A check is a small crack that occurs in the grain at the end of the board or trunk. These controls can be enlarged to form a crack. A crack is usually a separation of grains within the fiber. Any piece of wood will be affected as it dries. This is a natural occurrence but it varies between tree species. Everyone will check; some more and some less.

Starting with a piece of green wood (green wood is wet wood), the surface begins to dry out; as wood dries, it shrinks; The wood grain on the outside of the wood dries at a different rate than the interior wood. As moisture evaporates from the wood, the exterior faster and the interior slower, the exterior wood shrinks, around the interior wood, which is wetter and larger; so the exterior will check as it shrinks around the wetter core wood. Left alone, these little controls will continue to grow, rendering the wood or firewood worthless.

There are several methods to prevent or slow down the controls. To do this, you must slow down the evaporation process. One way is to coat the ends of the wood with wax (Anchor Seal is good), this will help, but not in all species. Does the local environment have a lot to do with the drying of the wood? Do you live in a cool, humid area or do you live in a warm, dry place?

The wood can be cut into various sizes for future use and then stacked in a cool, dry place with good air circulation. There will be some checks and cracks with this method, but you can generally avoid them. This type of drying takes longer and requires more space.

The best way to dry the wood is to use an oven. This can be costly, but recovering wood from loss due to cracking and cracking is great, and the time it takes to have the dry wood ready for use on your project is a huge benefit. On a small scale, the ovens are easy to build. They require an insulated box of some size, a fan for air circulation, a heat source, and a dehumidifier to remove moisture.

I recently built a small oven in which I could dry 5-6 bowls that I turned from green wood. Most bowls take 7-10 days in the oven and I usually place them in a dry place and let them acclimatize for a week. A couple of technical tips. If the dehumidifier removes moisture so the wood will crack quickly, use an on-off timer. Moisture meters will not work. Weigh the wood every day, as the wood dries, the weight change slows down. When the weight changes slightly from day to day or stops changing, the wood is dry. There will always be a certain amount of warping, so cut excess wood to remove warping.

I have always loved turning wood green. The small oven works very well for me.