Thread: Aging Walnut?

So grandpa turned 90 last week and he's still going to dances every Saturday night with his lovely first wife of 70 years!

However, the reality of the matter is that nobody lasts forever and I want to set aside some walnut wood from his orchard for future use in scales as a way to commemorate him in the next decade or three. I know that walnut, or any wood for that matter, isn't the best scale material when it's not aged properly. Traditionally, we just harvest a downed tree and cut it up and leave it outside for season or two to dry out and toss it into the fireplace. What would your recommendations be for aging some wood for use in the future?

While I'm by no means a master wood worker, I believe experienced wood workers dry wood in a kiln to make sure its no longer green and is ready for use...

...and a 'get around' for folks who don't have a kiln and want to dry green wood quicker than it would take simply by leaving it in dry place outside is to place it in the attic during summer for several weeks. Can't say how long for sure since it'll vary on temps and piece sizes but I'm sure if you google it or check some woodworking forums you'll be able to find more info.

Good on Grampa!
Seasoning wood's not rocket science. Keep on mind this stuff is only theoretical for me, my schooling was further in the past than I like to think of, and I usually just buy kiln dried lumber, but all you need to do is keep it stored flat, dry and ventilated. Normally it's seasoned with "stickers" between the courses of wood, and the weight of wood in the stack helps to keep it from warping as it dries. If you have only a small amount you may want to consider keeping it weighted somehow so it can't twist. Allow about 1 year per inch of thickness, give or take. Don't dry it too fast or it could tend to check or crack, which I think walnut is bad for anyways. Set aside more than you think you'll need.

I think walnut would make good looking scales. Especially some with a family connection could give a razor a lot of soul. It's fairly hard and dense, as I'm sure you know if you've had to split and stack it, and tools fairly well. And the grain variance can be huge.

If you a large tree trunk, you could take it to a local mill and have them resaw it to rough cut planks then have it kiln dried. Tell them to 'quarter saw' it into 4/4'ths boards. Once kiln dried, you could have it plained down to surfaced lumber, what we call s2s or s4s (surfaced 2 sides, surfaced 4 sides). That just means the boards are plained down and jointed into smooth finished ready to use boards. After that they will keep for a long time provided they are kept dry and stored flat to prevent warp/twisting.

If you are just looking to have a limb cured, then clean cut the limb on either end, leave the bark on and paint the cut ends with some cheap latex paint to seal them. That will let the wood cure (dry) evenly and minimise/prevent checking. Only problem with doing this, you may have critters under the bark that will continue to eat at the wood for years leaving you with swiss cheese walnut. Depending on the thickness of the wood, it will take a couple years to many years to dry and it is still 'moist' in the end.

Only way to truly dry wood is with a kiln. Air dry will get you around 10-15% moisture which is still wet. Kiln dry is around 6-8% but even kiln dried wood will pick up moisture from the environment if it is humid. The main goal of a kiln is even, controlled drying to prevent checking/cracking/warping/bowing/etc...

If you just wanted to limb managable pieces, say 1x1x6's, soak them or paint them with Pentacryl. Soak overnight, or paint then until they won't drink anymore. Leave them anywhere, warping will not be an issue.

If you want to use some of the green wood immediately, put it in the microwave in a brown paper bag. Hit it with short bursts, 10-15 seconds, on high until no more moisture shows itself on the bag. Doing it slow will ensure that (most of the time) you get no warping. A microwave and a kiln work on the same principal, they both try to dispel moisture. This works on burl and other woods.

I would not heat the wood, as this would adversely affect the color above certain temperatures. A wood kiln is not so much like one for pottery (a heated space) as a controlled space for moisture. If wood dries too fast it will check and split, but by keeping the relative humidity of the kiln near 100% but with some turnover the wood will dry slowly and evenly.

If you want to "kiln" the wood, making a bag out of 3 or 4 layers of newspaper with masking tape seams can be used on smaller pieces...


Cannonfodder has the best idea, though: Look for a local mill to do it for you!

Originally Posted by cannonfodder

If you a large tree trunk, you could take it to a local mill and have them resaw it to rough cut planks then have it kiln dried. Tell them to 'quarter saw' it into 4/4'ths boards. ]
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checking/cracking/warping/bowing/etc...

+1 to these ideas. You can also use canning wax on the ends instead of latex paint.

Most mills use paraffin wax on green exotic woods. If you have a block of wax sitting around it would be a good use for it. You would have to melt it in a pan then brush it on with a paint brush but most folks have easier access to paint than blocks of paraffin. Down side to wax, makes a mess getting it all off. You either have to scrape it all off with a straight edge then ruin a couple sanding belts sanding it off or run it through a plainer to shave it off and gum up your plainer. Paint sands off easy but either will work quite well.

Most mills will do it relatively inexpensively. If you just have a small block they may even toss it in with the production batch for free if you explain your situation.

Parifin wax is readily available in grocery stores. It is commonly used for preserving jellies, jams and numerous types of fruit and vegetable preserves.