# Drying time for oak slabs



## IowaDave (May 21, 2015)

I recently had to remove a large pin oak in my yard and my son wants to make some live edge tables from the trunk. Realizing that the wood will need to dry for some length of time...are we best off leaving the log intact now and letting it dry for a year or two or more as is? OR should we mill the slabs now and air dry them in that form? 

We would sticker the slabs and so forth...I just don't know if we should cut the slabs now or later. Any advice is appreciated. TIA.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*It won't dry "in the log" .....*



IowaDave said:


> I recently had to remove a large pin oak in my yard and my son wants to make some live edge tables from the trunk. Realizing that the wood will need to dry for some length of time...are we best off leaving the log intact now and letting it dry for a year or two or more as is? OR should we mill the slabs now and air dry them in that form?
> 
> We would sticker the slabs and so forth...I just don't know if we should cut the slabs now or later. Any advice is appreciated. TIA.



I'm not a sawyer, but I've had trees sawed on my land. I've air dried hundreds of board feet of Oak, both Red and White and some Maple, typically in 1" thick boards, but also in 2" or 4" thick planks and posts. However, there are solar kilns and vacuum kilns that will greatly speed up the drying process. This video is about a lumber mill that provides a kiln drying service, but of course you'd need to bring the slabs to them. You can either air dry them on your own, build a solar kiln or farm them out to a local kiln drying service, but always seal the ends right after milling and bind and weigh down the slabs after stickering to prevent warping and promote even air circulation. This mill uses a swing saw to get the most from the log:










Other useful videos here:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=drying+slab+lumber


The above video gave me an idea of using a discarded refrigerator with vertical doors to use as a kiln. I would tip it on it's back a load it laying down. Longer boards will fit in a double door ref/freezer than any other models. Ironically, I have a huge 48" wide disabled Sub Zero that would be perfect for that IF I needed to make my own kiln ....hmmm.


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## High_Water (Sep 13, 2019)

The general consensus is that the greener the log the easier it is to mill. If you already know what you want cut then go ahead and cut it, you could leave the log whole to dry for a decade and it will not be as dry as slabs would be after a year of air drying.


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## IowaDave (May 21, 2015)

Thanks guys. We have decided to go ahead and have it milled now. We will bring it back home as slabs and then sticker them and let them air dry for a year or so here. Now then, getting someone from a sawmill anywhere near us is the next challenge.


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## IowaDave (May 21, 2015)

Just an update. We took the log to a local sawyer and that was the right call for us. He was very knowledgeable and had handled big logs like this before plenty of times. Because the log diameter exceeded the saw diameter capacity, the process we followed was to split the log lengthwise with a big 30" bar chainsaw. Then the log was milled in "halves" and yielded enough wood that we should be able to fashion 4 big tables out of it some day.

It is all stickered and stacked in my warehouse, with the ends being well painted and ratchet straps around the whole shebang and then CMU's on top to prevent any warpage. I plan on letting it air dry for a year or so and then finishing it in a kiln that I plan on building in the next few months.

Thanks for the helpful advice.


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