Drying Maple

[willyr]

Got a question for those who have cured wood for gunstocks. I have a good friend and fellow muzzleloader who lost a sugar maple tree during our snow & ice storm last February. The storm topped the tree and he finished cutting it down soon afterward. Sugar maples aren't native to central Mississippi, so I'm assuming this tree was planted over a century ago. He got two logs from it, one eight feet long and the other seven feet long. This thing is hard as a rock and has the most beautiful curl I have ever seen- even into the small limbs. He had it sawn into planks and has painted the ends of the planks with latex house paint. It is currently stored under a shed, off the ground, with slats between the boards and heavy weights on top to prevent warping. Out of the two logs we have four boards two and one half inches thick (quarter sawn) suitable for gunstocks. Question is this- how long does it need to dry?  Neither of us has ever done this before and we need to know if we need to do anything further or just let it dry.
Be Well,
Bill Ridout

[flintriflesmith]

A long standing rule of thumb is that the wood should air dry a minimum one year for each inch in thickness.

Like any general rule there are many factors at play in determining actual drying time--not the least of which is the average relative humidity of where it is stacked. I suspect your RH in Mississippi is rather high (like it is here in tidewater VA) so it may take longer than the conventional wisdom suggests.  A storage site where breezes blow through the stacks is another factor.

Another thing the year per inch rule neglects is the increase stability in the wood as it goes through more and more cycles of seasonal high and low humidity. In really curly wood like you have this can be very important!

I believe that battery powered moisture content readers that range in price from $50 to $400 dollars. I am not up on what features you get for the money but basically you need to be able to track moisture % over time and see when it levels out. Maybe you can borrow one from a local wood supply store.



Gary

[Dennis Glazener]

Gary gave good advice on drying but the problem I had problems with worms!
Not sure how you can prevent them. I sprayed both sides with liquid Sevin before I racked it up in my out building (I let the Sevin dry before hand). Worms still got in over 60 percent of the boards!

If anyone knows how to go about preventing them I would love to know. I currently have more maple and a large qty of walnut drying. I sure hope the worms don't get in those pieces.
Dennis

[Jerry V Lape]

In Mississippi they may never dry.  Send here to Arizona, in two years down to 7% moisture content.  However, even that dry you will need another couple years to get real stability in them.  No vermin problem provided termites are kept at bay.  However, I would point out that the best of the Sugar maple needs pretty cold weather to make good stock wood.  Not sure Mississippi qualifies.  Be interesting to learn. 

[D. Bowman]

Gary gave good advice on drying but the problem I had problems with worms!
Not sure how you can prevent them. I sprayed both sides with liquid Sevin before I racked it up in my out building (I let the Sevin dry before hand). Worms still got in over 60 percent of the boards!

If anyone knows how to go about preventing them I would love to know. I currently have more maple and a large qty of walnut drying. I sure hope the worms don't get in those pieces.
Dennis

I was told by an exterminator to spray my planks with a borax solution to prevent powder post beatles it has worked so far(about 5 or 6 years).

[billd]

If the pieces are of managable size you can weigh them every other month or so. Record the weights. When they stop losing weight they should be stabilized for your climate. 

I bought some walnut from Oregon and had it shipped here to PA. That's what the guy in Oregon told me to do.

Bill

[Jim Chambers]

The best, easiest and least expensive way I've found to prevent beetles from destroying maple is to spray the boards about once a year with lacquer thinner.  I buy the cheapest thinner I can find, put it in a back-pack sprayer, and spray all of my blanks every spring.  Even though the beetles have invaded some of the buildings in the neighborhood, they have never gotten in any of my stock blanks stored in the top of the garage.  Apparently, they don't like the taste of the thinner treated wood, and the thinner does no harm at all to the wood when making it into a gunstock.

[54Bucks]

 You could also check in your area and see if there are any small kiln operators that might dry it.

[Dale Campbell]

He had it sawn into planks and has painted the ends of the planks with latex house paint. It is currently stored under a shed, off the ground,

with slats between the boards and heavy weights on top to prevent warping.

The slats (stickers) must be dry before use, or you will get mold that stains deep into the wood and ruins it.  If they are cutoffs from the logs they need to be replaced.  Others can speak to this from experience.

[Roger Fisher]

I had a buddy that lost a pile of c maple to the beetles.   Said maple was stacked outside under a cover as I recall.  A shame and a waste for certain.   He saved some that was in basement behind the coal stoker!

[Elnathan]

Where are you in Mississippi, if I may ask? I moved down to Hattiesburg last summer.

[Dphariss]

I had a buddy that lost a pile of c maple to the beetles.   Said maple was stacked outside under a cover as I recall.  A shame and a waste for certain.   He saved some that was in basement behind the coal stoker!

I would try copper sulfate solution.
Copper is toxic to just about all bugs and such and was used on horns in colonial times to prevent bugs and worms from eating them
Mad Monk might have an answer.
Dan

[Dennis Glazener]

I had a buddy that lost a pile of c maple to the beetles.   Said maple was stacked outside under a cover as I recall.  A shame and a waste for certain.   He saved some that was in basement behind the coal stoker!

I would try copper sulfate solution.
Copper is toxic to just about all bugs and such and was used on horns in colonial times to prevent bugs and worms from eating them
Mad Monk might have an answer.
Dan

The best, easiest and least expensive way I've found to prevent beetles from destroying maple is to spray the boards about once a year with lacquer thinner.  I buy the cheapest thinner I can find, put it in a back-pack sprayer, and spray all of my blanks every spring.  Even though the beetles have invaded some of the buildings in the neighborhood, they have never gotten in any of my stock blanks stored in the top of the garage.  Apparently, they don't like the taste of the thinner treated wood, and the thinner does no harm at all to the wood when making it into a gunstock.

I will try the lacquer thinner, have some that is old and probably won't use it for anything else.

So are the worms the larvae of the powder post beetle? The holes are tiny on the outside but get much larger inside, really a mess.
Dennis

[willyr]

Elnathan- I am in Raymond, Ms.; my friend with the wood is in Florence. I don't know about it having to be a cold climate for Sugar Maple to grow good gunstocks. I have purchased thru the years fifty some odd stock blanks, and this tree is as hard and tight grained as any I've ever seen. tiny growth rings, too.
     Jim, I will tell my buddy about spraying with laquor thinner. I don't know if you remember meeting me or not- I'm the guy who keeps asking when you're going to do a small Siler in lefty.
      I appreciate all the input from ya'll. I was figuring it would probably take four years to dry.
Be Well,
Bill Ridout

[Eric Krewson]

I moved some beetle ridden osage to my basement and powder post beetles invaded my floor joists. There are two types of treatment for the beetles. One is plain borax dissolved in water. The other is borax mixed with a solvent so it will penetrate the wood. I had the exterminater spray both products on my joists, no more beetles.

Here is the Boracare, pretty expensive but works well.

http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page52.html

[oakridge]

I'm in Mississippi, and my walnut is almost dry. Been stacked since 1975. Haven't tried maple. I might not live that long.

Oakridge

[Acer Saccharum]

Remove all bark. Leaving it on is the surest way to get bugs in the wood.

Make sure your stickers are dry wood. Not wet maple. Not oak. I'd use poplar or pine, already dry.

Also, for what it's worth, the wood in the plank is going to build up a lot of stress as it dries. This stress can lead to loss of quite a few gun blanks, as the planks will probably check.

My plan from now on is to cut the blanks out while the wood is still wet. So when it dries the piece is smaller and won't build such tremendous internal stress. Coat every surface with Titebond glue, especially endgrain. I lost quite a few blanks on my last batch from drying the wood in the plank.

Tom