Splice billets while green?

[J05H]

Okay, I got the log I was working on the other day split out. I got 4 nice 50" billets. I say billets because 50" is a bit beyond my current skills. Anyway, I was wondering if there would be any ill effects to going ahead and splicing them now so I can rough them out to dry faster? Or would I risk the joint shrinking up and separating or something?

[Del the cat]

Personally I wouldn't  try it because even if you clamped 'em up you could end up with a perfect splice but two limbs twisted and moved in random directions. I'd just rough 'em down leaving plenty of spare wood at the splice end.
Just guess work.
Del

[PatM]

Wood often shrinks dramatically as it dries and that is going to be a problem if your splice glue is rigid.

[Del the cat]

Wood often shrinks dramatically as it dries and that is going to be a problem if your splice glue is rigid.

I'd assumed he'd cut the splices and clamp... never even considered glueing whilst green
Del

[PEARL DRUMS]

Wait until they are dry. I find it much easier to work on one billet at time. That includes rough shaping and heat bending. Then I cut in splices and glue them up. Its just easier to handle 36" rather than 68" I guess.

[Hrothgar]

Definitely wait, some white woods shrink up to 30%.

[Pat B]

You can reduce the billets to floor tiller stage so they will dry quicker but I'd wait for the glue-up. Once you reduce the billets bind them together, back to back, to keep them from twisting. You can always add reflex later.

[J05H]

PatM, The only glue I have right now is TBII. I never thought of it as a rigid glue, but I could be wrong.

Del, I was referring to glueing them now. It's probably a bad Idea.

Pearl Drums, you raise a good point.

Hrothgar, they aren't whitewood. They are osage. I guess I should have mentioned that.

 I guess I'm better off waiting. Questionable ideas like this are exactly why I like to ask questions before just jumping into something. Thanks for the help guys.

[J05H]

Pat B, If I bind them back to back, should I do anything to prevent them from moving side to side?

[Eric Krewson]

I chased a grain on two billets the other day, my moisture meter said they were 20%. I cut the splices but didn't glue them together. I have done this in the past, let the thin wood of the splice dry out for a month or so then splice them together. I wouldn't splice green wood but will splice wood between 14 and 20% MC as it tends to be past the warping stage.

[Pat B]

Josh, by binding them together they should help prevent each other from warping in any direction. Keep an eye on them as they dry and if they start taking a lateral bend then you may have to try something different.

[Prarie Bowyer]

You can reduce the billets to floor tiller stage so they will dry quicker but I'd wait for the glue-up. Once you reduce the billets bind them together, back to back, to keep them from twisting. You can always add reflex later.

What do you think dry time would be on one roughed out like this?

[Pat B]

It depends on how much wood is in the billets. Usually when I do this I set it aside for a long time, at least a year. I don't like working wood that is not quite ready to work.

[mikekeswick]

Don't bother cutting the splice or even think about gluing it. The splice will deform and have to be reworked and it you did glue it it would certainly fail. 100%
If you are in a rush head on down to the lumberyard!

[J05H]

Mike, I think you misunderstand my purpose in posing this question. I'm really not in a rush to do the splice. My goal was not to go from tree to bow in a week, but rather to reduce the billets to near finished dimensions so I could work on them in the spring. I actually suspected from the beginning that splicing them green wouldn't work, but I wasn't certain. I believe it's beneficial to ask a question that you think you know the answer to. You learn far more by being wrong than right, but if you don't ask you learn nothing. In this case I was right about the splice shrinking and separating, but I still learned something. I could do the splice once the billets drop below 20% MC, but I don't need to in order to accomplish my goal. It would be easier to reduce the billets before splicing, and I can bind them to prevent warping. All of these things were quite helpful, and without them I would have probably put the billets away for 2 or 3 years rather than risk wasting them. Recommending that I "head on down to the lumber yard" was not particularly helpful.