Post #294936 by Swanky on Tue, Mar 27, 2007 8:52 AM

I have been told that you want the logs to dry slowly and you want to remove the bark to help them dry. So, I would assume and nice constant temp and humidity would be best, like a basement. But that's not how they do it in the kilns. That's fast drying, so there is somethign else going on.

A professional furniture restorer tells me the real problem is the center of the wood. If you could drill out the center of the logs, they would not split. If they are half rounds, then taking the center of the log out of the back would help. He explained that the outer parts of the wood move and change shape as they dry and that actually happens throughout their existence. Even a fully "dried" table, will expand and contract as it gets more and less "wet" as your home does. So, the reason your logs crack is they are attached to this solid center core and have no room to move. If you take out that core, they can expand and contract as they lose or gain moisture and size. The center of your log is still one size as it is still more damp, and the outer part is another size as it gets dry, and they don't move together and you get cracks.

So what is the answer? Hell, I don't know! But, if you can get them in a basement and in a controlled enviroment where they will dry slow and even, that's better. Debark them for sure. If you can drill out the center of the log, that's good too, however, if you plan to carve round pieces, you can't exactly do that. If you plan to carve then in half rounds, go ahead and cut them in half and cut out the center of the log. That's probably your best way. Debark the log, split it in half, cut out the core in back and put it in the basement.