On Fri, Jul 3, 2009, Andrew Hartig <[email protected]> said:
> > Has anyone on the list had much experience with Holly for peg wood? > I've just come into a few small log sections of Holly from a recently > felled tree; loverly. short pieces will have about as much loss at the ends as longer pieces do, percentage wise this means more loss to end-checking. Seal the ends with paint or wax so that moisture goes out more slowly. Split into quarters if the grain allows that, if it is too inerlocked for splitting saw it on a bandsaw (make a carriage to grip from the ends and stabilise it thru the band saw, if you dont want to work with a carriage, snap a chalk line for a guide). Use scraps of the same wood wood for stickers, darker woods might leave a stain; you might get away with dried maple or sycamore stickers. The point of a sticker is to space the wood while it dries so air can flow all round. Stickers should support the whole stack of wood, align them vertically to each other, use enough of them that no piece is likely to sag enough in drying to prevent you getting the intended yield. If the tree grew tall and straight you should be able to get some wood decent for inlay or pegs. If it grew in an exposed position it may have a twisted trunk (which might show in the bark, and when you split it) revealed some hidden knots and other flaws very common with all trees, less so when grown in crowded conditions like mature forest. Unfortunatly for both of us, I have never had the opportunity to work with green holly, so dont have the experience of how small to take it; too much exposed side wood will speed the evaporation process to the point where internal stresses can cause harm. You can monitor the WC periodically by microwaving small samples (weigh them before/after. Be sure you have ample air flow, also keep from direct sun; an open shed/leanto on the north side of a building, rafters of the garage, something like that. I use shelving in my garage for the few small pieces of green willow, elm, yew, oak, and maple I have done. -- Dana Emery To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
