 24” X 30” X 3” oak slab this evening. It’s from the crotch of an oak that almost fell on his house. I thought he was bringing it by just to show me and I was admiring the beautiful grain and he said he was giving it to me because he had 2 more the he had cut. I have never come across any anything like this. I usually buy my wood already dried. I’m wondering if someone can tell the best way to let this dry without ruing it. Thanks in advance for any help.

Drying crotch wood is a crap shoot at best.  If it's white oak it's even more likely to crack than red oak.  In any case, you need to put it somewhere with some airflow but no direct sun, and keep the rain off it.  An open shed would work well, but outdoors is usually best.  The old saying is it takes a year to dry for every inch of thickness, so patience is important, and keeping rain off it all that time.  Here's a photo of how I rack lumber/slabs for drying.



Do not bring it indoors into a conditioned space until it's less than 30% moisture content, fully air dry (12% where I live) being even better.  After you bring it indoors you can expect it will take several more months to get down to the equilibrium moisture content of that space.  At that point, at long last, you can use it for something.  

John

[Eazyduzzit]

Thanks for the input. It looks like you have a wealth of wood!

[OneStaple]

Seal the ends of the slab with something, and soon. Anchorseal, a thick layer of old paint, wax, etc. For crotch wood slabs, I've also seen people (who run big slab lumber options) seal the figured part of the crotch to help avoid cracks there too.

Pictures?

Tyler

[Eazyduzzit]

I did know to seal the ends. I’ll try to remember to take a picture after work today.

[jteneyck]

I did know to seal the ends. I’ll try to remember to take a picture after work today.

Sealing the ends is only effective if done within the first 3 days, and the sooner the better, after the log is cut to length.  

John