Drying wood

[Herb]

I have some short sections of a pecan tree and am wondering if is best to seal the ends of the shorts and let them dry or slab them up, sticker and let them dry? They are about 2 feet to three feet long.

Thank you,

[goaliedad]

Do you want flat stock or turning blanks? If flat stock, mill it then dry. IMHO anyway

[Phil S.]

Sealing the ends helps to minimize checking. The thinner they are the faster they will dry. You just need to settle on how thick you'd like them to be for your intended use. Some more opinions here:
http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Sa..._Wood.html

Phil

[ianab]

Sealing the ends of the wood with some sort of wax reduces the end splitting. For a small job like this you could melt some paraffin wax and dip the ends in it. More important with short pieces as you don't want to loose 6" off each end.

Slabbing it into planks means it will dry faster (months instead of years) and is less likely to split as it dries. Trying to dry wood in log form both takes a LONG time, and is likely to split apart at random.

Then get it set up on 1x1 stickers, preferably outside with the breeze can get at it initially. Under a carport or similar is good. Out of the sun and rain, but where the breeze can get at it.

Once you get down under 20%, usually a few months, it's safe to bring inside and re-sticker in the shop, attic, spare room etc and let it dry the rest of the way. It will eventually dry down to whatever your inside equilibrium is.

[CalebL]

I use an oil based paint liberally on the ends of my logs. You will want to mill the pecan and dry it stacked and stickered with weight or straps as it likes to move while drying.

I've milled dry pecans logs but it takes a lot longer and uses a lot blades to keep from ruining the lumber. Very hard to mill any of the "nut" logs when they are dry.

[Pink Floyd]

Seal, mill, sticker, dry