redwood slabs

[jack]

Hello,

I have three slabs of redwood.  30"x 5' x 4''

I was asked to cure these for a customer.  and i was wondering should i just airdry them with endsealer on the ends and knots?

or..........What would you suggest?   I was going to soak them in water then place them in a cool garage for some slow drying. 

in the fall i will be installing a nyle L200 kiln but until then......

Your suggestions are appreciated

[Ianab]

Hi Jack and welcome to the forum 

I like big working with big slabs like that too.

I haven't dried any Redwood, but I've had good luck with Cypress and Cedar slabs like that just stacking them up in the shed on oversize stickers and forgetting about them for at least a year. Softwood like that seem to be pretty forgiving if you dry them slowly. Sealing the ends is a good idea, but you will probably get some checking around large knots no matter what you do there. The naturally durable ones like these dont seem to stain or get bug eaten so long as they are in dry conditions. I hope the slabs dont contain the pith of the log, they will crack for sure if they do.

Cheers

Ian

[Frank_Pender]

Welcome to the Forum, Jack.  I dry my Sequioa slabs that are up to 16' long x 24" wide and 8" thick by simple air drying them in a very shadiy stand of Douglas Fir.  I have not had to seal the ends to prevent checking, for some reason, but it is always a good idea of security purposes.  If you can stand them on end, you will find that species will dry very rapidly.  Make sure that you do not stand it directly on concrete, but place a good vaopr barrier between the two if you chose to stand the slabe on cement.   It is also a good idea to place as much as 4 or 5 inches of air space on the down end of the slab, allowing for good air movement.

    Good luck with your drying.

[jack]

Thank you all,

I have some Monterey Cypress that im gonna slab........ one piece is  6' at the breast hieghth. and 12foot long.
they are pretty pieces.     Customer wants some confrence tables.
i will cut them this next month,.

take care and thanks again
Jack

[Ianab]

Jack

The Monterrey cyp works really well for that. Thats what I cut most often.
It's fairly soft for table tops, but a company here in NZ finishes them with an epoxy varnish system that toughens the wood and really makes it shine. Might be worth investigating that sort of stuff?

Cheers

Ian

[Fla._Deadheader]

 Gee, all we have is this stuff. 


 








  These are only 36" X 8' X 2". 

  Ed sold 2 to our cheap Wood Buyer, yesterday. Only got $200.00 each.    1 was ¼" thinner. He asked for a discount.  Ed told him, you better get these before I get home. THEN, I'm a gonna get $300.00.

  Buyer said Ed was gettin hard to deal with. I told him, "get used to it". I'm going to Costa Rica. It's you and Ed, now.    Ya otter to have seen the look. The Buyers wife thought it was all pretty funny.