Wood storage

[TomBartlett]

I've managed to get hold of some wood (mainly birch) and I'm not sure of the best way to store it without it drying out too much before I can get round to turning it into something interesting. Hoping for some helpful suggestions on keeping it 'fresh'.

 

[SOAR]

Leave the bark on and leave it out of direct sunlight, you can cut and split some to the size you require, say for spoons then store it in bags in the freezer, then bring it out for when your ready.

 

[grey-array]

And If you want to dry it as a big log, One thing to make it dry evenly is place the log horizontally, and two if you don't want any splits in the end, you could put somekind of sealer on the buts, allot of materials work for this, glue, paint, hairspray even helps allot. but indeed leave the bark on, and if your really serious about not wanting to let it split you can cover the piece of wood/ roll it into an plastic tarp or something like that, but don't use an air tight plastic bag, this will almost freeze the drying process.
Hope that helps ^^

 

[grey-array]

** reads the post another time after posting previous comment**
So what you would wanna do is create some kind of a plastic bag in which you seal the wood, so a tarp with duct-tape to keep it pretty much airtight
yours sincerely a man who will next time read the question well, before he speaks.

 

[SOAR]

If you seal it air tight it will sweat and go mouldy!.

 

[grey-array]

Simon also if you keep the collection cool, cause so far I didn't have any problems with that?

 

[Ian S]

Generally there are a number of things you can do:

1) Keep it long
2) Keep it cool
3) Split it in half if possible
4) Treat the ends with some sort of sealer

Wood shrinks as it dries, and this will cause it to crack. Splitting it in half lengthwise allows the rest of the wood (hopefully - this is not an exact science!) to move without splitting.

You will have a problem with Birch, however. Birch will rot fast - if it lasts three months green and without rotting you've done well. Loads of info about this sort of thing on the Bodger's website:

http://www.bodgers.org.uk/bb/phpBB2/index.php

 

[TomBartlett]

Cheers for the help. I've heard that de-barking birch helps to stop it from rotting, but I don't want it to dry out too quickly. I guess my best option is just to get busy turning it into spoons asap!

 

[mr dazzler]

You will have a problem with Birch, however. Birch will rot fast - if it lasts three months green and without rotting you've done well.

LOL I know exactly what you mean. You have to cut and split birch firewood very quickly after its felled or else you end up with heaps of "cinder toffee" which is next to impossible to split properly...

 

[santaman2000]

The old logging companies used to store saw logs in shallow lakes until they were ready to use them. When I was still logging for a living we used to fish some perfectly usable old logs out of the river that had been cut over 100 years before.

I know a shallow lake is a bit much but you could probably accomplish the same thing on a small scale just by floating them in a kiddie wading pool (or a farm water trough if you live in the country)