I'd like to make one of those slab cutting boards people make from 1 inch cubed cubes. Unfortunately, I don't have the money to go buy some nice pieces of wood to do it.
I do however have a wood pile of white oak, dried for about a year, maybe year and a half. I've also got a truck bed full of hard maple someone gave me yesterday, after trimming several limbs and a whole tree.
I can probably cut and find enough unchecked white oak to make the 72 squares I'd need for a 12"x12" board. Well, the 360, because I'd like to make 5.
With the maple, since I'm going to be cutting it into 1 inch cubes, do I have to wait for it to dry completely? If so, is it actually as simple as painting the ends with a good latex paint to prevent checking?
I'm hoping I don't actually need to wait, since they're going to be rather small cubes. I'm going to be doing all the cutting by hand, though, so I guess they'll have time to dry regardless.
seasonal drying takes about a year per inch of thickness, in all likely hood you're working with green lumber. use a moisture meter to check the MC then you can calculate expected shrinkage.
the further from the pith the better.
tiny cubes like that probably wont split if you glue the fuck outta it and seal it.
>>983587
It takes about a year per inch if it's just outside, you can speed it up quite a bit by going with a solar kiln type design (down to like a week per inch or less) or even just putting it inside where it won't have humidity swings.
painting the ends with 4-6 coats of latex I've heard, yes, also heard good things about dipping the ends in a pot of melted canning/candle wax for branches and smaller logs (so they fit in the pot). Or there are commercial products. it'll reduce though, not prevent.
Also, depending on what tools you have, I strongly suggest doing at least a partial glue up before cutting things to length. Eg. glue up a 3"x12"x4', then cut it into 3"x12"X2" sections,(should be about 22 full width ones because kerf thickness, and you'll have 2 extra tries in case you mess up a cut or whatever. Then glue up 5 boards with 4 sections each.
>>983637
Just use tar for the ends. It's a bit messy but super cheap
>>983606
>tiny cubes like that probably wont split if you glue the fuck outta it and seal it.
this is the only
>>983587
Are you talking as in a 12"x12" block?
I wouldn't be surprised if you didnt have cracks on the surface by the time it was fully dry 12" thick. I split and sell wood year round and know a thing or two about how wood that thick dries. Green wood dries at the rate or 1-2 inches per year from a cut, so itll be a while until your shit is really dry m8. You can also Kilm dry it, although I have never done it, the Mennonite carpenter I worked for did before when he had a cabinet shop. Hell man we would cut slabs of walnut for fireplace mantles and those were only 5-6" thick but still took a few years till it fully dried. Also to help prevent cracks, stack on on top of the other and place little wood shims in between them, this way at least the bottom one..
Hope I helped man
>>983992
I would be leery of tar on a cutting board, assuming food will be cut on it
>>984670
The tar is on the raw material. It wont be on the actual work pieces.
