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Drying Walnut Crotch Slabs Question
I searched the forum and someone wrote: "...after sealing the ends with wax end sealer, apply pentacryl generously over the entire crotch...". I would like to hear more about this. Can anyone help? I have a lot of this material and need to be sure it's handled correctly. Forum Responses
Even then, they may check a little, but not to worry - a little color matched epoxy will bring it back together when you get around to working with them.
From the original questioner: If the ends are sealed and you wax the faces of the material, how does drying take place? From Gene Wengert, forum technical advisor: It is critical to dry such pieces very slowly. The light coating of the faces with a moisture resistant coating (but not real heavy) will help prevent rapid drying. I have tried to get more technical information about pentacryl, but I have not seen any independent studies concerning the use of such a material. Everything I have seen with technical info comes from the manufacturer.
From the original questioner: I talked to the folks at Preservation Solutions. They suggested their Wood Juice product to help slow drying and stabilize the material. Would giving the faces a thin coat of watered down Anchorseal be appropriate? Also, it is stickered and covered in a typical fashion. It is shaded all day, but gets later afternoon sun for a few hours. Should I consider Shade-dri curtains or such?
From contributor S: I Anchorseal the logs when bucking or just after I've cleaned them up 6" or so on the mill. When I find a nice crotch - the spinal looking figure that's prone to checking - I rub the face with a thin coat of carnauba wax. It slows the end grain drying just enough to avoid checking, but not so much as to make a problem in terms of uneven drying. I always carefully shade dry crotches before, if any, kiln drying.
From Gene Wengert, forum technical advisor: If you use Anchorseal full strength, it will almost stop drying, which is too slow. A light coating or the wax idea mentioned should be great. Shade-Dri is probably a good idea, so long as some drying still occurs. Maybe 100% coverage with Shade-Dri is too much, especially if you wax the faces.
From the original questioner: Thanks for all the responses. I intended to air dry the material until at least all of the free water is gone. Would that be advisable or should I just get it in the kiln and pay close attention? I figure 2% MC loss per day would be a safe bet. I have not done any oven sampling yet, but I suspect it to be in the 60-80% range.
From contributor K: I've sold crotches for a couple of years now. Recently, I needed more crotches than I had. I bought them from another sawmiller in the area, who dried them to 9% in his slow solar kiln (except he waxed the figured area). I needed to use them and sure enough, the crotches hadn't dried at all in the figured areas, and the rest of the wood was 9%. So, concerning your pieces of wood, the only way I know of to dry them without surface checks is to put them in the kiln right away with a s-l-o-w schedule (Gene could certainly fill us in on the schedule for 8-12 quarter walnut). What I do all the time is let them air dry (yes, with small surface checks in the figured area, which I don't consider a defect in the crotch area anyway) until my kiln is ready for an 8/4 wood load, and then I put them in with it.
From the original questioner: I agree - the kiln is the best place to control the environment for drying these valuable yet troublesome treasures. However, it requires almost constant attention and locks up the kiln for a long time. But, I am willing to do it if it's required for maximum success. Would you like to add information to this article? Interested in writing or submitting an article? Have a question about this article? Have you reviewed the related Knowledge Base areas below? 
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