Just Felled Silver Birch

[Mayo Farmer]

I was chopping a couple of trees this morning and then logging them for firewood, but I managed to get some quite decent Inch slices of Silver Birch and was wondering if they would be any use as a backer.

So a few questions. I have read threads on this section before but not with 100% concentration as I didn't have any freshly sawed wood.

1 How do I stabilise this just chopped wood?
2 What is denatured alcohol? Does it have any similarity to Methylated spirit or to Mineral spirits?
3 Is it OK then to finish the piece with Danish Oil or BLO?

Thanks for any help

[Bill Wilson]

When you say "slices", are you talking about cross grain cuts?

Denatured alcohol & mineral spirits are different animals. DNA is essentially pure ethanol (grain alcohol) with some nasty stuff added to make it unfit to drink. This is done so that it can be manufactured, sold & used as a solvent without being subject to the same laws & restrictions placed on drinking alcohol. Methylated spirits is another name for DNA. Mineral spirits = paint thinner, which is a petroleum distillate.

[Mayo Farmer]

Hi Bill, these are the slices, the ruler is half a metre. They are just sliced across the width of the tree.

Can I do anything useful with them?

[journeyman]

Hi Mayo, Bill has given you the perfect explanation. I must say until I joined this forum I hadn't heard of denatured alcohol, but as Bill says it's simply meths. I have had some success drying small rounds by immersing them in meths overnight and then leaving them until the meths evaporates out of the wood. Try it on some pieces you can't really use for anything else first and see how it goes. Good luck with it and keep us posted on your results.
Mick

[Mayo Farmer]

Thanks Mick, I'll give it a go.

[Bill Wilson]

Most of the moisture in wood passes through the end grain as it's drying. This means that end grain is much more prone to checking, shrinking & cracking than say the long grain surface of a board, sawn from the tree. The challenge with drying slabs like you have there is that since it's all end grain, it dries much more quickly. This accelerated shrinking will cause splits & cracks across the radial grain. Think of where you hit a log with the maul when you're splitting it. It splits easiest into those pie shaped pieces. This is exactly where these kinds of slabs will crack as they dry.

Now I have no practical experience in drying these kinds of slabs, but from what I've read, you need to dry them very slowly. In fact, I just read a post on another woodworking forum about this topic and the suggestion was made to soak the slab in a wood stabilizing solution that contains PEG (polyethylene glycol). I have no idea where one finds this stuff, but apparently what it does is replace the water in the wood and it never actually dries completely, thus helping prevent the wood from shrinking and cracking.

I don't know if any of this helps, but good luck with the slabs. I hope you're successful and I'm anxious to see what you make out of them.

[Mayo Farmer]

Bill thanks for that, it makes a lot of sense. I'll give it a go, nothing to lose, but I'll be prepared for some lovely firewood.