Cutting up cracked wood

Re: Cutting up cracked wood

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>I think I'd take a couple of approaches. One would be to cut with the crack, make the crack a delineation. The second would be to cut butterfly keys to close the cracks. Of course, there's the third option of not using the wood, but where's the fun in that.

Pam

Hidden defects

Jim Reed @ Tallahassee

>The wood split because it is unhappy. More hidden defects probably exist under the surface. Cracks and splits often continue beyond where you see good wood--things beyond are weak but not yet split. Often these splits are due to improper drying. I suggest cutting back to sound wood. Maybe your layout can work around some of the defects. Otherwise, buy some happy wood. Unsound wood can be dangerous to work with because it can fail suddenly and unexpectedly.

Agree with Jim

David Miller from Iowa

>The wood is more important than the tools. Look at the grain - if it is crotch wood or other stressed wood, think hard. I once got a load of bargain wood that was all crazy grained - it was no bargain. I cut out the best part, let it set for a year, then took the few pieces that were still good and made a tabletop. 10 years later I was in bed and awoke to a sharp pop (dead of winter with low humidity) and the table top had a 5/8 split in it.

Re: Cutting up cracked wood

ThomD

>It depends whether the main issues are structural or aesthetic. Structurally you, don't want a lot of future trouble, and it is worth considering whether the cracks in question are the result of unresolved stresses like reaction wood (unballanced rings); bad drying proceedures; occured in the usual places (ends and pith). Also worth considering if the wood is actually currently dry and at the moisture level it will live as furniture.

The most comon cracks are in the ends, and I normally cut those off, they are rarely dramatic enough in my stock to be worth using dovetails in. Other than that I try to lay-out aroung any other craks. I might resaw on occasion and rejoint after the cracks have been planed out and glued.

For furniture I generally try to use perfect stock. I often feel like including a little end crack because otherwise I can't use the wood I have. Can't think of too many cases where that was a good idea. Drying type cracks are not normally sculpturally interesting. They are too thin, and often get wider from some point which tends to kill the flow in a piece. Even rank amateur know that a crack is bad and can tell that attempts to include it are probably fighting the overall design. If you look through the variousl Nakashima collections you will not find any/many example of just straight end cracks being used, there is always some interesting shape to the crack, like a snaky pith split that doesn't run out, or it is a book matched section.

Re: Cutting up cracked wood

Bill Tindall, E.TN

>You were not clear on the details of this cracked wood but I am going to guess that it is wood from near the center of the tree. (Look at the end of the board and see) If so this is normal for trees. It looks good until it dries and then it cracks parallel to the length of the board in fairly wide cracks. Disreputable sawmills foist this stuff off on unsuspecting woodworkers. It is a profitable scam.

Anyway, the center 2-4" of trees usually splits upon drying. This wood is useless except for making pallets and that is its normal fate. Rip it off and what remains from farther out from the center may be good.

Alternatively you may have lumber from a tree with wind shake. Again upon drying the growth rings separate randomly throughout the board.These cracks are typically not very wide and the follow the growth rings. Because the separation appears random it is hard to say how to salvage usable material.

Or the lumber may be honeycombed. This is a drying defect and it means the lumber has wicked tension in it. If it is honeycombed the cracks rarely go to the surface before planing and on the end grain the cracks will be lens shaped. I would not use it. This lumber will not be stable.

Did you saw how you acquired this material?