# Drying Cedar?



## floyd242 (Jan 20, 2011)

Hi, this is my first post and I'm pretty new to all this. I found some really cool crosscuts of an aromatic cedar log that I want to and sand down and maybe make into clocks or something. They were cut a couple of weeks ago and are starting to crack. What should I do to prevent them cracking any more and how long should I wait until I can work with them? Can I dry them in my convection oven or something?

Thanks!

-
Chris


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## HerbC (Jul 28, 2010)

Chris,

Welcome to LJs!

Larger slabs of wood cut perpendicular to the grain are know as "cookies." Most cookies from most species of wood will crack or split during the drying process. If the pieces you have are already cracking there's not much you can do to prevent further cracking. The best chance you have to get uncracked cookies would be to coat them with a good endsealer such as Anchorseal to slow down the drying process. This might allow the stresses to equalize and minimize the cracking (known as checking).

Some woods a less prone to the problem than others, for instance clocks made from cookies of bald cypress stumps were very popular back in the 70s and early 80s.

You can also reduce the tendency of the cookies to crack by cutting them on more of a diagonal to the grain.

Good Luck and remember…

Be Careful!


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## wmodavis (Aug 28, 2007)

The most critical time to act to prevent cracks from developing in most green wood is immediately after it is harvested. Most wood degrade problems occur in the first one third of moisture removal. As Herb said it's good to coat the end grain with a sealer to slow moisture desorption.


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