# 3ft Oak Disc?



## chadzeilenga (Apr 17, 2010)

I was referred to this site from a guy on the OldHouseWeb.com Forums. We recently had to cut down a 150yr old White Oak Tree. From one of the trunks I was able to slice off a 3" thick slab that I have yet to decide what to do with. I'd like to try and limit the amount of cracking that the slab does as I might want to finish or use the surface of it. Is there anything that I can use on it to prevent it from cracking as it dries out? Would it be possible to use boiled linseed oil? If I finished it with tung oil can this go over the linseed oil?


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## wseand40 (Jan 24, 2010)

Pentacryl wood preservative


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## Just Bill (Dec 29, 2008)

I don't know how to stop such a large piece of wood from cracking as it dries out. Not sure a preservative would work, but I have been wrong before.


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

It is going to crack probably,being oak a straight grained wood, but that does not mean it is ruined IMO. We talk about cross section "cookies" here often:
http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f26/drying-wood-7526/
http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f26/drying-crosscut-slab-13796/
http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f26/what-do-slice-seal-first-4774/

Pentacryl was mentioned as a response to you, I also see another member from one of those threads I linked says he is using it with some success. I have never used it so I cannot comment. You mentioned tung oil. I have saturated maple cross sections before with tung oil (pure tung oil) and kept applying it regularly as the pieces dried, they did not crack...but that was maple not oak, maple is less prone to crack. And yes it can be finished over.

Here is a cross section of white oak I did nothing to (I wanted it to crack so I could "fix" it).


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## Joe Rebuild (Nov 22, 2011)

Daren said:


> It is going to crack probably,being oak a straight grained wood, but that does not mean it is ruined IMO. We talk about cross section "cookies" here often:
> http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f26/drying-wood-7526/
> http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f26/drying-crosscut-slab-13796/
> http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f26/what-do-slice-seal-first-4774/
> ...


Wow Daren and oak in the same conversation :no:


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

Joe Rebuild said:


> Wow Daren and oak in the same conversation


As rare as hen's teeth...

.


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## RedArrow (Jan 19, 2011)

I have about a dozen or so large red and white oak cookies drying. I have coated them all with Anchorseal, a few of them have been saturated with Pentacryl. All of them have cracks. 

I think the best approach is coat them with Anchorseal ASAP, save your $ on the Pentacryl. Then store them out of the sun. 

Don't be upset when they crack.


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## yellabret (Aug 20, 2012)

as for anchor seal - are you sealing both sides? my question is if you seal with anchor seal, then how does the slice dry? i would think it would take many years to dry through the log walls only if the ends are sealed.

i have several red oak cookies about 28-30" and 5-6" thick, the pentracryl solution was too costly, so i am just letting them air dry. we'll see, like Daren said it is not ruined if it cracks. so far no big cracks like Joe's, just a lot of small radial cracks as seen with the radial white lines in his pic. i figure with black stained bondo that will look pretty cool. that said - i have never used bondo but recently heard it works well - any thoughts?


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## ed_h (Dec 1, 2010)

I've tried this a number of times, and I agree with the rest--it's not likely you're going to stop the cracking.

I've pondered the next time I do this, I might put a preemptive saw cut on a radius to the center. This might make it more likely that I'll at least only have a single crack, and I get to pick where it is. Then I could turn the crack into a feature like Daren did, or in some other way. 

I've thought about cleaning straightening up the crack into a nice "V" (after drying), and filling it with a contrasting wood. It's on the list of things to try.


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## Horatio (Apr 4, 2012)

I got my hands on a handful of large live oak and sliced two cookies off. Waxed them up and they split like crazy. I have some larger trunk sections that I used some old latex paint on and they seem to be doing better. My hope is that after they dry out, I can cut the cracked ends off and the interior will be more stable.


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