Checks!!!

[David Peterson MN]

:mad::(:mad:

I make and sell many long grain cutting boards and very few end grain. I was just finish sanding a 12x18x 1 3/4 thick end grain board of hard maple and walnut. Looked awesome! Until......I noticed some of the maple blocks were forming 1/2" to 3/4" checks:eek: The hard maple 8/4 planks I used have sat in my heated shop for probably 3 weeks or longer. The lumber had been kiln dried and had sat at my local sawmill for some time. I have never had a problem with the maple before. What could be forming these checks? And the checks aren't forming in the same "sticks" of maple used in the board. 4 of the end grain blocks have now checked. They run cross grain. Any help is appreciated. The board is due to the client next week. Thanks.

[Mike Heidrick]

Have a moisture meter?

The checked pieces are not dry enough I am betting. How long exactly were they in the kiln?

[Sean Hughto]

Pieces close to the pith will sometimes check up like this even though ostensibly "dry." You should be able to tell from the grain where in the log the offending pieces came from, if the piece shows you enough.

[David Peterson MN]

The pieces don't appear to from near the pith.(I could be wrong about that though). I have another end grain board I made last october from the same pile of hard maple from the sawmill that is just perfect. He does kiln it down to 6-8%. He does let the lumber air dry for approx 6 months before placing it into the kiln. I don't own a moisture meter. That will have to be a purchase I make very soon. The photos show some of the checks. I imagine that I will have to abandon this board and start from scratch....any opinions????? 8 checks have appeared on the top side of the board in a matter of a few hours!

Thanks guys.

[David Peterson MN]

I purchased a mini-lignomat ED moisture meter this evening since this is really bugging me. My hard maple is a 6% and the walnut reading was under 6%. And like I posted previously, the wood sat in the heated portion of my shop for a few weeks to acclimate. I keep the shop about as warm as the house all winter. Any more ideas why this checking would occur?

[mreza Salav]

Once I sold an end-grain cutting board on e-Bay. It was beautiful.
The lady who bought it said it arrived fine but after she washed it several pieces (cherry/maple/walnut) popped (they cracked!).
I got it back and indeed there were several cracks. I don't know what she really did to it. I left it in my shop thinking what to do. Next day all cracks had joined again to the extend I couldn't find many of them anymore!!

My guess is it's the matter of moisture difference that caused mine to crack and probably yours had the same issue.

[Danny Hamsley]

The lumber may have been too aggressively dried to the point that case hardening occurred. That is where the shell and core are not allowed to equilibrate due to drying too fast and the core will develop honeycomb checks that show up later in use as the moisture content changes. In many kilns, the lumber is "conditioned" at the end of drying where moisture is added to allow the shell and core of the boards to reach equilibrium. It looks like the shell and core of your pieces have not reached equilibrium, thereby resulting in the checks as the core dries further,

Of course that may not be the issue.

[David Peterson MN]

The lumber may have been too aggressively dried to the point that case hardening occurred. That is where the shell and core are not allowed to equilibrate due to drying too fast and the core will develop honeycomb checks that show up later in use as the moisture content changes. In many kilns, the lumber is "conditioned" at the end of drying where moisture is added to allow the shell and core of the boards to reach equilibrium. It looks like the shell and core of your pieces have not reached equilibrium, thereby resulting in the checks as the core dries further,

Of course that may not be the issue.

Thank you for the explanation. Is there anything I can do for the lumber after I purchase it to condition it???


Once I sold an end-grain cutting board on e-Bay. It was beautiful.
The lady who bought it said it arrived fine but after she washed it several pieces (cherry/maple/walnut) popped (they cracked!).
I got it back and indeed there were several cracks. I don't know what she really did to it. I left it in my shop thinking what to do. Next day all cracks had joined again to the extend I couldn't find many of them anymore!!

My guess is it's the matter of moisture difference that caused mine to crack and probably yours had the same issue.

What a terrible feeling! I am in your shoes but it happened to me before I could even deliver it.

Thanks for replies guys.

[John Coloccia]

It's like loosing weight. Once you get through all the hype, the bottom line is you have to eat less (I lost 100 lbs 10 years ago so I know!). Same thing here. The wood just needs to dry slower most of the time. One you take a big piece and turn it into a small piece with exposed end grain, any residual moisture will stream out of it very fast.

My old cutting board is getting beat up...it's a cheapy store bought model that's 5 years old. I'll be making another one for myself this spring. My plan is to rough cut the wood this month, wax the ends, and let it settle fir a couple more months. Then I'll make the finish cuts and build. Maybe I'm just over the top but my experience comes instrument building and we tend to be overly cautious with this sort of stuff.

When I buy rough wood, I try to decide what I'll use it for ahead of time and make some rough cuts when it comes into my shop. Then I'll let it sit until I'm ready to use it, which is usually several months from now. I always try to keep a decent assortment if different wood in different sizes, but I'm practically a hobbiest at this point, at least in terms of volume, so it's tough. Sometimes I cheat with new bought wood, and usually I get away with it. :D

[Danny Hamsley]

[QUOTE=David "Medic" Peterson;1306275]Thank you for the explanation. Is there anything I can do for the lumber after I purchase it to condition it???
QUOTE]

I am not sure that it is reversible if that is in fact what has happened to your wood.