sealing maple wood cookies

[Maplewalnut]

I recently cut some cookies off a tree cut down. The wood shows these tress were last tapped about 40 years ago and very clearly show tap hole staining. I want to use it as a educational tool and put it on the wall of the sugar house. Has anyone had any luck sealing these pieces of wood to preserve and prevent cracking? It is freshly cut wood if that matters.

Thanks
Mike

[Haynes Forest Products]

I have tried myself to keep the pie shape crack from forming without success. Maybe ratchet strap them tight to mitigate and then try this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvga5aQBFkA

[Maplewalnut]

yea, definitely not. May try a light sand and a coat of polyurethane.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I would think the slower it dries the more the wood stretches and shrinks overall, instead of just instantly exploding maybe allow it to shrink in the log form first. I know you don't know where the holes are but a good guess will allow you to keep a few 4' logs slow drying.

[VT_K9]

I believe wood turners (using burls) keep the wood packed in sawdust to keep the wood from drying too quickly.

I am getting ready to build a large clock to put in my gun shop using a crosscut section from one of our Maples which needed to go to accommodate the new sugarhouse. The tree was dropped in early June with many of the branches left on in case that helps remove some of the sap from the trunk. The roots are exposed as I dug it out and pulled it over vs cutting it and then digging the stump out.

I plan to put a 28" bar on my chainsaw and start cutting as close to the stump as I can to get a larger clock face and look for staining. I am not sure how high I will have to go....but I plan to take the final slab and wrap it with a steel band that is nearly as thick as the slab. I plan to use one or two bolt point (12 and 6 o'clock) to allow for adjustment to keep the band tight.

As I just typed that paragraph as thought crawled into my head...check out the band-it system. We started using it last year for our fittings and it worked great. This system is the one used to hold signs on posts on he highway. It is also used for larger pipe fittings (light pump hose). I think you could try this out and continually tighten as needed when the wood changes size. Some extra work, but it may be worth it.

Mike

[Someclown]

I just finished trying an experiment with two 2" cookies
1st cookie I tried to air dry with a ratchet strap and a 16" log for weight to keep from warping and it started cracking in the center within a week.
2nd cookie was cut and sprayed instantly with clear lacquer to the point were the lacquer saturated through and started coming out the opposite side. The lacquer bubbles slightly because the pores and air releasing out of the wood but since I sprayed it and let it dry the cookie hasn't cracked. I assume the lacquer acted as a glue and bonded all the fibres together, time will tell. I will sand it down and see if I can put west epoxy system clear epoxy over it and hope the two different clears don't have adverse affects on each other.
Good luck

[dw341969]

I did this about 25 years ago with a Douglas for slab. I cut about a 2" slab, then put it on a flat surface, and covered it with plastic so it would dry as slow as possible. I was young and impatient.... After a year, I uncovered it. It was still fully intact and VERY minimal cracking. Wish I would have had a moisture meter back then. Anyway, after I uncovered it, I went to work putting an epoxy finish on it. As soon as I started doing that, several cracks popped up. They grew.... Ruined. Not sure you can do this with conventional methods. I think you need to do some kind of injection method so it bonds all the fibers. I think drying it extremely slow is the first step.

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