Shopsmith Forums

OK, Sterling and I have slabbed up a BUNCH of
wood. Mostly green wood.

I'm wondering if it would be better to start
working on this wood while green, or wait until
it has seasoned. Both of us are thinking about
table tops.

Start now, while it is green, or wait until seasoned?

I've got a 7+ foot long slab, that is 20 inches wide,
and I want to make a "natural edge" coffee table.
Bark will be removed, and the edge will be sanded.

steve

Is it hard wood ?

If you work it wet there is a good chance it will split as it dries .

There is a lot of history about green wood vs dried , vs kiln dried vs air dried that is available on line .

Personally,,,, and this is JMO,,,,, I would dry it in some form to avoid splitting.

I have also noticed wet wood ,, the grain will lift once it starts to dry .


Also the finish will absorb into the wood better in dry wood.


A old German fella told me years ago that a piece of wood is like a sponge.

It breathes unless it is sealed ,,,,if you lay it in water it will absorb water,if you lay it in the sun the water will evaporate,, once the water starts to evaporate from the wood it will stabiise, at the same moisture content as its surroundings, when ever the moisture changes the wood will absorb or release moisture ,,
if you control the evaporation process you can control a ot of major issues .

I have found,,, over the years if you can work it ,,,,and finish it ,,,,,at its lowest moisture content ,, it will absorb the finish much better,,, especially a oil finish or stain.

That also means it is tougher for moisture to be absorbed back into the wood .

Like a sponge if it is completely dry and you dip it in oil , it will fill up with oil and wont absorb water .
Fwiw

My answer, for any building project (other than lathe work) is that you HAVE to dry the wood first! Wood moves all the time in response to temperature, weather, humidity (i.e. water content), etc. You should ONLY work with dry wood!

There are a few exceptions- weird applications where you want the wild changes you will get as the wood dries or when you are turning wood bowls and the like where it is quite common to rough turn the green bowls (leaving them with ample wall thickness), then put the rough turned bowls aside to SLOWLY dry (i.e. in paper bags, in humidity controlled heated cabinets, etc) and, finally, when they are fully dry you re-turn the bowls to final shape.

I think the advantages of green woodworking apply mainly to rough hand work (e.g. hatchets, drawknives, etc.). So, I think it's OK to remove the bark and do really rough shaping. But, I wouldn't saw anything to final size. Certainly no gluing.

But, if you're planning on this being mainly a power woodworking project, I'm not sure I see the advantages to working green.

The only instance where green wood is preferable is when making bowls. Then it need be dried prior to final 'dimensioning'.

Table tops - seasoned(dry) fer sure.

Then it still may warp as internal stresses are 'altered' by sawing.

I did think of another place where you would use green wood - in chair making (but only for certain parts).

Let it dry, Steve. You can cut the year per inch of thickness rule by 1/3 in Mesa. Do you know how long since it was a tree? What species?

JPG wrote:The only instance where green wood is preferable is when making bowls. Then it need be dried prior to final 'dimensioning'.

Table tops - seasoned(dry) fer sure.

Then it still may warp as internal stresses are 'altered' by sawing.

Or in the case of bowls, you go ahead with the final dimension (wall thickness) and let it warp. Then do a final flattening of the bottom when it's finally stable to keep it from wobbling. This leads to some interesting final shapes.

Mother Nature is a much better designer that I am.

Gene Howe wrote:Let it dry, Steve. You can cut the year per inch of thickness rule by 1/3 in Mesa. Do you know how long since it was a tree? What species?

Sterling guesses some kind of acacia

It was sitting in a landscaper's recycle area
for a while.

(This guy runs a recycling center, disposing
of landscaper's cut offs, turning them into
mulch. Close to Sterling's house.)

He found a log, that was about 7.5 feet
long, and between 16 and 20 inches in
diameter. I got (well, am getting) a 10/4
slab of it, not out of the center.

steve

Back in the 70's I helped my dad build ,,,restore ,,,,the wood top of a old Crosby boat ,, he had to special order green lumber from the lumber yard,,,I think it was poplar,,,,we soaked it in water then wrapped it in plastic for a couple weeks ,, then we bent it to the shape of the hull and then rigged it with big cement blocks to keep the shape until it dried.
I suppose there are many use's for green lumber .