Persimmon lumber

[Dale Penrose]

Was lucky to get a few logs of this persimmon. Some boards up to 10 inches wide. Lots of heartwood, the sap has nice curl, as does some of the heartwood. Now to wait for it to dry!

[Bob Gramann]

Get the bark off. There are critters in it that like to make holes in your wood.

[Alan Carruth]

Yes, remove the bark ASAP. Cut or split the lengths into wedges, no more than 1/4 round, and the narrower on the bark side the better. The goal there is to minimize the curvature of the annual rings on the end grain; the more of that you have the more honeycomb checking and drying degrade you get. Remove the points of the wedges for an inch or more from the center: that's probably going to check anyway, since persimmon seems to have a large difference between radial and tangential shrinkage, which is what drives checking. Paint the ends with something to reduce the moisture loss through the end grain, to make it more equal to the side grain surfaces. A couple of coats of cheap latex paint works about as well as anything else I've seen. This will reduce end checking. It's best if you can square stack the wood on something like a pallet; make layers that run at 90 degrees to each other to minimize surface contact and allow for air circulation. Build the stack outdoors, but not in direct sun, and cover only the top with something that will keep rain out. This will get the moisture out quickly; iirc, about 90% dry in six weeks or so, to minimize fungus growth. Turn the pile every week or two, getting the bottom stuff on top, and monitor it for checking, insects, and the start of rot. You'll need to season the wood for at least a year per inch of thickness before it's usable. Do this now!. Yesterday would have been better. Once end checking starts you have to trim back well past the checks and re-paint the ends. It's a lot of work to process wood like that, but that's some very nice stock, and it would be a shame to let it go to waste.

[Dale Penrose]

The ends are painted, bark off and trimmed. It's stacked with stickers in my shop attic. The picture was taken right after rough sawing.

[Darrel Friesen]

Nice score!

[Bob Howell]

Borax or some form of it kills bugs. I lost a lot of wood to bugs so am taking measures now.

Be careful