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Good Hope Hardwoods - Walnut Slabs & Specialty Hardwood Lumber

Winner

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Winner

#1

Winner

Raymond Overman

>Well, I hit the lottery today in SC. A down the street neighbor took down a nice size pecan tree and called me this morning to tell me I could get what I wanted of it. Most of the tree was sound and about 20-24 inches at the base. It had two 12-14 inch limbs off a crotch about 10 feet off the ground.

I got a small load (can't get much in a Jeep Wrangler) to bring home and cut into slab for turning stock. I plan on going back tomorrow for another load since they told me they were going to keep the bulk of it for firewood.

My question is, will it be better to cut it into slab or leave it whole rounds if I wanted to apply my compost pile to it for a while to possibly get some spalt? How long should I let it stew in the compost? This is very green wood and looked to be a fairly healthy tree.

Thanks for any advice.

Raymond Overman

http://www.overmanshop.com

Re: Winner

#2

Re: Winner

Don Orr

>There have been many posts on this very subject on this forum over the past several months. Try searching the archives and see what you can find. I am no expert but I usually cut my log sections down the middle to remove the pith and coat the ends with wax and set them aside. Then you can turn them green or wait for them to dry out more. Seems to be what most folks do one way or another.

Sounds like some good neighbors you have!

Happy and Safe Turning, Don.

Re: Winner

#3

Re: Winner - I guess I should have said gloat

Raymond Overman

>Thanks for the response Don but I've read Russ' article on spalting and Bill Grumbine's bowl blank cutting pictorial on his site is a great resource for showing how to turn logs into turning stock. What I need to know is what order to set the spalt in motion.

No matter, I think what I'm going to do once I have a chance is cut the parallel slabs on each side and remove the pith, then place the slabs in the bottom of my compost pile for a month or so and see what happens. I figure the more surface area, the more chance for the little bacteria to do their thing. Then I can clean the slabs up and wax them for storage until they're dry and ready to turn.

If anyone has a better, faster, or more reliable alternative, let me know.

Thanks,

Raymond Overman

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