We just lost our 100 year old + oak. I saved a "ring" and want to sand it and shallac it. Does the wood need to be dried before I work with it?
The slice is about 38 inches across and in great shape.
Thanks.
I guess that's shEllac. :-)
Google this newsgroup for past posts on dealing with these.
Drying rings is _not_ a simple process. By and large, they will _not_ work and will crack instead. Search back for explanations, techniques to use them despite this, and ways that might work to avoid the cracking (with some significant constraints to them).
If you want to save some timber, turn the log into boards and dry those. You'll get a lot more use out of them that way. A 38" oak is a useful size - there's usable timber in that.
No, but as it dries you'll see it cup, twist, wane, split and/or crack--that's what wood does.
As I understand it, the only way to preserve a full ring of a tree is to completely saturate it with PEG (PolyEthylene Glycol). Apparently some finishes will go over this, but I don't know about shellac. Do lots of googling, and find some PEG before your ring dries any more. Andy
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