I spoke with the nearest kiln, about drying the walnut leg slabs. The guy=
said I don't want to kiln dry root ball material, or it will split all kin=
ds of ways. He said that kind of wood needs to air dry slowly.
I would have thought the root wood would be more stable, be less resistant =
to splitting, compared to straight grained or normal lumber.
I'll make the leg units almost complete, attach temporary trestles (stained=
pine?), rather than use the finished walnut trestles. I'll use the table=
, as is, for several years (until the legs dry), then complete the project.=
It should still look decent, half done, this way. =20
I have one slab hand planed to almost flat.... that was tough work. I sti=
ll need to do some chainsaw trimming on the other slab, before any hand pla=
ning on it. =20
The table top boards have air dried for almost 2 years, so I'm confident I =
can finish these. I've done lots of hand planing on them, but will likely =
have the local woodworks pro shop do a finish-planing on them. They charg=
e $3 per minute for planing. Later, I may get an estimate for wide belt s=
anding of the leg units, also.
Sonny
On 5/9/2014 2:43 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
> On 5/9/2014 1:47 PM, Sonny wrote:
>> I spoke with the nearest kiln, about drying the walnut leg slabs.
>> The guy said I don't want to kiln dry root ball material, or it will
>> split all kinds of ways. He said that kind of wood needs to air dry
>> slowly.
>>
>> I would have thought the root wood would be more stable, be less
>> resistant to splitting, compared to straight grained or normal lumber.
>>
>
> I'm not an expert, but it seems logical. Thick sections of anything has
> to be done slowly, be it wood or a pot roast. You don't want the root
> balls to be like a steak seared on a hot grill.
>
And root balls have more twisting and stresses in them, like burls.
--
Jeff
On 5/9/2014 1:47 PM, Sonny wrote:
> I spoke with the nearest kiln, about drying the walnut leg slabs. The guy said I don't want to kiln dry root ball material, or it will split all kinds of ways. He said that kind of wood needs to air dry slowly.
>
> I would have thought the root wood would be more stable, be less resistant to splitting, compared to straight grained or normal lumber.
>
I'm not an expert, but it seems logical. Thick sections of anything has
to be done slowly, be it wood or a pot roast. You don't want the root
balls to be like a steak seared on a hot grill.