New Mantel from fallen tree

[Tetrarch]

Hi All,

We completed on our "project" a week before Christmas and on Boxing Day a storm toppled a pair of 40-year-old cherry trees. After salvaging a lot of the wood for the new wood burner we're left with three large logs (first pic below)

I'd like to use the leftmost log (about 12' long) and carve out of it a new mantel to replace the 8' log in the second pic. The current mantel is 7" tall a little shallow (6.5") and (bizarrely) a little short at a little shy of 8'.

I am looking for a final mantel about 8'1 x 7" x 8.5" (to give a mantel shelf). This last measurement may vary as we're likely to be adding to the insulation of the internal wall to some degree





I am fairly handy with a chainsaw. but I have no idea how long to leave the log to dry, what part of the log I should use and how best to extract the perfect mantel. As you can see from the pic there is a bit of a bend in the log but as it is about a foot across there should be plenty of wood with which to work.

Regards and thanks for any advice

Tet

 

[foxhole]

https://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/drying-wood-at-home/

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Rule of thumb was always 1 year per inch of thickness, and that's after the bole has been debarked and sized (because the bark can retain moisture). It is also based on the wood being stacked under cover (say a sheet of corrugated plastic) on timber or plastic skids (no metal) with good air flow all around it. You may want to consider sealing the ends with paraffin wax or the like to reduce any tendency for splitting to occur due to the ends drying out at a faster rate than the centres. It may need a few months indoors afterwards to reach something nearer to equilibrium, but don't be surprised if it does subsequently crack a little. This is especially the case where the timber is boxed out from the heart if the tree where you'd normally expect to see some radial heart shakes

Even then you will only reach summer equilibrium with air drying (about 16% MC in the UK). Kiln dried timber is normally delivered at around 10 to 12%, and timber in centrally heated houses, conservatories, etc can get down as low as 4 to 5% in service. So don't try to dry it out too fast - because it will crack

An alternative might be to convert the boles to timber then treat by immersion in PEG (polyethylene glycol) solution which exchanges PEG for water in the timber and condiderably speeds up the process. Used a lot by turners for hardwood blanks

 

[^woody^]

You might be better off using that log in the basket next to the burner, and keep that existing beam.