Suggestions on a case hardened wood "gift"

[Greg Guarino]

I suggest a barbecue for all of the fine folks here at the Wrec.

[Bruce Kaatz]

dpb wrote in news:m3aq37$dvr$ [e-mail]:

Thanks for the info from US Forest Products Lab. Lots of interesting material there. If I had access to a kiln I'd try the re-moisturizing - sounds very possible. I suspect that when the stock was surfaced, it was taken beyond messed up.

Couldn't help myself and have been experimenting a bit. Doesn't seem to matter how it is cut (half way from each side) or with what sort of blade is used. It will contort in amazing ways, and does create a unique "sawstop".

Was thinking about building a hutch. Still is in the back of my head, but I'll be doing some shopping for some good black ash. In the mean time, I'll enjoy a beautiful ash fire.

Appreciate the wisdom of the group.

[Lew Hodgett]

--------------------------------------------------------- SFWIW:

Several years ago Norn did a NYW project using a home built kiln as follows:

A PVC pipe with couplings and plugs on the ends.

A 5 gallon metal gas can with water on a burner to generate the steam and connected to the side of the pipe with a radiator hose.

The PVC pipe was inclined about 10 degrees.

Pieces of green oak wood were steamed and bent into a hat rack.

If you can get a length of SCH 10, 8" PVC pipe 9'-10' long and a can with a nozzle (if still made) , you could probably duplicate using propane for a heat source.

Might want to poke around the NYW web site for more detail.

Have fun.

Lew

[Sonny]

Steamer or kiln? May not matter.

I didn't think PVC was appropriate for, at least, steaming. I suppose, though, for use a few times, PVC would work just fine.

Sonny

[dpb]

On 11/04/2014 8:52 PM, Bruce Kaatz wrote: ...

...

I don't know; I've not had experience directly with either black ash nor a case such as yours where tried on surfaced material--it was all still roughsawn when I re-moisturized. Most of what I did was thicker walnut slabs 6/4 and above which was why felt it worth the effort.

The setup I used was an old water heater tank that I laid on its side and made flange access on the top end. Used a tap off of the house hot water supply to run a recycled stream thru it and just let a pool sit below the material for a couple of days to a week depending on the thickness (I said this was a homebrew made up formula didn't I? :J) ).

I didn't worry about trying to control the actual humidity level and it isn't steaming, just keeping it in a warm and humid environment so that the free moisture content hopefully re-equilibrates. I'm sure the "kiln" temperature never reached the full 160-180 F but I turned the hot water supply up to near the max the tank would put out. I don't remember that I ever did actually measure that temperature; I just used what I could get.

Most of the pieces I did this way and then air-dried in a stickered pile with cover and in a south-facing location to get some sun heating came out successful. In the one big experiment that caused me to make the effort, I suppose it was about as much as you've got in bd-ft but a quite sizable fewer number of individual pieces as some was as thick as

10/4 by 8" or so.

Over the years following I did a few other random bits and pieces, but it wasn't terribly much later that made the move from TN to VA and I didn't take the setup with me and never got ambitious-enough again. I was just a young kid fresh out of school when got the woodworking bug after moving to VA from western KS and was surrounded by all that gorgeous (and cheap) hardwood...

I did cut 10 and 12-ft stock down to where it would fit lengthwise; that didn't seem to negate the success rate.

I don't know what would have happened if it had been S2S, though...

[dpb]

On 11/05/2014 10:46 AM, dpb wrote: ...

...

I painted fresh-cut ends, though, to close that new escape hatch...

[Lew Hodgett]

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Talk about a brain fart.

Norm's project was definitely a steamer, NOT a kiln.

Lew

[Puckdropper]

Sonny wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I think the melting points of both CPVC and PVC are just shy of 200F. CPVC will handle something like 20 degrees more.

As an alternative, what about metal heating duct? Some woods like Oak will react with steel, but I don't know about Ash. You might need a couple spacers in any case.

Puckdropper

[Bruce Kaatz]

Thanks for the info on your efforts. I have a friend with a large home built steamer box that is oil fired. Sure works nice for bending. Will load a few of the least checked pieces and see what happens. In this case, my only expense will be some fuel and my time. Will see how it goes. Odd thing here is the ends of the boards are still coated with some sort of wax like sealer.

[Bruce Kaatz]

Greg Guarino wrote in news:m3arrq$kt4$1@dont- email.me:

A great idea. And it would be nice to be able to have a face to go with the regulars and us lurkers. (And with the beverages and recipies that have been shared over the years, it would be a real feast of a barbecue.)

[Bruce Kaatz]

dpb wrote in news:m3an5b$1t0$ [e-mail]:

Yup, I faithfully check out the group and saw the post. The lab is just about three hours down the road from me, and I had heard of it before, but never dug into their wealth of information before. Spent quite awhile digging through their site last evening. Lots of interesting stuff. The research on reversing case hardening has been around a number of years from the article. Was wondering if steaming what do the trick after reading the article, since I don't have access to a kiln. Then you followed up with just what I was thinking about. So a question, if you recall, how did your

10/4 turn out after it was steamed and dried?