Elm harvesting

[Muskyman]

I’ve got a moisture meter but no scale..
so take it down to like 2x2 +- and then let it dry? Or would I be better served to reduce to floor tiller and clamp it to a form?

[willie]

I’ve got a moisture meter but no scale..
so take it down to like 2x2 +- and then let it dry? Or would I be better served to reduce to floor tiller and clamp it to a form?

2x2  or whatever thickness and width will accommodate your design.  the scale will help here as you can basically see how fast its drying and when it stops loosing moisture even if it isnt completely dry enough to reduce to floor tiller dimensions. 

you will need it pretty dry to start tillering
you can get it dryer faster by thinning the limbs sooner, but you will have thinner sections dryer than thicker sections. the thicker handle will check if not as dry as the limbs if you rush the later stages of drying

the basic idea is to move it to increasingly drier locations such that it continues to dry, but not so fast such that it checks or warps too much

warpage and the huge backset mentioned earlier come from uneven drying.  the outer rings on the back are wetter wood than the heartwood, so they can loose loose moisture faster and shrink more. by keeping the back sealed that excess moisture in the outer rings has to migrate thru to the sides and belly side

clamping straight seems to help with the warpage sometimes, but if there are shrinkage stresses caused by drying too fast, cell damage can still occur at a microscopic level

[superdav95]

I’ve got a moisture meter but no scale..
so take it down to like 2x2 +- and then let it dry? Or would I be better served to reduce to floor tiller and clamp it to a form?

This is what I do mike.  Depending on how dry it is I may take greener wood hovering around 10% mc to just pre floor tiller shape then clamp out any wiggles and twist on a form and let sit in the sun for a few hot days. I’ve done this with success on wood cut under a month.  It’s not ideal but can be done.   I’ll keep checking it and monitor its mc.  Once below 8-9% I’ll heat treat.  Be aware that surface readings can fool you.  For greener wood I would keep some mass and clamp and set aside to dry more and come back to it later.