# How should I store my wood for turning?



## coffeetime (Dec 28, 2006)

I have what I believe to be white oak. It is a tree that feel down but is not laying on the ground. It is about 16" diameter and I cut it into about 14" long logs (8 of them). The bark is still on real tight but there is some decay in the center. My moisture meter battery is dead but I would guess at least 35% moisture.
This should give me enough to keep me turning a few months and I want to know how to store it to insure it will still be usuable. I do have a bandsaw big enough to cut it up if this is infact the best way to store it. Or should I just paint the ends, or ???

TIA
Mike


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## littlebuddha (Aug 25, 2007)

Big question, loads of diff replies and ways people handle there wood.
Me as soon as i get any wood i or someone eles has cut i wax the ends, i make sure that i can dip most into some form of container as if you do not have the wax hot enough and dip it for awhile then it will only sit on the top of the wood and its best to get into the grain and fill, genrally if the wax is clear then its a good job if its white in color then not so good, bit like soldering dirty wire you get a dry joint.
The other thing is that i try to keep the wood as long as poss, depending on the wieght, this way if the ends crack you still have something left.
If i have the time then i cut it into the sizes that i am going to use ie, boxes, bowls, vases and so on then rought them out to about 1" thickness for bowls bit lest for boxes, the end grain is then waxed, and stored. I have one shop that is for just wood and storing my cut turning wood. Most of the tree wood that is about 8" dia and down to smaller stuff is kept around 4' waxed and left on pallets and covered with plastic corregated sheet just to keep it dryish and has plenty of air to circulate.
Some of the wood like sycamore i like to turn straight from the green down to about 2mm wall and friction dry with sanding.
The decay in the centre depending on how bad and what it looks like can be used to make a nice piece, you could soak the the cut wood in pva diluted glue for a few days then leave to dry, if the decay is only small then use super glue to harden it, if its just soft punky wood a good few coats of sanding sealer is good, celulose sealer. car body filler and other stuff can be used, just depends on the wood and what you are going to turn but a bad bit of wood can be a great turning, cracks and warts. End of the lesson on behalf of the BBC please turn in same channel same time next week...LB


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## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

LB pretty well covered what I do. I seldom have the time to rough things out so I try to split the logs at Heart to reduce the checking. I don't do that a lot because I usually have enough wood that if it starts to check I just cut it up into smaller squares, like 4x4 or 3x3 etc. I use these after the dry. I lose a fair amount off the ends but it was free wood anyway. 
I use a product called Anchorseal end grain sealer. It doesn't work quite as good as a thick layer of wax but is infinitely safer.


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## [email protected] (Dec 28, 2007)

*Storig wood prior to turning or cutting*

Good advice so far, but I've found that a thick layer of laytex paint is fine for six months or so. It works quite well on wet or dry wood, and is cheep, as I don't care about color. Once cut to size, I put it in a microwave heated vacuum chamber, it takes out the moisture from the inside out. Most people won't do that though, as I don't know anyone else that knows how to build one. Keeping it out of the sun, and weather is most emportant, let it dry slowly with plenty of ventalation. If you are working with very wet wood like you would with bowls, then you will want to keep the wood moist for three weeks with a humidifier in a confined space. That will keep it from cracking, then reduce the humidity until it is dry enough to work, sand and polish, seal, and polish with white paper wadded up, put on your finish again and again until it is perfect. If you are going to dye or stain, do it before any sealing.:smile:


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## Sawman (Feb 14, 2008)

I once putt a piece of figured maple into a plastic bag and stuffed that with dry shavings, hoping it would dry slow. After a few months i pulled that piece out of that bag and it was sort of scary lookin'. It had some mold on it, I think a bug or two jumped off and took of runnin' but I chucked it on the lathe and turned a very beutiful spalted maple bowl. It turned out great. I wish I could come across another piece of that. I'd stuff it in a plastic bag with shavings. But I guess a peice of maple like that is the only thing I would incourage mold growth on. I've heard that pager bags work to slow down the drying process. I'm still learning myself.


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