Well, strictly not driftwood. Due to some very low tides last weekend, i have a 3 1/2 foot long, and extremely heavy, piece of wood that i believe is part of an old ship ( over 100 years old). Its a lovely piece of wood that i would like to dry out and have in the house. I started to dry it out slowly, but it has started to crack, so its gone in the bath until i figure out what to do. How can it be dried without cracking?

It simply might not be possible . Could be that some of its ‘defect’ had already occurred many moons ago. But. I’d suggest putting it outside, under cover, out of direct sunlight and stood on end to begin with, at least for perhaps a week or two. This will allow as much water as possible, if it’s sodden , to literally run out, then , place it flat on a couple of battens so it’s off the ground and leave it like that for a month or so , then maybe bring it inside .

Didn’t they stick one of the warships in Portsmouth under water sprays for several years before letting it dry out? Might give you a clue what to do with it over a shorter term

Cakeface has it. Let it air dry slowly and spring is as good as it gets in terms of mildish air and usually rain and damp. Keep it under cover, with air around it.

I did chuckle though at your assumption of this bit of woods’ origins and age! Especially as you’re asking how to season it 😉 What makes you think it’s from a boat? Everyone in the country that has a random bit of wood in their semi-det claims its from an old wooden ship! And age? Do you do carbon dating too?! 😀

Slackslice – its definately off a ship as it is a rough plank shape and has 6 or so holes in it – and its definately very old as the wood is almost black in colour and very heavy. It was also found in amongst other shipwreck remains. I admit that my estimation of age is a guess but alot of ships did go down in the 1800’s in the exact area based upon my shipwreck map.

I’ll give the cakeface / slackalice method a go though!

6 holes in it? No wonder it sank 😉

its definately off a ship as it is a rough plank shape and has 6 or so holes in it –

Sounds just like the wave breakers at Alnmouth.

Have you reported your find? https://www.gov.uk/wreck-and-salvage-law

whatever it is/from, its a nice bit of wood

Try imgur.com 😆

Soak it in PEG for as long as you can (think weeks or months here) before drying

I’d go with the Nivea.

Whatever you do, it will crack as it dries. I weighed a fresh chunk of sycamore at 478gms then dried it beside the stove for four momths and re-weighed it – it now weighs 192gms, a loss of 60% of water in weight.

Didn’t they stick one of the warships in Portsmouth under water sprays for several years before letting it dry out? Might give you a clue what to do with it over a shorter term

The sprays had a resin component which is designed to soak the wood and stabilise the structure over time, to prevent the wood from falling apart. They did the same thing with the six longships discovered in Tronsö, one of which was shown in London last year, it’s over 100′ long.
That does look like a great piece of wood, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s well over 100-150 years old.

Plenty of good solid timber left on this boat, the barque SS Nornen, which ran aground in 1897:

[/url]Barque SS Nornen, Berrow, Somerset. by CountZero1, on Flickr[/img]

Might take some drying out, though… 😀