#1
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Wood from stump to uke
Long story short - my neighbor is the shop teacher at the local high school and cut down a good sized walnut tree in his backyard about two years ago. He stored a few chunks of it behind his shed and recently quartered them with his students and gave me a few pieces to hopefully be turned into a soprano uke to be auctioned off to raise money for the school.
I've never built with wood that did not come ready to go other than thicknessing from Allied or LMI and have no idea how to proceed. The wood is currently 20% moisture content and .245 thick with a few cracks on the ends. Should I thickness it down before drying it or leave it be until it is single digits dry? Do I need to wax the ends to prevent the cracks from spreading? Can I put it in the oven to quicken the drying time? Thanks for any and all help. https://photos.app.goo.gl/y98AMHeaPjYPrMrf6 |
#2
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Some info here
https://theelectricluthier.com/how-t...ars%20to%20dry. |
#3
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How long and wide is the piece? How long ago has it been cut? What do you have to cut it in half? Do you have a router, drill press, sander?
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Fred |
#4
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Fathand - Thanks for the link! Lots of good information.
printer2 - I've got six pieces of about the same size, each around 15 inches long, 5 inches wide and .25 inches thick. The tree was cut down about two years ago and cut into quartersawn pieces suitable for a uke this week. I have a drill press and bandsaw and have thicknessed uke wood with a hand plane and safety plane on my drill press before. Here are some pictures of the wood. |
#5
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Quote:
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#6
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Thank you runamuck, good advice. My neighbor tried to get it thinner on his bandsaw but said the wood "started to turn to mush". I'll try to thin it with my safety planer tomorrow. If it gums up with that method as well I guess let it age for awhile and try again? I'm definitely going to cut off the cracked ends and wax them ASAP.
Is it just me or does fresh cut walnut kind of smell like bacon? I can't stop sniffing it. |
#7
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I am concerned about the cracks as you do not have too much length to play with. What I would do is glue up the cracks and clamp together. After that wax up the ends and sticker. Now if you want to speed up the process I guess you can dry the wood in the oven. Would have to sticker and weigh them down. I mad a uke sized body with a section of oak that was not quite 'dry' as far as inches/year goes, thicknessed it, blew air through it for a while, turned out fine.
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Fred |