Baking a piece of wood (what?)

[NickfromWI]

I have this chunk of wood that I set aside thinking it'd make a nice plant-stand. The tree was completely dead when cut down. Of course, there are some sort of larva or termites making a mess now. I could only think of 2 ways to kill the critter: soak wood in water/chemicals or heat.

So I'm putting it in the oven and will let the heat do the work. How hot would you set the oven to?

love
nick

 

[Burnham]

Uhhh...

 

[NickfromWI]

i know. these are the types of projects I get wrapped up in while I'm home doing invoicing and what-not

 

[stig]

I'd just toss it in the freezer.

Critters around your part of the world aren't used to being frozen, I suppose.

It worked real well on a bug infested piece of Black acacia, that Richard sent me from South Africa.

 

[NickfromWI]

you're right. That'd probably do it. Unfortunately the freezer is full right now and the stove has allll that room in it!

 

[Thor's Hammer]

baking it will end in tears.

 

[stig]

Yep, it'll split much worse than it already is.

Microwaving it might work better.

Woodturners use microwave ovens to dry wood ( impatient woodturners, that is).

The wy it is done, is by zapping the wood in one minute busts with cooling intervals untill it is dry.

In your case, I'd try zapping it in 1 minute intervals untill it is warm all the way through.

 

[NickfromWI]

It's been baking for about an hour now. I settled on 350 degrees F. I'll turn off the oven right now and see how it goes. Maybe leave it in the oven with the door shut so it can cool down slowly for an hour or so. No rush, after all!

The tree was bone dry when it was cut down. I don't think it's gonna crack. I'll let y'all know how it goes. The edge that was the outer bark was cracked and the edges that were "inside" the tree weren't cracked. I'll give y'all an update.

 

[woodworkingboy]

It might not crack, just catch on fire.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

If it was sunny and you were bored, you could have got creative with the magnifying glass......
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[NickfromWI]

According to this website, the ignition temp of wood is about 370 degree and up. I was at 350 for an hour, so I think I'm good to go. No smoke or flames yet! Just some pissed of insects.

I'll carve the bottom to make some sort of legs, then router the top edges to make it look somewhat less junk-woodesque. What type of finish will slow down the rate of rot the best, while being able to handle the elements? Right now at home I have Tung oil and Shellac. I don't think either of those will cut it for this job.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Those would be too weak for exterior...maybe shellac would be ok, but it yellows, and like Urethane or Varathane, looks like crap and will eventually peel off, so refinishing requires removing the old finish. I'd go with some wood preservative like they use on log houses. It will saturate into the wood. Slap a coat on every now and then.

 

[NickfromWI]

I knew I asked the right guy!

I googled it and I can only find the stuff by the gallon (which makes sense). But your suggestion led me to decking sealant and I think that would do the job just fine.

 

[Bounce]

Why not just seal the little buggers in there and forget about 'em? If the sealant is airtight, wouldn't the bugs just die? I don't really know; just thinking out loud.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Or toss it in a sealed trash bag with a bug bomb for a few days. Orrrrr not.

 

[NickfromWI]

I think both of those would have worked.

The piece has been baked now, pulled out of the oven, is still cooling but no worse for the wear.

I'm assuming that the inside of the wood was brought up to high enough temp to kill the bugs. We'll see if any frass shows up from here on out.

 

[NeTree]

Shouldn't this be in the "What's for dinner?" thread?

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Sitting here reading and making kabobs... thanks Erik

 

[NeTree]

Mission... accomplished.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

The max temp should not exceed 180°C (280°F) if you want that the wood will keep it's original color. At this temp, and with a little time, the wood just began the darkening process (actually a slight brownish), which is in fact the first step of the pyrolysis at higher temp (smoking, then burning).
Not a biggy if you have some brown woods, but it could be for the lightest woods like Betula, Fraxinus, Acer, Carpinus ...
You can monitor this phenomenon by putting a sheet of paper in the oven with the wood.

 

[pigwot]

Marc,
That is a great idea... I think paper ignites at 451 degrees Fahrenheit (go ask the book burners).
I thought it odd that a more massive piece of wood would ignite at a lower temperature - at 370 degrees F
until i realized the processing takes out the organic chemicals, like phenols and turpenes.

 

[flushcut]

For some reason 160 comes to mind I think that is what a kiln runs at to set pitch and kill bugs. But I could be wrong I know I posted a little after the fact but there it is.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Little slow myself. You could have probably froze it instead with CO2 (dry ice) and had the same effect. Critters don't fair well in that environment unless they are from another planet

 

[NickfromWI]

It turns out you guys know what you're talking about after all!!! The piece looked fine when I was posting earlier. Then I got a call to go take care of a brokem limb that fell on a house (turned out to be no biggy- lifted it all in one piece). When I got back, there were cracks all over the place. Imagine that.

Oh well. Lesson learned and it still will serve it's purpose nicely. If anything, it has more character now!

I'll post a pic when we have some daylight tomorrow

 

[Paul B]

a little late but I would have put a couple of pots of water in the oven with the wood chunk, keep the moisture level up and steam the bugs.