put green stave in freezer?

[nsherve]

Have any of you put a fresh, green one in a freezer to see what would happen? If so, was there any damage to it? I don't have a freezer big enough for it, but I'm curious on what the affects would be.... Would it help to season to wood quickly? We often have a very warm winter, with maybe a frost here and there.

[Hrothgar]

Never tried this one. The moisture needs to evaporate from the wood cells, freezing a green stave would slow or prevent this process.

[nsherve]

I just read an article on pre-freezing eucalyptus, (I made it a quick read, so I don't know it..) prior to kiln drying. It compressed the cells and made the wood stronger (my understanding, I could be mistaken since it was a quick read) and less likely to split and twist.https://ncsu.edu/bioresources/BioRes_10/BioRes_10_4_6417_Liu_GC_Color_Shrinkage_Changes_Pre-freezing_Mod_Eucalyptus_6664.pdf
I know that frozen water still evaporates, just takes longer...but seasoning takes quite a while, correct? I wonder how it would be on a stave. Or, on the log prior to splitting...or, freeze, thaw, split, refreeze. I'm curious on what the effects would be. If I ever get a big enough drop freezer, I'll try it out. Probably won't be anytime soon (so, maybe I'll remember)...

[ajooter]

I would think that by the water freezing and expanding it would cause the wood to split

[PatM]

What prevents a live tree from freezing and suffering damage? Many guys in the North have probably split staves and just left them in an outdoor shed a good deal colder than a freezer and just left them until spring. I know I have.

[osage outlaw]

It gets below freezing in my garage where I keep my staves. 

[Pat B]

In my experience, logs do split easier when frozen.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Can evaporation take place below freezing? If not, it would certainly slow it down rather than speed it up.

[PatM]

Can evaporation take place below freezing? If not, it would certainly slow it down rather than speed it up.

  Ice goes directly from a solid to a gas through the process of sublimation. It doesn't have to melt.
 
 " Freeze drying" exploits this by using pressure differential to enhance it.

[DC]

The important thing is still the RH. If you have cold dry air with lots of movement things will dry quickly. On the other hand, in a freezer there is probably no air movement and being a confined place the RH will probably climb. Not good conditions for drying. On the other, other hand steaks do get freezer burn.

[bow101]

Have any of you put a fresh, green one in a freezer to see what would happen? If so, was there any damage to it? I don't have a freezer big enough for it, but I'm curious on what the affects would be.... Would it help to season to wood quickly? We often have a very warm winter, with maybe a frost here and there.

#1 why bother
#2 why even thing about it................

[PEARL DRUMS]

Same reasons Marc decided to cook a bow with a heat gun one day.

[BowEd]

Had a friend talk to me about drying osage down with dry ice once long ago.Thought  it was kinda quacky but there might be something to it though.
The only good I use the cold for is splitting wood for the stove when the temp is below 10 degrees.The sap freezes I think/gets brittle and comes apart with lesser persuasion.

[Newindian]

sublimation of H2O wont take place until pressure is less than .006 atm ( top of Everest is about .34 atm). So the ice wont sublimate much in your average freezer( a tiny bit will). I don't see how freezing would help the wood in anyway, it's more likely to do harm, trees go to great lengths to prevent freezing, and the thereby the ice crystals which destroys cells.  Its possible that throwing a stave, cut in the colder months, doesn't even freeze when you throw it in a freezer.

[bradsmith2010]

billets would fit,,, just try it,,