Dumb question about wood stability

[Glenn Vaughn]

I have acquired about 500 BDFT of Kentucky Coffeetree. The widths are up to 14" with most 6" and up. This wood was cut, kiln dried then stickered and stored 25 years ago. The boards are very straight and there is no evidence of cupping at all. I have both 4/4 and 8/4 rough as well as a fair amount of FAS. Moisture is at 7%.

The question I have is - do I really need to rip to narrower widths then glue up? I was gong to rip to 3" then glue up 15" widths for the project I am working on. Using wider boards will reduce the number of glue joints and enhance the grain patterns. (I would rather have 1 joint than 4).

[Richard Dragin]

Where have you heard that you need to rip the boards and glue them back together? That's just silly.

[Jesse Espe]

Using wider boards will reduce the number of glue joints and enhance the grain patterns. (I would rather have 1 joint than 4).

I would too. Perhaps you answered your own question? :)

Or, I could be missing something. It's way past my bedtime...

[Glenn Vaughn]

I probably need to explain why I asked the question in the first place. I am new to any thing other than simple woodworking. My experience has been mainly working with bevel siding on an old victorian home. Now I am starting to get into "real" projects - the wife wants cabinets, a pantry, a "bread" table and a countertop.

I have seen the suggestion in a number of places to use narrower boards for wide pieces to minimize cupping. I am aware of using raised panels to allow for movement snd will be doing that for the doors I need to do. I probably read too much - the information out there is confusing at times.

[johnny means]

Personally, I always prefer to make my panels out of three boards (if not one). Not for any stability reasons, just my aesthetic style. Allows me some symmetry without a seam in the center. Something about things being split in half bothers me.

[glenn bradley]

The question I have is - do I really need to rip to narrower widths then glue up?

My answer is no. Many items are made from very large slabs. You may have read or heard, as I have, about ripping boards and re-gluing to resolve problems with a piece of material. This is a method, not a requirement. Perhaps some people do it all the time, I do not.

A 12" wide board that has 1/4" of cup (I'm making this up) would be very thin if jointed and planed to a flat state. The solution you are probably referring to is to rip the board (thereby reducing the amount of cup per board) and re-glue to get more usable material. The wood you describe sounds like it should be pretty happy.

[Mike Cruz]

I agree that you will likely be okay. Make sure to plane both sides of your rough board the same amount so you don't end up taking a lot off one side and just a little off the other. Otherwise the board may become unstable and cup.

I believe what you are reffering to with glueing up boards at around 3" is what is taught in shop class. I was taught in both HS and in a college course, that you should rip your boards to no more than 4" and alternate the end grain pattern up and down. This will reduce the overall cupping along the entire width of the board. That said, not everyone subscribes to this theory. Some say that doing this can create a "wavy" board if each board cups. Does that make sense?

I think you will find that most folks on this forum are very concerned about the aesthetics of a piece. Cutting and glueing a bunch of 3" strips makes it very difficult to get consitant grain pattern. I think most of us are more purist and would rather see a solid piece than glue lines, even with good grain pattern matching... unless it is book matching which many love. But then again, that is only one glue line.

As long as you are confident in the stability in your wood, I would say you ought to keep it stable with your milling practices and use wider pieces if you think it will look best that way.

Good luck and enjoy!

[Richard Dragin]

Glenn,
The way you described the wood doesn't lead me to believe it is unstable so I wouldn't plan on ripping it down. For those panels that will be glued up I would concentrate on that wild grain pattern.

The easiest match is to cross cut the board and the keep the cut ends together by placing them at the top or bottom. You should also have the "cathedral" pattern pointing up.

[Steve Jenkins]

I would certainly not rip the boards then reglue. If you look carefully at boards the same width in your stack you will probably find some that are sequenced out of the log so you can glue them together and have them bookmatch at the joint. Always a nice look.