Preventing Cookies from Cracking

So John, I says to the guy, I said, "So you brought this big oak log "that we just got done cutting into these cookies." And what's your intention? What, what do you want to do with these someday? The main thing I'd like to do is create some nice tables, both maybe indoor- and outdoor-type tables. And I noticed the first part that we had cut off had some cracking in it but now we don't have any cracking. So I'm hoping we can preserve it. All right, so here's what's going on. Here's the deal. I'm gonna shove this guy on over, and we'll look, they're all about the same. What I have in my hot little hands is a moisture meter. So when we press Read, we're currently at almost 21% moisture. And that doesn't surprise me at all. When stuff is freshly cut, it can be anywhere from 20 to 35% moisture. And you've done a lot of woodworking. You know that when we do projects in our shop we'd like that wood to be at like six to 12% moisture. Six to 8% would be better. So as it sits here, this stuff is no good. And the dynamic with a cookie like this, is that we've got the pith of the tree, we've got heartwood, we've got sap wood, and there's a big density difference from the inner part of this log round to the outer part. So as wood dries, what's happening is that you've got a cell, a wood cell, and as as water leaves it the cell shrinks. And the rate at which we have that happening here in the middle, is different than what we have happening on the outside. And so that's what typically leads to this. It can be difficult to dry a cookie with zero cracking. And if you just think about like, we've got all sorts of stress going on in this as it dries. And in order to relieve that stress, it develops a crack. And what was showing up on the first piece, so it was a log, I don't know, a log section, and it had been cut some time ago. So even just from the little bit of drying it had done, there were lots of spiderweb-type cracks in the end grain. And now because we have fresh wood we're not looking at those anymore. So to prevent this from happening and hopefully to keep the bark staying on, what I would recommend is, this stuff is, I've had great luck with it, Pentacryl. And what it does is, it's a chemical solution to this problem. You apply it to the material and what it does is it gets in there and it solidifies the cell wall so that when the water leaves, the cell wall doesn't have the opportunity. Sure. It turns it from like a beanbag chair into an egg, sort of, is my analogy. So where beanbag chair is what we have now and it's just gonna bloop when the water leaves. And when we turn that into, this wall cell, into like an egg shell, it maintains its structure so we don't have that big shrinkage thing. The manufacturer has really good instructions on how to use this, but the bottom line is we really need to saturate this with Pentacryl. So one way to do that would be get some of this stuff, brush it onto this face, flip it over, brush it onto the other face. We're trying to get absorption as deep into this as you possibly can. Because it's end grain, it's gonna soak in- Yep. Good or well. But applying it from both faces is gonna help it get more to the center of this. The other thing dealing with the bark, is that same, as this shrinks, there's this ring of bark around the outside and it tends to pull away from the bark. So the other thing Pentacryl can help you with is the opportunity for the bark to stay on. When I did this recently, very low tech, I made this, and then I took a big plastic sheet and I laid it in there. 'Cause this swimming pool ain't gonna hold no water. This is just plywood. So I put a big plastic sheet in there and then I, this was big enough for my cookies. It's almost big enough for yours. This was big enough for my cookies to go in, and then I poured Pentacryl over the top. Now I didn't give 'em a complete Pentacryl bath. Like, the one on the bottom was sitting in Pentacryl, and then the next cookie up had a little bit of Pentacryl going around it. But the bottom line is with that, rather than fill this with like, two gallons of product, I put a little bit of Pentacryl in there and then I would change the position of the cookies like, every couple of days so that one of 'em was always on the bottom soaking up like, maximizing how much it could absorb and then just keep swapping 'em and swapping 'em and swapping 'em. And that really, that stabilized it to where there were tiny spider web cracks in these and they were hickory. There were tiny spider web cracks in 'em when I was, when they were finally dry, but nothing like in that maple that we just looked at. Sure. And then stickering, you're familiar with stickering? I am. So little boards to provide spacing between each one. And then other than that, are you a patient man? Very patient, would you hurry up please, with- You know who can't do woodworking is pediatricians 'cause they have very little patients. Ah, any more of those? Thank God, no. So patience is important because Pentacryl will aid the drying process but you're still probably looking at a year or more. 'Cause these are just a little over two inches thick is what we cut 'em to. Right. A year or more. Do you own a moisture meter? I have a two, a pronged one. Okay. Yep. That's really a must-have. If you're gonna dry wood, you can't guess at this. And then what'll, yeah, well if you like do that and then you put your other fingers in a socket, right? Then like you're almost like a moisture meter. You don't wanna guess at this. And what you're looking for is like, the day where they maybe get to 12% and on Monday the 15th they're 12% and then two weeks later they're still at 12%. Three weeks later they're still at 12%. That tells you you've plateaued. Okay. Not you've plateaued. I'm sure you have many new heights to soar to, but the drying has plateaued and gone as far as it's gonna go. Quick question, after you apply the Pentacryl, would it be helpful to start with is wrap it with to help the help it absorb in? Or is that gonna hinder it going the other way? Yeah, I would say, you know what, that'd be a great question for Pentacryl. Because we still want to have airflow. Okay. So that they have the opportunity to dry. And I get what you're saying like, could I use plastic sheathing to trap the Pentacryl in there and encourage absorption? But I, so I think if you're gonna do the dip-tank method, then don't put plastic over the top of this. Put 'em in there, change their position every once in a while, because John ended up with... Five. Five of these. So you're gonna need a deeper tank. We're gonna need a bigger boat. But just keep changing their position in that Pentacryl bath. If you're gonna brush it on, if you're just gonna let 'em stand alone and brush it on, I would not put plastic over those. Just brush it on, brush it on, brush it on, flip it over and like, once a day, do that. And I think you'll get to a point where they kind of won't absorb anymore. But it's gonna take a while to get to that point. The downside to the brush-on thing with these whatever, 32-inch cookies, you're gonna take up a lot of real estate in your space, spreading them out so you can brush two sides. But you could also brush 'em, sticker 'em, put 'em back in a stickered stack- Right. Then leave 'em for a day or two. Take the stack apart, brush 'em again, put 'em back in the stack. Does temperature affect the Pentacryl, as far as absorbing it? Because I don't necessarily have a heated shop that'd be handy enough. Yeah, I think they don't have to be 68 degrees, but you probably don't want 'em to be 20 degrees. Okay. And too, like I like, so in this shop over on that end there's a set of shelves and at the ceiling it's whatever, it's 70 degrees at the ceiling, it's 62 degrees here, and it's- Okay. 54 degrees at the floor. On those shelves, I put 'em on the lowest shelf because I don't want excessive heat 'cause then they are gonna still dry too fast. And drying 'em too fast is another thing that causes cracking. Okay. So good, even temperature, airflow, and then like I said, the Pentacryl, I've been using that for years and had really really good success with stabilizing stuff. And cookies in particular are just dicey. And if you get a crack then that's an opportunity for a bow tie. Oh, I saw that video. The other quick question for you is, where I have access to maybe a warmer shop area, I'm not up there on a daily basis. I'm there for three, four days and then away. If I was able to get a couple coats on, maybe three coats on- While you're there? While I'm there, sticker it all and then come back a week. Yeah. Or am I better off trying to find a place on- No, I think that, I think that'd probably be okay for you. Okay. Your mileage may vary but- Right. In all honesty, when these were stacked back there, I wasn't like, religiously every 24 hours brushing more Pentacryl on. I was mostly maintaining the flow, but I probably wasn't doing it every day for months and months and months, so. So once it absorbs everything, Pentacryl just won't be, it won't take any more, it just stays on top, party's over- Yeah, then they just sit and dry. Okay. Then you're back to just reading your moisture meter and waiting for 'em to dry. Okay, good. All right, that help you? Immensely, good job! So cookies are tough and sometime, we're trying to prevent the cookie from crumbling, right? What's that old expression? That's how the cookie crumbles. We don't want the cookies to crumble, we want 'em to stay intact. So Pentacryl, slow drying, stickers, airflow and as should get you there. Sounds wonderful, thanks for that. All right, good luck with the tables.