Putting a Magnolia Piece on "Hold"

Mike Turner

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361
Location
Laurinburg NC
If you live in North Carolina know it is hot and humid right now. My shop has no ac so I cant turn much right now.I want to do what I need to to "save" this until cooler temps....(Sept-Oct preferably)I will seal the end grain with anchor seal,and put in a shaded area off the ground behind the shop for now but still wonder about splitting/checking.I turn a lot of green wood but this one caught me at the wrong time of yr. Any suggestions other than sealing end grain?

Its not a great big piece but I should be able to get 2 nice crotch pieces out of it

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I can sympathize with the heat and humidity. Here in North Central Texas we have the same problem. My shop does not have AC either. I survive turning this time of year by having some high volume fans blowing all the time. That helps a lot. I have a little digital thermometer by my lathe and I do stop when it says it's around 98. With the fans going and under cover and it's 98? Time to stop for sure. On the checking all I have ever done is either paint the end with that anchor seal or most of the time just thick coat of paint. I use different colors of paint for each type of wood. That is if I think the wood's going to be around that long. If the wood is real green then it is full of moisture. It seems to me that putting the wood in the freezer would freeze the moisture in the wood, which would then expand in the wood, causing problems. At least that is what I think would possibly happen. For long term storage I'd go with the old tried and true methods that you suggested to start with.
 
I'd be tempted to turn in the evening when the temps are down and rough out what I want to save. That way you are getting rid of the bark, which attracts bugs and the unusable branches and finding out right away if the nice crotch figure you expect is really there. Either that or rough cut the blanks into rounds and slices and coat the whole thing in Anchorseal. The sooner you process it the less likely it is to attract a blue stain fungus that will turn the wood gray.
 
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I think you're on the right track. My only other suggestion would be a gathering at your place to help clean out that freezer.
 
Hmmmm no M & Ms but wife did cook some brownies yesterday but yikes they are 'bout gone.. I did go ahead yesterday and rough out the 2 pieces from the trunk that I wanted to save.I looked like a sawdust monster with all this humidity but it is done.Thanks guys for all the info!!!

I didnt notice the "feather" in these 2 pieces like I did in some maple I turned a while back. Maybe it just doesnt show or isnt there in some species?
 
Jim!!! I am a M&M monster!!! No M&M's are safe around me. None are sacred. All are fair game. Brownies??? Hmmmmm. Don't eat all of them. Share! Share! Share! Turning in the evening works out well. Only problem with that, if you are looking for it being cooler is like here and 9:30 pm it was still 92. With about 80% humidity. I'll just turn on the fans and do it in the daytime. But, we all gotta do what we gotta do.
 
Mike,
I'm a little lazy about sealing the ends of my woods... I dumped a whole magnolia tree just outside my shop, on the ground and let it lay for a year... the spalting in the wood is spectacular. I got some grayish area, some lines and etc... I did get some minor checking on the ends, but not so much that I lost much wood.

I got the tree when a friend of a friend moved into a new house where a magnolia grew next to the drive way... it was about 16 inches diameter at the base... I'm not sure if he had finished unpacking before he cut the tree. I was glad to haul it off for him.

My shop isn't air conditioned either... it does sit under a big oak on one side and a big elm on the other, so I do get some shade, plus like Dave, I run a couple of fans when ever I'm in there... mostly to try and blow some of the dust out the doors. My lathe sits in front of a double door that I can open (When I don't have wood chips piled 3 feet high between the lathe and the door)... in the summer I turn with the doors open. I'm not heated either, so winter I work until my feet get cold...
 
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