Freeze drying wood
John Crissman
>Anyone here tried to freeze dry green wood? some of our members have done this with success, but I don't have all of the info yet.
It sure sounds cleaner and faster than anything else.
Thanks,
John
Freeze drying wood
Posts
Re: Freeze drying wood
#2I did
TDaniel
>Results were mixed; some of my blanks did well (maple) and some did poorly (cherry). I think there are a lot of variables in all fast drying methods. How green was the wood when the drying was started, time of year the wood was cut (high sap-low sap), etc. Give it a shot....it won't hurt anything and at the end you can still go back to normal way of drying. My preferred way is to coat the roughed out blank with Anchorseal and then forget it for about 6 months, then trim off the Anchorseal and let it dry another 3 or 4 months before turning to final dimensions. Thicker vessels take longer. Other ways to dry include wrapping in newspaper and changing the paper daily until it is dry after a day, then skip a day, and work your way up to 7-10 days with the paper still dry--then put on the shelf for a few months. Paper boxes are another way to dry; basically, anything that slows the moisture loss without stopping it will give satisfactory results but they all take time.
TD