Arrested a bunch of 6 foot agave stalks today. Any tips for the best way to cure them so they don’t split too much?
There are a fe smaller lengths too. But most are 1800mm which is just over 6 foot.
I think it is best to let them cure on the stalk or plant. However, since you have culled them, let dry out s- l- o -w- l -y and with no rapid significant temperature changes. Place them on a flat, level surface with air circulation all around them. The key is to try to keep the ambient temp. even and constant with enough air flow to help remove moisture from them. Slow and steady wins the race. If there is significant checking (cracking), that occurs rather rapidly, seal the ends with wax or glue to stop the “end grain” from taking in moisture.
Seal the ends as Tblank suggests. Paint will also work. If they were mine I’d rip into boards, remove bark, and sticker so that air can flow through the boards. Check moisture content with either a moisture meter, or by weighing. Once the weight of the wood has stabilized it should be good to go.
I had a large Agave stalk that was cut while still green and after drying out I found the center was way too soft to use, it was very spongy. I also had issues with carpenter bees finding the wood and boring into the wood.
I think the right way to use this wood is by letting it die and dry naturally, then harvest the dried up stalk. It would also be much lighter to carry after you cut it. You might try splitting the wood into quarters then use sticks to hold it apart but tie it back up and find a good place for the wood to dry. Saw this in an old thread on Sways about harvesting Balsa on Kauai by wood_ogre.
Too bad I can’t find the big stalks anymore. We have a lot of this different species where I live that only gets about 3 inches in diameter.
I mill the sides flat leaving the bark on what will be the top and bottom. Sticker and wait at least a year or build a hot box. If you leave it on the plant it will begin to get soft in the middle and then hollow. If you don’t give the moisture a way out it’ll rot in there.
The wood in Gene’s boards was in very good shape, if I remember correctly there were 16 stalks.
Some were almost a foot in diameter
…wow… I don’t even know what to say. Just …wow…, Gene.
Did Jim build the blank?
All the best
Gene and I have more than a few co-labs
That board and the blue agave are complete mind blowers!!!
I remember seeing the blue one and just pure insanity.
You guys set the bar and I love it.
A good buddy of mine living in Ojai on the Summit has a long driveway to his house that was lined with agave with 27 stalks. Count 'em twenty seven. He let me “keep them in my back pocket” on the stalk for future use though my past experiences have been itchy affairs. We both had plans for them. Now, his entire property is scorched earth. Lost his house but saved the barn we had built. He paid a very high price sad to say. We won’t see them come back in our lifetimes. Nature gives…nature takes away. I talked to him today and he told me the only issue he has now is, he keeps waking up with horse hair in his mouth bunking in the barn. Resilient fellow. A heck of a lot more families were affected by that fire than the subsequent mudslide.
Wow that’s horrible. I hope he is ok.
Any way guys thanks heaps for all the hints.
One thing, when someone says “sticker” what do they mean?
“I mill the sides flat leaving the bark on what will be the top and bottom. Sticker and wait at least a year or build a hot box. I“
Sticker or stickering are the terms for stacking wet lumber neatly to dry using small supporting pieces called ‘stickers’.
https://woodworking.stackexchange.com/questions/636/what-does-stickering-wood-mean
I harvested about 20 stalks in South Oz a couple of years ago and stored them in my shed. Some were dead on the plant, others on the way out, but still living when I cut them. Someone told me at the time that the best way to store them was standing up, and that I should let them dry out for at least three months. I did just that, then built a 5’10" stubbie out of them. The centres were quite soft, but the outer skin was like planing eucalyptus (i.e. tough).