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I have a couple of old boxwood bushes that have died on my property. They seem pretty solid, not yet significantly rotted.
Any tips on how to preliminarily treat, dry and store this if I dig the stumps up?
DocAitch

I sealed up some recently dead oak with silicone and it seems to not be cracking so far. I've also started working with MinWax wood hardener which is supposed to deal with preventing further decay.

As for drying, key to keeping it from cracking is to let it dry evenly. The bark holds in the moisture, so the end grain should be sealed if you leave the bark on. I think it needs to dry for a year per inch diameter or something close to that.

Any green wood that I want to use I just paint the end grain with some old gloss (oil based) paint, 2 coats slapped on thick then forget about it for a couple of years.

caskwith wrote:Any green wood that I want to use I just paint the end grain with some old gloss (oil based) paint, 2 coats slapped on thick then forget about it for a couple of years.

That.
Also of all the woods boxwood is probably one that, if you do as Chris says, will stay solid. It's just so dense and grows so slowly that it's structure is very uniform. I have a huge chunk, a half log, 30cm long and about 20cm diameter that hadn't been sealed in any way and it just stayed right there, no splitting. But it's always better to stay on the safe side.

W.Pastuch wrote:

caskwith wrote:Any green wood that I want to use I just paint the end grain with some old gloss (oil based) paint, 2 coats slapped on thick then forget about it for a couple of years.

That.
Also of all the woods boxwood is probably one that, if you do as Chris says, will stay solid. It's just so dense and grows so slowly that it's structure is very uniform. I have a huge chunk, a half log, 30cm long and about 20cm diameter that hadn't been sealed in any way and it just stayed right there, no splitting. But it's always better to stay on the safe side.

Yeah different woods all behave in different ways and storage location and conditions will affect things as well. It takes 2 mins and some free leftover paint to do this and as you say better to stay safe.

sandahlpipe wrote:I think it needs to dry for a year per inch diameter or something close to that.

Jeremiah is correct!

I have been soaking wood with D.N.A.after removing the heart wood, placing in a paper bag.Dries much faster, so far no warping.Google alcohol treatment for wood.

Thank you ,Gentlemen.
I will paint the end grain when I dig them up. Do you cut the stump into pieces near turning size first, paint and then dry or do you leave it all in one piece and only paint the exposed cut ends?
DocAitch

I cut any wood I have into pieces slightly bigger than I expect to use. It's nice to leave them as big as possible but this means they take up lots of space, take a longer to dry and are harder to move around.

DocAitch wrote:Thank you ,Gentlemen.
I will paint the end grain when I dig them up. Do you cut the stump into pieces near turning size first, paint and then dry or do you leave it all in one piece and only paint the exposed cut ends?
DocAitch

It depends if you want to keep it green or dry it. The smaller you cut the quicker it will dry. As mentioned, box is pretty stable, so can usually be dried in quite small bits, even without sealing the ends. Just keep it somewhere relatively cool out of sunlight or strong drafts. If you want to dry it quicker there's a load of things you can try, but by far the easiest is sealing the ends and waiting.

How much of the bush do you keep? The main trunk May be 3-5 " diameter at ground level, the branches start at 1 1/2 " and go about 20" where they reach 1". How much of this is usable?
DA

I'd keep it all if I could. Probably wouldn't mess with much under an inch diameter if that includes the bark.

Small branch or trunk sections have more grain pattern in them, especially if you turn them as endgrain, so are really nice for little projects, and would probably be nice for the right shank extension (military mount?). Bigger sections tend to have more uniform grain and colour, and you see them used more commonly on pipes with box accents.
I'd keep all the big stuff (it's quite pricey to buy), and a selection of little bits too. It's all usable, it just depends on the project and storage space.

Thank you again for the great information. Unfortunately, the ground is frozen hard now, so this project will wait until the thaw. The things have been dead for a couple of years now so I don't suppose waiting another couple of months will change much.
DocAitch.

Great advice so far. I cut a lot of my wood (not for pipes) out of solid logs, and wood never ceases to surprise me. Sometimes it's really well behaved as it dries, and other times it warps or splits in crazy ways. Cutting and drying your own wood is always a crap shoot, but if you have the time, tools, and storage space, then it's worth it to do it right.

I'll add two more things to what's been said above. 1. Remove all the bark as soon as possible. Bugs like to hide in the bark, and bark keeps moisture in. 2. Split every piece at least in half; quarters are even better. You'll get much less cracking if the pith isn't trapped inside a solid piece of wood.