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the last moisture in a burl

Started by bck, February 26, 2011, 10:08:06 PM

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bck

 When drying most wood, the time from green to below 20% is when most damage happens and after wood is below 20% you are not as likely to damage the wood by drying it, right ?    But what about burl wood ?

If I start with 3" thick burl thats been air drying for a while and is currently 15% , and I want 1" thick boards that are about 8%, would it be ok to slice it now and put it into my homemade DH kiln ? 

What would be the moisture % that you would feel comfortable with sawing burl into 4/4 and sticking it in the DH ?

Ironwood

Burl is VERY tough to dry fully because of the random grain. I have had burl the read dry but once installed cracked in isolated areas of denser wood (dried for years and years). If it is for a customer, then warn them that it could take years to fully equalize, unfortunately my customer was an uptight pair of Doctors that said "remove it" and cost me lots of $$$ for a one inch crack in a 60" long continiously burled vanity top. I got a "bad" vibe from them from the beginning, and know I know when that feeling occurs to RUN!!!

Good luck, expect it to take a long time.

Ironwood
There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love to do, there is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.- Wayne Dyer

Den Socling

To add to Ironwood's reply, it is difficult to estimate MC with burl. Because of the twisted grain, the MC can vary a lot over a very small area. A moisture meter can't give you a reading you can trust. But you are right about damaging dry wood. Most damage is done above 40%. Little damage is done under 28%. But with a 3" slice of burl, it would take a long time to get the core down to the 15% that you mention.

bck

  I wonder if a better option would be to just try and keep my shop's humidity @35-40% , slice the burl into 4/4 and sit it on a shelf and wait ?

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