filling in cracks in oak slices

[Jeremy Patrick]

Hello,
Hopefully a simple question. Had cut about 6 3" thick oak slices last year to be used as serving platters for my brother in law's wedding. Nothing terribly fancy, just milling them down to a flat surface and putting a food grade finish on them.
Had a few of the pieces in the garage and now in the spring noticed that a nice split has occurred almost down the middle. The slices appear to still appear to be sturdy despite the crack, but I wasn't going to test it either. For the sake of not having to find another 2.5' slice to saw off, what is advised to try and fill the crack and bond the two sides?

[David Utterback]

They may not be done cracking. How recently did you harvest the wood and was the log from a freshly fallen tree? I do not know how long it takes for slices to stabilize water content. Would they fit in you oven? You could apply gentle heat to hurry the natural process. Once it does, you can fill with epoxy in multiple applications. They can be dyed almost any color imaginable. Good luck!

[lowell holmes]

You may be able to salvage the piece by making a filler of glue and oak saw dust.
Try it on scraps until you get it right.

[Jeremy Patrick]

Mixing sawdust and glue does sound familiar.
Thanks for the reminder!

I cut the pieces last summer and the tree had already been down for at least a year prior. Don’t quite recall what the drying time is for oak. It did seem a little wet when I cut it but that was also after a big thunderstorm...

What is the usual time needed for drying in the oven?
Other option I may have is to cut more and have my local saw mill dry them. From what I saw they dry stuff the size of a large garage.

[Frank Pratt]

Glue & sawdust is not going to work well here because of the depth of the filling required. You'd have to do it in many layers, while allowing it to thoroughly dry between each. Better to use epoxy, either dyed, or even mixed with a little wood flour. Even with epoxy, you might have to do multiple pours.

Another thought; cut the crack out to a pie shape & then glue in a new contrasting piece to fill it. But wait until just shortly before they will be used to allow further drying.

[Prashun Patel]

Not worth the effort. They will survive the wedding and can be tossed after that. It’s a big trend right now. Friend of mine did 60 for a baby shower and thought the splits were features not bugs.

[Frank Pratt]

Not worth the effort. They will survive the wedding and can be tossed after that. It’s a big trend right now. Friend of mine did 60 for a baby shower and thought the splits were features not bugs.

This is probably the best advice.

[Jeremy Patrick]

Interesting
so for the moment just put a finish on them and call it good assuming the slices don’t separate any further?

[johnny means]

We used to use a product called Pentacryl to keep our oysters from cracking.

[Bill Space]

Shove something in the crack to fill
most of the space. Aluminum foil or whatever.

Buy some 100% silicone calking of a color you like and fill the cracks.
Overfill and trim flat after it dries with a razor blade. It will remain flexible if things move a bit more.

Simple , easy and fast to accomplish.

Experience speaking here. 😀

[Joe Cowan]

I would cut it down the middle, mill out the damaged wood caused by the cracking and glue it back together.

[Prashun Patel]

I would finish them in a matte or flat finish. Don’t fill the cracks with anything. It won’t look natural unless you spend time on each one.

The flat finish will hide imperfections and will minimize saw marks . In fact, I am unsure if even need to finish them at all.

[Frank Pratt]

Shove something in the crack to fill
most of the space. Aluminum foil or whatever.

Buy some 100% silicone calking of a color you like and fill the cracks.
Overfill and trim flat after it dries with a razor blade. It will remain flexible if things move a bit more.

Simple , easy and fast to accomplish.

Experience speaking here. 


Be aware that almost all silicone caulking contains a mildewcide, such as arsenic, so I wouldn't want to put it on anything that would be in contact with food. I think the stuff made for aquariums is okay.

[Jeremy Patrick]

ah, yeah that wouldn't go too well on the food side.
After seeing all the comments I may be leaning a bit more towards just leaving it if the two sides still feel decently sturdy. If all it's going to be used for is holding cupcakes or something like that and never move from the table then trying to put a sealer or some other adhesive on it may be far more work than it's worth. Heck, after the wedding they may just give it back and I'll toss them in the pile for firewood.

[Jim Becker]

Those "cookies" are going to continue to crack as they get drier and drier. Nature of the beast. The only real way to stop it is to band them in metal that constrains movement. You could try butterflies to constrain movement somewhat and a resin filler to, well...f.fill the voided areas.

[Jeremy Patrick]

I like the butterfly idea. Could give that a try towards late summer and see how it looks. Wedding is the first weekend in December so I have quite a few months to see how much more they may separate.
Worst case scenario is go and cut more slices and use the fresh ones for the wedding, use them for firewood after.
Decisions, decisions....

[Jim Becker]

You need consider to stabilizing the cookies "now" as the cracks will only increase in size as more moisture is released over the summer, perhaps even dramatically. The fact that these are thicker 3" slices may help a little in that respect, however.