seasoning hawthorn

[stuckinthemud]

Hi All,
after much searching I have been lucky enough to harvest an 80 inch length of hawthorn; trunk not branch, clean and straight with a centre diameter of 8 inches.  I have sealed the ends with yellow glue.  Never having worked with hawthorn, does anyone know if it cleaves straight as I am really nervous about splitting this in case I ruin it - potentially there are four staves in there, but just two would be OK.  Also, bark on or bark off  - there is conflicting evidence out there on this subject.  Once split/sawn I intend to seal it all over and leave it to slowly dry out - my garage is cool and damp (hey its Wales, everywhere is cool and damp!) - anyone got any ideas on seasoning time - I've heard as much as 5 years but that seems a little extreme for a stave approximately 2 inches square...

Thanks in advance

[autologus]

Hawthorn will check like crazy so season it slowly.

Grady

[randman]

With a log 8" diam. I'd at least split it into quarters...Log of Hawthorn would take forever to season...You could score the length slightly with a skil saw before splitting to help it split straight but if it has twisted grain even that's not complete security as you'll find out straight away....Don't know about the UK hawthorn but the Seattle Hawthorn likes to twist as it grows sometimes you can see it in the bark.

[bow101]

Leave the bark on. Like others say it checks easily and it twists, I find it on the soft side. On a good note it smells like cherry.  Leave it sealed up in a dry room not damp.  What I have done is leave in garden shack for 3-4 months let stand in summer sun for about a week then inside hanging on the ceiling for 1-2 months.  No problem with checking.

[mikekeswick]

Our UK hawthorn doesn't check too bad.
You want to be reducing it down to 1/4's, leave them for a few months then reduce to a rough floor tiller.

[dragonman]

I have used hawthorn and found it to behave alright , no excessive checking or splitting problems , providied you treat it reasonably,,,
Bow101, says he finds it soft,!!! i always found  it a good hard wood.!!

You can see if its grown twisted or straight with hawthorn, by the the bark and shape, it normaly grows twisted, but if you look around , you'll see it grows dead straight sometimes. ( as you did)

where abouts in wales are you stuck in the mud?  I live and make bows in Pembs

[joachimM]

I wouldn't split it but cut it. In my experience hawthorn (Crataegus laevigatus) very often gives a twist when you split and dry it.
I cut a similar sized log, left bark on, glued the ends and stored it around 25°C at 65% RH. That should eventually give an equilibrium MC of around 11%, so nothing excessive. Still, it started to check at one end after three months, so I moved it to a colder and less dry place...

I have a dozen narrower staves (4-6 cm diam) drying, and I debarked two just to see how they would dry. They checked like hell, often in spirals. Another one I reduced to stave-size proportions last week to let it dry full length full width. That one too warped at both ends some 45° (yielding a total 90° twist from end to end).

 

[dragonman]

the hawthorn you mention joachim is a different variety to that in the uk, we do have this species you mention as an ornamental tree often found in parks and gardens, but the wild uk version has white or very slightly pink flowers, maybe the wood is different too? I think it is a harder wood and the way the tree grows looks different too....

[joachimM]

There are two very common species of Hawthorn shared between UK and continental Europe.
http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/native-trees/hawthorn/
So we're definitely talking about the same species here.

[Marc St Louis]

I found a source once that listed the density of Hawthorn at about the same as Hickory.  It doesn't grow large up here, maybe 4" in diameter at the most, but it certainly make a good bow especially when heat-treated.  If you are worried about it twisting but want to speed drying then you could kerf the log with a circular saw, at the appropriated points.  This will allow you to leave the log whole yet give a way for moisture to escape.

[bow101]

Here is the link to the Hawthorn species on the coast. http://www.nwplants.com/business/catalog/cra_dou.html
The stuff I found has very small purplish berries that stay on the tree all winter.  Maybe I'm getting the wrong one. All you guys say its hard wood this stuff is on the soft side. 

[joachimM]

My european hawthorn has about 0.60 to 0.70 specific gravity, so rather dense. But it aint really hard. Density and (janka) hardness are two different things. Hardness refers to how much force you need to dent the wood.
See http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/janka-hardness/

[Marc St Louis]

The 2 species of Hawthorn I have seen have red drupes and they are edible but with very little taste