I always knew green wood weighed a lot more than dried wood. Ask my trailer springs. :-?
I cut a round off a log the other day. This section came from a freshly cut live Ponderosa Pine. It's not an even slice. One edge it's about 9/16 inch and at the thickest point about an inch. That's a 12 inch floor tile to give a sense of scale. Hmm. The grout needs cleaning.
(https://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q75/djmillerbucket/oddsnends/IMG_2842.jpg)
It weighed 2 lbs, 6.5 oz. on the 12th, the day I cut it. As of today, the 16th, it has lost a full pound of water. That's about 16 fluid ounces.
Just in case your day was going slow, or you were interested.
It will have to lose all of its extra water before the cells will start losing their water then the shrinking will start. I have measured around 5/8 to 7/8 inch per 12" wide board.
A log will shrink for about 2 yrs if solid - not split.
Don, would you consider this more or less exciting than watching paint dry :question [smiley=smiley_up.gif] [smiley=smiley_down.gif] :D
I'd say the wood is on a par with the paint. Although the wood would be a longer term project. A side bonus is that it is portable unlike most of my paint projects.
It took 3 days for the first cracks to appear. Many very fine cracks/checks on the sanded side whereas the rough cut side is only clearly showing one larger crack. As well it is noted that near the thinner edge there is not yet any visible cracking. The cracking is more pronounced as the disc thickness increases.
I would have guessed the opposite, that the thinner part would be more susceptable to cracking.
Beats watching TV. :)
Norm Abrams has nothing on us. If he ever travels out this way again we can show him a few tricks. He did a house in Tucson at one time.
Quote
#1:Norm Abrams has nothing on us.
#2: If he ever travels out this way again we can show him a few tricks.
#1: I think most folks on this forum could learn a lot from Norm.
#2: I also think Norm listens and learns from other people his show has shown that thru the years , different tools and techniques have been tried and taught.
And Mtn. D, all in all the most riveting thread on the board this week 8-)
Not that that sez much for what's been bantered / talked about :'( :'(
Peg I agree. Norm is a superb craftsman. He has tools I never dreamed of at his disposal. And he has one thing that has always been in short supply for me-patience.
The disc seems to have settled at 1 lb. 5 oz. That's where it was Sat AM and that's where it was when we got back tonight. That's a loss of 17.5 oz of water.
Thanks Paul. 8-)
I agree PEG...Especially about this thread. I've weighed gun stocks, measured them as they dry and checked the moisture content.....but Don is doing this with his usual methodical, through technique. I'm kind of interested in the checking.
Stick with it Don ! ;)
Norm is tied with my top two woodworkers. The other is Roy Underhill. I worked with him on a movie once and he is just as interesting and just as big a character in person as on his show. And yes....he cut himself ;D
Something strange going on with my wood disc. :-\
The first image I posted was of the B side, with my inscribed notes.
Here is the A side, the sanded side, taken at the same time, 7:37 11/16.
The thinnest part of the disc is at about 7 o'clock. Note the series of fine cracks checking that appear in the upper part of the disc. Also the one larger crack at 9 o'clock.
(https://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q75/djmillerbucket/oddsnends/IMG_283911-16.jpg)
Below is a shot I took today, 4:46 11/19. Note that the upper cracks have nearly all completely closed up while the crack at 9 o'clock has become much larger.
(https://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q75/djmillerbucket/oddsnends/IMG_286411-19.jpg)
I would have never thought something like this could happen. Here is a closeup of the "healed" area.
(https://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q75/djmillerbucket/oddsnends/IMG_2864croppedupper.jpg)
I should own a Moisture Content meter to make the data more complete... :(
My guess would be that shrinkage, hence forces of tension are greater in the sap wood on the outside than they are in the drier wood in the heart.
This caused the smaller cracking all around until the 9 o'clock temblor let loose and relieved tensions once more. Sorry -- I got to thinking earthquakes there for a minute.. and how a quake can relieve tensions along the entire fault line. ::)
Same thing. If you'd been an ant or something walking across the disc when it underwent the transformation you'd likely have felt something. Or lost a leg in a closing crevasse. ;)
Wow, watching wood dry is a lot more exciting than watching paint dry! Paint just dries, that's it. No opening and closing crevases or anything. This is much better. d* Kinda like watching an action movie.
Exciting ;D
Do you have enough Smileys yet desdawg? I see you are enjoying them. c*
John mentioned we could do more with them so I checked it out a bit. [crz]
Yes, I'm surprised that this would be such an interesting threat! c*
Quote from: Sassy on November 21, 2007, 12:31:14 PM
Yes, I'm surprised that this would be such an interesting threat! c*
Ah-- yes ... an interesting threat. MountainDon. He could attack us with drying wood disks. [eek]
I never mentioned before, but that is an 86 year old Ponderosa. Things grow slowly up there in the mountains. Some rings were very narrow/thin.
Interesting. :)
That is pretty old for that small.
Yeah Glenn, I have to play with the smilies. You can add more if you want. I see I am not alone with that.
You found a couple that suit me real well. [crz] d*
In the past few days the round lost another 0.60 ounce. The split increased considerably. I had it sitting under one of the hot air registers/outlets.
(https://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q75/djmillerbucket/oddsnends/IMG_2908-11-26.jpg)
I guess that's about all more than likely.
I think you should now start taking measurements and see if it widens.
I have been doing some reading about cordwood construction and there seems to be some different opinions regarding drying time for the wood to be used. And it varies by species. Softwoods (conifers) seem to be the first choice with cedar high on the preferred list. Hardwoods are more susceptable to shrinkage and swelling. So what I have been reading would indicate that hardwoods be dried for less time so there wouldn't be a lot of swelling when they get into the mortar. Rob Roy has written a few books on the topic and he has a website. See Rob Roys comments here:
http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/QandA/cordwoodQandA.htm#types
I had been assuming that my Junipers were a form of cedar. They smell like cedar when you cut into them. Come to find out that they are classed in the cypress family. Very confusing to this country boy as I had always thought of cypress as a wood that came from wet environments as in Florida swamps. I think the entire process is a work in progress and your research is probably the right thing to do. You may want to experiment with more than just the one variety of wood.
I have heard of hardwood getting wet and breaking walls when it swells -- probably in the Rob Roy book. ???
I think so Glenn. The recommendation was to lay up a test section and measure the height then measure it again later and see if it had grown taller. I thought that was kind of interesting. [cool]
Hmmm. Walls that grow. :-\
I've been following this thread and it's got me wondering. Is the kind of thing old farts do when it's too cold to work outside? ???
Some of them hang out on Countryplans just hoping someone has an issue they need help with. ;D
Quote from: ScottA on November 27, 2007, 11:24:20 PM
Is the kind of thing old farts do when it's too cold to work outside? ???
Doesn't even have to get cold sometimes. ;D
For more even slower paced excitement be sure to drop in to the Pentacryl (http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=3540.0) topic. In the next day or so I'll remove the slab from the soaking bag, weigh it and begin the slow air drying process with weight updates, glossy photos, running commentary and all. It'll almost be too much to bear. ;D
Well atleast I know what to look forward to when I retire. d*
Sounds like a line from Alice's Restaurant Don. 27 8X10 glossy photos with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one..."
Thanksgiving wouldn't seem right without listening to Arlo Guthrie's Alices Restaurant Massacree in three part harmony. ???
;D ;D ;D
I was wondering if anyone would pickup on that. :o
For those younger members of the forum:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice's_Restaurant
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064002/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_7C0QGkiVo
Arlo's looking a little older... But I guess I do too. ;D
I'm a little older than Arlo. ;)
... you can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant...
whistlin' & hummin' as I can't carry a tune in a sack. :-[
I was still in HS, but remember it. Good song and good cause.:)
Quote from: glenn kangiser on November 29, 2007, 12:00:21 AMI was still in HS,
I keep forgetting you're a young whippersnapper. ;D
I had to go find the MP3 and play it through once. [cool]
::) I even had long hair back then. :o :-[
I had hair back then. Started losing it as soon as I got married. :-\
That was before he married me ::) now he's growing it back - just not on his head rofl :-* :-*
What is it with this aging thing? ... Hair in my ears, hair in my nose, eyebrows gone wild!!
I spend as much time trimming those parts as I do my beard!
(I clicked a wrong thing there, sorry.)
rofl rofl rofl
Don't you hate it when that happens, Don. rofl rofl
QuoteSassy said:
That was before he married me Roll Eyes now he's growing it back - just not on his head rofl
What is it with this aging thing? ... Hair in my ears, hair in my nose, eyebrows gone wild!!
I spend as much time trimming those parts as I do my beard!
Fortunately I saved a copy of it.
I was laughing me head off reading it to Sassy, and seriously trying to get her to go in and shave.
:)
rofl rofl rofl rofl
Geeesh, MountainDon, give a guy a little power & look what he does ::) n* d* rofl
Don't feel bad, Don -- I did it once and have caught myself more than once - awesome power, eh?hmm rofl
:-[ Just a little slip of the mouse..... :-[ d* :-[ d* d*
But it sure was good for a few laughs, wasn't it?
Blame it on a wardrobe malfunction.:)
I bought a car once from a cousin of Arlo's
I once played the song on repeat for like 30+ days one time...I would sing it in my dreams while sleeping....Drove my friends insane... My wife has a good sense of humor...One of the first things she ever gave me after we got married was an old original Alice restaurant album and the CD... And of course I played it until she wanted to rupture her ear drums... ;)
Another thread successfully derailed! [cool] c*
rofl Seems to happen alot around here.
And to finish the line in the song started above...excepting Alice.
Bruce