Last week here in Chicagoland we had a night-time storm rumble through. The NOAA emergency radio was recommending that sailors on Lake Michigan seek safe harbor as winds were at 65 knots with gusts to 80 knots. There were two confirmed tornadoes a bit west and south of us, and after we lost power it was an evening of playing find-the-batteries and explaining to the kids that we weren't going to Oz to follow the yellow brick road.
Along with 300,000 other customers, we lost power, and our lakeside mobile tower was off-line, so I had to drive around the next morning looking for a signal just to let my elderly mother in Pennsylvania know we were alright. Part of the neighborhood was basically a disaster area, with big trees, big branches, a lot of small stuff, and power lines down in yards and on roads.
My house got power back after 21 hours, but other people were without electricity for several days. And one of the true disheartening things about woodworking is having the tools and the time, but not being able to use them.
Anyway, out of this helping of lemons, I've found a way to make lemonade. One of my neighbors had part of a huge oak surrender to the wind, and this week left the cut-up remainder out on the curb. I helped myself to four of the largest sections I could lift. One fit in a little red wagon and I dragged it home with my daughter urging me on, and the others came by car. Two are straight, and two are Y-shaped, where branches were.
I'm planning to cut them up into slabs to make some small storm furniture, one piece of which I will return to my unwitting wood supplier. So I was wondering this... How long should I leave the green wood out to dry, and would it be better left covered in the open or in a shed?
Along with 300,000 other customers, we lost power, and our lakeside mobile tower was off-line, so I had to drive around the next morning looking for a signal just to let my elderly mother in Pennsylvania know we were alright. Part of the neighborhood was basically a disaster area, with big trees, big branches, a lot of small stuff, and power lines down in yards and on roads.
My house got power back after 21 hours, but other people were without electricity for several days. And one of the true disheartening things about woodworking is having the tools and the time, but not being able to use them.
Anyway, out of this helping of lemons, I've found a way to make lemonade. One of my neighbors had part of a huge oak surrender to the wind, and this week left the cut-up remainder out on the curb. I helped myself to four of the largest sections I could lift. One fit in a little red wagon and I dragged it home with my daughter urging me on, and the others came by car. Two are straight, and two are Y-shaped, where branches were.
I'm planning to cut them up into slabs to make some small storm furniture, one piece of which I will return to my unwitting wood supplier. So I was wondering this... How long should I leave the green wood out to dry, and would it be better left covered in the open or in a shed?
