Replies

1. 
   oldusty | Dec 14, 2009 06:57am | #1

    fordtruckguy ,

              The first thing that comes to mind is exactly how wet or dry is the slab ,   you prolly want to glue the inlay in right ? If the moisture content is too high the glue may not work ?

       Why not fit the inlays tight but dry , if they still fit then glue them in later.

                    regards     dusty

1. 
   fordtruckguy | Dec 14, 2009 05:51pm | #2

   Thanks for the reply oldustyThat is a very good idea. My moisture meter seems to have gone missing so I will have to wait a bit for an exact reading. I will dry fit them and worse comes to worse they don't fit in 6 months to a year and I will just cut a new inlay. Thanks again.

1. 
   oldusty | Dec 14, 2009 06:14pm | #3

   Your Welcome from  a Ford Van Guy .

1. 
   citrouille | Dec 14, 2009 08:56pm | #4

   There are some devices designed for that purpose, one is a S shaped iron and one is shaped like a staple with the outside of the points straight and the inside on an angle, you drive both in the end grain.
   The S is mostly for logs, the staple (about 2" wide with points 1" long) actually brings the lips of the split together.C.

2. 
   Lataxe | Dec 15, 2009 01:01am | #5

   FTG,

   When timber dries and the forces that open a split increase, those butterfly thangs will put a stop to it.  I often wonder: where does the split-force then go?

   Does it stay locked up and somehow resolved in the timber, like the case-hardened plank that only jumps into two bananas when ripped?  Perhaps it travels elsewhere (like the other end of the plank, where a new split opens) or does a jig and comes out sideways (as a twist or wind perhaps).

   Still, its a well-known technique and seems to work.  yet I still wonder where those splitting forces go.....?

   Lataxe