ALL,
I have been having a problem when ripping walnut on my tablesaw. I have had the same problem on the last two projects that have had walnut in them. When I rip it the walnut bends and warps while I am cutting it. As it is passing the blade the saw kerf closes itself. I have checked it before and after cutting it. Before it is nice and straight and after cutting it it is as much as a 1/4 inch out. It is still flat but not straight. I am paying attention to the fence when i am cutting it and I am not letting it drift away from the fence so I don’t think it is technique. I also do not have this problem when cutting other types of wood in the exact same way. So is this a property of walnut that it warps easily or is it something else. Oh by the way I am cutting 4/4 walnut both flatsawn and rift sawn pieces and I have the same problem with both. Thanks for the help.
Nick
Replies
Is all your walnut coming from the same supplier, possibly the same batch? Sounds like it could have been case hardened during kiln drying (assuming it's kiln dried). I haven't heard of any ways to cure case hardening once it's happened but someone on Knots who's a lot smarter than me (and there are many!!) may have a tip. Whenever I've run into case hardened woods it's a struggle -- each cut with a saw, jointer, whatever to remove the bend results in a bit of strain and more bends, pretty frustrating. I hope this isn't the situation you're in.
Good luck,
Peter
I agree that improperly dried wood is a likely source of your problem. This can be dangerous as well. BE SURE you have your splitter in place.
You bought reaction wood, any species that grew on a hill or otherwise grew crookedly will do the same as your walnut. The walnut is not prone to this,you got a bad batch and it should be returned. Talk to the sawyer or whoever you bought the wood from . If they know what they are doing and value a customer you will be compensated for.
I buy off a boat builder, he sells hardwoods to homeowners and small shops. I know from hearing that any hardwood sold that is not up to par, he will reimburse you or otherwise make good. That's why I buy from him rather than the cheapest retailer.
mike
Do you have a moisture meter?
It could be case hardening or more likely the black walnut hasn't dried to it's proper 7%.
I made that mistake myself..
I air dried for almost 2 years and I expected the 4/4 boards to be nice and dry when I ran them through the saw.. . Turns out they weren't
The wood is case hardened from incorrect kiln drying. I doubt there is anything you can do except try and remove all the twist by thinning it down. I had a problem with a purchase of hard maple I made a few years ago. Basically, the material was unusable for the purpose I intended and I ended up using it in short lengths and planing the movement out of it. Even then, it moved around and wasn't suitable for any furniture purpose.
If you need to continue to rip it or even cross cut it, use a bandsaw if you have one.
ALL,
The walnut is from two different projects. The first was built about a year ago and I just finished the second one. On the first one I thought maybe it was just a fluke but when it happened on the second one I was curious. It very well could have come from the same batch as there is only one hardwood supplier for the area I live in. There are plenty of places to buy hardwood but everyone I have asked all gets there stock from the same supplier so it could be a problem with the batch. That makes me feel better because you have no idea how frustrating it is to see a board warping literally 3 inches after it has passed the blade. Also what is "case hardened" I have never heard of that before? Thanks again to everyone.
Nick
Nick, whilst the information at this page on my website doesn't give a complete description of the causes of case hardening I think you'll find enough to chew on for a while. Slainte.richardjonesfurniture.com
Well it looks like it is definitely case hardening... The picture in the "fork test" you had on your Website is exactly what my boards looked like while I was ripping them. Unfortunately in my case I could not take the boards back and the project is already finished. I made it work and the results were pretty good with the exception of one ore two spots but it sure was a lot of hassle trying to fix the warping. Thanks for the the info. It is always fun to learn something new! Especially when you know that the mistake was not your fault! Thanks again.
Nick
You've heard it before, I'm sure....You've got a great site. Thanks for sharing!
Ta for the kind words. Slainte.richardjonesfurniture.com
Richard, s'cuze me for interrupting here, but we could use your help in this thread, for a member in Scotland who has a table saw question. If you have the time, dear sir......forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
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