Drying green arbutus wood

by steve
(campbell river)

hello

I love all the information you have on your site about arbutus, it is my favorite wood to work with , usually I just find smaller pieces of arbutus washed up on the beaches near our home,
Just recently I have been lucky enough get a couple pick loads of green arbutus salvaged from a logging site,

I want to make cutting boards and other items, I was going to cut most of it, into blanks about 1 3/4 inch thick 6 to 10 inches wide and about 20 inches long,

for drying: I was going dip the end of each piece in latex paint (Twice) and then sticker and stack it in a shady part of our yard, (hopefully dry enough by October) But I am worried that it might dry too fast and split and crack badly? in the summer heat.

I was thinking of loosely covering the pile with black plastic in hopes of keeping some moisture (as the plastic sweats) in the stack and slow down the drying process a little, and still allowing for airflow.

Do you think I am on the right track to drying the wood properly? is there another method I should use? I was also thinking of maybe stacking some pieces in it's own sawdust as people do with bowl blanks?

Any information / advice would be appreciated.

Thank you

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Arbutus Ron here...

Sounds like you have a good plan.

Arbutus wood will crack and bend a bit no matter what you do. So just use the parts and pieces that are OK. That is what I do.

Good luck!