Crafting your own log furnishings.. to dry or not to dry?

[AdironDoc]

I'm considering getting a set of tenon cutters and forstner bits in 1 and 2 inch. I'd like to put a few beds and tables together. It's too late to harvest any timber for this year but this would be a springtime project. I know the lumber for my cabin will dry over 4 months in a kiln. Non-heated wood dries for a year before usable for homes. Is the same true for smaller projects? I'm thinking if the tenons do shrink a bit, it won't be much. Also, don't the the holes they're in shrink as well? Considering the prices on log beds and the like, crafting my own seems like a great fun project.

Doc

[Pine Cone]

I have brought short lengths home to dry in a spare room for a few months before making the mortice and tennons.  That is the ideal situation.  Faster drying will tend to cause more checks and cracks.  Removing the bark will cause things to dry faster, as will cutting the pieces into shorter lengths.

My limited experience indicates that if both mortice and tennons are made from similar pieces of wood (same diameter and species) then the shrinkage is about the same. 

I did make stool/table with a mix of mortice and tennons and then lashed pieces on top.  Four months later the mortice and tenon joints were tight, but I had to redo all the lashings because the wood had shrunk too much.

I have also make some benches out of log slabs with alder legs.  I made one of them with wedges in the ends of the leg tenons, and after a year the tennons were slightly loose until I pounded the wedges in a bit.  Two other benches were made with drier wood and never got loose.

If you can't dry everything, I would try and design the pieces so they have wedges in the ends of the tennons. 

[AdironDoc]

Good idea with the wedges.. and also as I had expected. Just as longer lengths of pipe, roadway, etc, contract and expand more, it makes sense a 20 ft house timber needs more dry time than a 3 ft length for a table. I'll try to get some wood this month, let it sit in my basement by the boiler and use it come summer. I'll go with wedges like you suggest. BTW, saw a $199 lamp called "handmade rustic twig lamp". I swear it was a single metal rod floor lamp with three lengths of twig running its length and fastened with bale wire. I'm in the wrong business, my friend.

Thanks,
Doc

I have brought short lengths home to dry in a spare room for a few months before making the mortice and tennons.  That is the ideal situation.  Faster drying will tend to cause more checks and cracks.  Removing the bark will cause things to dry faster, as will cutting the pieces into shorter lengths.

My limited experience indicates that if both mortice and tennons are made from similar pieces of wood (same diameter and species) then the shrinkage is about the same. 

I did make stool/table with a mix of mortice and tennons and then lashed pieces on top.  Four months later the mortice and tenon joints were tight, but I had to redo all the lashings because the wood had shrunk too much.

I have also make some benches out of log slabs with alder legs.  I made one of them with wedges in the ends of the leg tenons, and after a year the tennons were slightly loose until I pounded the wedges in a bit.  Two other benches were made with drier wood and never got loose.

If you can't dry everything, I would try and design the pieces so they have wedges in the ends of the tennons. 

[das fisch]

yeah some of those "rustic" furniture pieces are just insanely priced. granted some of them are very intricate and might be worth it, but I couldn't fathom spending the money. there have been a few good shows at the adirondack museum up there in Blue Mt. Lake. but the best was the trappers rendevous (as I'm a full time trapper over here in Maine).
I did just complete a bed frame, but cut all the tennons by hand and drilled the mortises. the headboard and footboard are holding together nicely. still need to fit the slats to support the matress.

[MaineRhino]

All i've done so far is railings.



Lots of tedious hand work, but fun.

I'd like to try furniture next.....

[Don_P]

If you have access to a kiln is would sure help prevent importing powderpost beetles if you could run the logs in there at the end of air drying. Everything dies when the core gets above about 130* for a few hours. Bark is an excellent way to bring in bugs, the tastiest meal is the inner layer of bark. If you do want to keep the bark on, it is tightest right now and will "slip" in spring as the cambium divides to form the next growth ring.

Just to bust a myth, sap does not go down. You know what happens when a cell embolizes. A tree cannot re-establish a broken water column. It flows or not but the moisture content is pretty stable and can be higher in winter when there are no leaves to cause transpirational losses.

A dry tennon in a green mortise tightens as the one swells and the other shrinks.

Ditto on what Pine Cone said about slow drying. The surface is drying around a still green and swollen core. Dry it too rapidly and that moisture gradient will increase the checking.

Here's some more interesting history;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodging

[AdironDoc]

Beautiful  work.. I'm waiting on my tenon cutting set. It looks like great fun. Perhaps by next summer I can put together a bed and save the $1500. The drying times were longer than I had expected but I have plenty of standing dead trees, perhaps without rot. I'll have to investigate when I'm next at camp.

BTW.. after looking at this ad, I realized that I'm sitting on over a million dollars of inventory of my own!    Selling country things to city people.. awesome.. Come get your fill, I'll beat their price by 10%

http://www.moderndose.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_32&products_id=340

[glenn kangiser]

Don't forget rocks, Doc.  City people will buy them too.  I got $1500 for a trailer load of big ones set with my crane.