End coating with AnchorSeal would be a good idea to avoid cracking. Hickory is bad about powder post beetles. In theory, the smoker idea would work, if you could get the temperature high enough for a long enough period of time (I believe it is 140 deg F) If you do a forum search for "powder post beetles" you'll find good info. Timbor is a surface application and kills the beetles when they emerge from the wood. It doesn't kill them inside the wood, but at least it avoids n infestation in the house. Air circulation is important when drying. Make sure the bottom pieces is also on stickers (better yet, a 4x4 with a sticker on it) and some fans to move the air through the pile. Looks like you are getting good, straight cuts. Should give you some very nice table tops!
First time out. This was a 34" hickory. Thinking I might try and make a table top. I used the unistrut channel on every cut. Was that nessasary? It helped me get it going straight the way it stuck out way beyond the log. I now have 3 slabs, 29'wide x 60"long x 2.25" thick in my garage stacked on 1"x 2" spacers to dry. Mosture content is 35%. Do I need to do anything to keep them from cracking as they dry out? How long will it take to dry? How about bugs? I know my hickory firewood will still have bugs a year or two after I cut it. I see the powder saw dust come out of it. A crazy Idea? I have access to a large barbque smoker, could I put it in the smoker and get it up to 250 degrees or so, would that kill all the bugs? Do anything to dry it out? Or make crack and smell like barbque?
