williaty Posted April 12, 2016 Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 I just bought a chunk about the size of a normal red brick of spalted maple off ebay. It's freshly cut and wet to the touch. It's starting to grow a little mold. I know I need to dry it out somewhat quickly to get the mold stopped and to prevent the spalting fungus from softening the wood further. The wood is so spalted and figured I can't identify a face grain and end grain side to figure out which is the end grain to coat it with wax. Should I coat the whole thing in wax? Just let it air dry as-is? Try to microwave dry it? What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted April 12, 2016 Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 Wet to the touch and growing mold is out of my ballpark but I would definately do something soon. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williaty Posted April 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 Well the growing mold part I'm sure is due to being wrapped in plastic so it wouldn't start to dry while it was being shipped from Oregon to Ohio. I've left it in a plastic bag until I get some input on how to start drying it. My experience with store-bought 2x4s is that they come from Lowe's wet to the touch and with active growing mold but if you leave them in the garage at 45% humidity it kills off the mold within a week. I've never measured the MC of a 2x4 new and then after a month in the garage. That might be interesting. I should do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted April 12, 2016 Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 If you make wood dry that quickly, you're begging for it to split. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted April 12, 2016 Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 Why did you buy it to begin with? If it's the size of a brick.... you'd have been better off taking a walk in the woods, and picking up deadfall! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williaty Posted April 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 It's the best combination of burl figure and spalting I've ever seen in a block this large. I typically only see stuff this good in pen-blank size at which point it's close to $100 for this volume. At $5, I wasn't going to hesitate. We get a tremendous amount of spalted wood from our yard but none of it comes close to being this pretty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted April 12, 2016 Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 If it is wet to the touch, do NOT attempt to microwave it! Microwaves work primarily by heating the water molecules. You could actually boil the water trapped inside the wood, turn it to steam, and rupture the wood. Trust me, trapped steam is as good as dynamite. Maybe you could stick it inside a preheated oven for a minute or two to flash dry the surface and stop the mold. For long-term, take a page from the bowl turner's handbook. Pack it inside a bag or box full of wood shavings to dissipate the moisture slowly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted April 12, 2016 Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 46 minutes ago, williaty said: It's the best combination of burl figure and spalting I've ever seen in a block this large. I typically only see stuff this good in pen-blank size at which point it's close to $100 for this volume. At $5, I wasn't going to hesitate. We get a tremendous amount of spalted wood from our yard but none of it comes close to being this pretty. I feel like you owe us a picture Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janello Posted April 12, 2016 Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 Scrape the entire surface, seal the end grain and let it air dry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AceHoleInOne Posted April 12, 2016 Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 Wash with 50/50 household bleach and water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted April 12, 2016 Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 You'll need to seal it completely in wax and set it somewhere for a few years if you don't want it to check into a million pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephThomas Posted April 12, 2016 Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 Add some pictures... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cancelleri Posted April 12, 2016 Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 I'd remove the mold with bleach/water mixture, then coat it in anchorseal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
collinb Posted April 12, 2016 Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 This raises a question in my mind about drying wood. When electronics get wet it is often the case that a time in the oven on a relatively modest temp like 125 F is good to dry things out before they start to condense. Can this be safely done with wood or will this type of drying lead to checking or other problems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzaius Posted April 12, 2016 Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 What about drying in a vacuum chamber. I may be showing my ignorance with this question, but that's OK cause I'm completely ignorant about this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Bob Posted April 12, 2016 Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 This is what I would do. Buy some polyethylene glycol, Rocker and others sell it, and follow the attached link. If you add a 3% solution of Borax to the PEG, you will kill the mold while you are stabilizing the wood. I have done this quite a few time and it works. The only down side is that I would not consider the wood food safe. http://owic.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/files/pubs/peg.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted April 13, 2016 Report Share Posted April 13, 2016 9 hours ago, Just Bob said: This is what I would do. Buy some polyethylene glycol, Rocker and others sell it, and follow the attached link. If you add a 3% solution of Borax to the PEG, you will kill the mold while you are stabilizing the wood. I have done this quite a few time and it works. The only down side is that I would not consider the wood food safe. http://owic.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/files/pubs/peg.pdf It's been years since I've heard the name Borax. When I was a kid there was a commercial about 20 Mule Team Borax. I didn't know then and still don't know what it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post williaty Posted April 13, 2016 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted April 13, 2016 Borax is a cleaning agent. It's also required for welding iron together with a hammer at the forge. So, I cleaned the mold off with a bleach solution and then inspected the block with a microscope to try to determine which face was the end grain. The conclusion was that all the faces were the end grain In the end, I just sealed all 6 faced with wax and I'll check back in 3 years. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted April 13, 2016 Report Share Posted April 13, 2016 13 minutes ago, K Cooper said: It's been years since I've heard the name Borax. When I was a kid there was a commercial about 20 Mule Team Borax. I didn't know then and still don't know what it is. Borax was mined in Death Valley and hauled in wagon trains pulled by mule teams as big as twenty in number. It's a historical reference. We buy it in bulk and mix up our own laundry detergent. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted April 13, 2016 Report Share Posted April 13, 2016 4 minutes ago, C Shaffer said: Borax was mined in Death Valley and hauled in wagon trains pulled by mule teams as big as twenty in number. It's a historical reference. We buy it in bulk and mix up our own laundry detergent. So how do you get it in those little water soluable packets that you just toss in the washer? Just kidding as I actually think that's a pretty cool idea. So as not to hj this anymore than I already have, would you mind sending me the recipe via pm, please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Bob Posted April 13, 2016 Report Share Posted April 13, 2016 25 minutes ago, K Cooper said: It's been years since I've heard the name Borax. When I was a kid there was a commercial about 20 Mule Team Borax. I didn't know then and still don't know what it is. it's kind of like powdered duct tape. It can be used as flux for welding, washing your clothes, cleaning a piece of wood that's got bugs, etc.. I don't wash the clothes so I don't use it for that. I do use it for wood, and metal, and I pour a line of it around my firewood stack to keep the bugs that want in, out, and the bug that are in, in. Works great for carpenter ants. 24 minutes ago, williaty said: Borax is a cleaning agent. It's also required for welding iron together with a hammer at the forge. So, I cleaned the mold off with a bleach solution and then inspected the block with a microscope to try to determine which face was the end grain. The conclusion was that all the faces were the end grain In the end, I just sealed all 6 faced with wax and I'll check back in 3 years. At my age I don't want to wait 3 years. PEG would have you up and running in less than 3 months. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williaty Posted April 13, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2016 2 hours ago, Just Bob said: At my age I don't want to wait 3 years. PEG would have you up and running in less than 3 months. PEG limits your future options for finishing, does it not? In reality, it won't actually sit there for 3 years. I should have a vacuum kiln up and running by the end of the summer that should dry fresh-cut wood down into the single digits of MC within a few days. Once I prove the kiln is working, I'll toss this chunk in there and have it ready to work with by the fall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Bob Posted April 13, 2016 Report Share Posted April 13, 2016 8 hours ago, williaty said: PEG limits your future options for finishing, does it not? Kind of...It wont play nice with PVA glue, but epoxy and CA work just fine. I use Danish oil with no problems. I really like using PEG for smaller chunks of green/wet wood because it almost eliminates moisture related checking and cracks, and I don't have to mess with weighing, or having pieces of wood stored in paper bags or any of the other stuff related to green wood. I also use it on small (knife scale) pieces to help stop cracking in an expensive exotic, and it really helps protect the wood from water exposure. It is just another available method. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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