When to cut apple wood up?

[email protected] wrote:
>
> Cut now. Make a frame to clamp up the boards. Sticker each board
> every 6" . Make a frame to clamp the top of the pile. Using long
> clamps, clamp the framed boards together and tighten every day.
> Park the pile in a dry place (basement ?) under a tarp next to a
> dehumidifier sucking air over the pile.

I agree with everything above, but you left out the most important
part.

Go drive around a "transitional neighborhood" and find somebody who'll
take $50 for their yard-car, preferably a Buick. Chrysler's good too.

Drive that car on top of the pile, but make sure it's covered first so
the leaking transmission fluid doesn't ruin it.

Wait until juuuuuust the exact perfect moment when you think it's dry
enough, then don't touch it for another year. Once you hear the pile
begin to check and split, then take it out two weeks just prior to
that.

I have a neighbor a quarter mile away who works apple. Not much out
there more beautiful than apple.

Sometimes, if the wind's still and the humidity's just right, I can
hear him cursing all the way down at my place. I know he's working his
apple.

His cat knows not to go anywhere near him when he moves that Buick.

In article <[email protected]>, Toller
<[email protected]> wrote:

> Do I cut up the apple wood now, or wait a while to get it dry out?

Cut it now. Apple twists, warps, checks and distorts like crazy.

On Thu, 17 Aug 2006 20:23:33 GMT, "Toller" <[email protected]> wrote:

>A neighbor cut down an apple tree. I don't expect to get much wood out of
>it, but maybe a few spoons or something.
>
>Well, it cuts easily enough, but it is really wet.
>I did some walnut 4 months ago. It was much more difficult to cut, and also
>much drier.
>
>Do I cut up the apple wood now, or wait a while to get it dry out?
>
>Why is the apple wood so much wetter than the walnut? Is it the time of
>year (August-April), the size of the tree (1'dia-4'dia), or just the type of
>wood?
>

Cut now. Make a frame to clamp up the boards. Sticker each board
every 6" . Make a frame to clamp the top of the pile. Using long
clamps, clamp the framed boards together and tighten every day.
Park the pile in a dry place (basement ?) under a tarp next to a
dehumidifier sucking air over the pile. After a few weeks, the clamps
will stay tight - more or less but keep checking the clamps. Keep
your eyes on the water in the dehumidifier . As it begins to not fill
up so fast, (in a few months 3-4) , unclamp the boards and resticker,
then reclamp. In a few more months when the water tub no longer
fills and the dehumidifier runs rarely, take out one board and let it
sit all by it self for a day or so. If it warps, it's still wet.

It took my log about 5 months in the clamps in the basement before I
could cut veneers that stayed stable.

I live in Winnipeg. If you are nearby, I want some of that wood -
I'll help cut it up and everything.

Pete

Toller wrote:
> A neighbor cut down an apple tree. I don't expect to get much wood out of
> it, but maybe a few spoons or something.
>
> Well, it cuts easily enough, but it is really wet.
> I did some walnut 4 months ago. It was much more difficult to cut, and also
> much drier.
>
> Do I cut up the apple wood now, or wait a while to get it dry out?
>
> Why is the apple wood so much wetter than the walnut? Is it the time of
> year (August-April), the size of the tree (1'dia-4'dia), or just the type of
> wood?
>
>
How do lumber mills do it? I don't suppose those
logs in the mill pond get very dry, do you?

Wet wood is more easily cut than dry but leaves a
rougher cut. That's why you cut enough larger to
allow for milling to dimension. Wood is dryer
during the non growing season and wetter during
the growing season.