Cutting and Drying Wood Cookies

Cutting big and small cookies from logs on my bandsaw mill, testing a few drying scenarios, and taking a look at the results one year later. There are many techniques to dry these without cracking but the biggest factor is luck.

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[meltonmakes]

Hi Matt,
I have cutting American Elm and Red Elm into cookies for years. You can skip all of the waiting, sealing, and messing around by cutting down standing dead Elm. Many of these Elm trees died 20 to 30 years ago, so they have been drying slowly. Find Elms that are in a woods and haven't been exposed to the sun too much. Another reason Elm works so well is the wood grain. If you have ever tried to Split a Elm tree with a Maul, Im sure you have been discouraged by how difficult it is. They hold together well.
I have sold over 20 thousand Elm cookies in the past ten years. Its the ONLY species that tends NOT to crack as a cookie. Check it out next time you find one standing dead in the woods. Slice it, then simply apply some water based Poly as a sealer. IT WILL HOLD!

[ejtakach]

I appreciate the long term of this test. Kudos on going the distance with your planning!

[Sebastopolmark]

Very well done Matt and thanks for not having us wait a year to see how the cookies dried.

[carlgustafson]

You do a very nice job explaining things in your videos.

Moisture in wood is found in two places - intracellular and extracellular. You can get the moisture out of the intracellular spaces, but can't effectively put it back in. You can get it back into the extracellular spaces.

What the pentacryl is doing, I think, is replacing the intracellular moisture. However, it won't replace moisture that's no longer there - you can convert the dollars in your bank account into euros, but if there's no dollars, no euros. If the cookie has already started to dry out, pentacryl will be less effective. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) will have a similar effect.

Anchor seal merely slows drying, which reduces drying stresses, so less cracking.

If the amount of shrinkage in a species of wood is too different - tangential vs. radial - you're going to get crack no matter what. By keeping the cells plump (filling them with pentacryl), you're reducing the *relative* shrinkage, so less chance for cracking.

Finally, the pentacryl in your cookies may be confounding your moisture meter. By absorbing the pentacryl, you've changed the physical properties of the wood, and the meter isn't really calibrated for that.

[BrothersMake]

Great to meet you last saturday Matt - this was the video I was telling you about that I used to explain splitting and checking to my students. They found it very informative!

[JaneDoe-viyc]

I love watching you work. I wish my husband had a mill in our yard. There's nothing better than the smell of fresh cut wood and a man working hard.

[umbalaba]

Videos like this are so interesting to me and I really appreciate the 11 month effort put into setting up for this. Thank you! I myself have so far simply allowed the "cookies" to dry the way they wanted to (cracking and all) and then decided what to do.

[wb_finewoodworking]

I’m always amazed at your band saw mill.

[trongod]

Thanks Matt. Very good presentation. The extra effort with the labels etc really are appreciated.

[MyDIYbyBrian]

I felt like I was back in school with all of the information you were dropping. Thanks!

[alinedonnelly]

Matt, so grateful on your sharing this very thorough process. By the end of this video you've provided, I was absolutely clear on what to do with small AND large pieces. Love that you incorporated the almost year later of the wood drying in the same video.
Extremely well done. Impressed with your skills not only in the wood management, but also in your presentation and skill in visual teaching.
Thank you
Aline Alexander Donnelly

[SamWestby]

Thumbs up for the 11 month follow up!!!!

[ramos.]

Matt you are the best. Thanks. Always a pleasure to watch your videos.

[abegrijalva]

man - you rock - your videos are the best - like how you share your knowledge and cut . this southern boy i use to watch would talk for hours . omg thank you for not being slow .

[TexasUrbanSawmillLLC]

Matt for a guy pretty much doing this solo, you are a hero. Recently met April and awesome to see you plans going to action in only a 5 day build! I am a engineer and I don't say it often but very impressed with your build plans, etc. Next time in Texas, please check us out. Love to show you around and even have you out on a seriously big tree salvage job. We do the largest in Texas and some of the largest in the US. Fyi, when using anchor seal...my advice, advise folks to do 3x coats over a few hours. Submerging is ideal but not realistic.

[MRrwmac]

Thanks for all the work involved to show us your testing results. Very informative.
I have a sudden thirst for milk.

[wetrock]

Fifty years ago I read an article in Popular Science magazine where they tried soaking green boards in PEG (Poly Ethylene Glycol). This product was in solid form, being of high molecular weight, and dissolved in water. The soak lasted many weeks and the final product was very stable without splits and cracks. Also this gave the wood an infusion of plastic that lent itself to a very nice colorless semi matte finish. Poly ethylene glycol is a major component of car antifreeze, experimenting with it would'nt be too expensive.

[kengamble]

I tried the pentacryl years ago on bowl blanks and didn't have much luck with it, and really didn't like how it changed the finish !
Too bad you don't have a microwave oven big enough to put them in, it works !
Thanks for sharing and take care. 👍

[DustySplinters]

Good Job Matt ! Not all Specie aresuitable for Croosgrain or even bias cut slabs. Walnut, Butternut, Basswood and sometimes Cherry are easier to dry and more stable. Dead Winter cut logs with the sap all the way down helps too and regardless of the sealer, the best drying method is slow dry them in a kiln at an extremely slow pace. Lastly... there is a little thing called luck.
Peace, Walter

[John.]

Thankyou for your sharing your wisdom & knowledge, your time also is greatly appreciated.