There was some talk on another post on case hardened wood. What do some of you all do when you come across it?
I recently came across a piece of walnut – 5/4 x 8″ x 9′. Been in the shop for over two years and was as stabile as any other piece in “waiting”.
Absolutely straight and flat. Cut it down to 4″. Bound and sprung. Useless.
So.. I decided to see if anything was salvageable. Proceeded to rip it down in 1.5″ strips of which I had a need for. The end result looked like hot oil fried Chinese noodles. Not one adjacent strip went the same way, up and down and laterally. Too far away from supplier to take it back — and they would have, if I had.
It went the way of any CH wood I have found it the past — wood stove.
Seem to be getting more and more of it across several vendors.
What do you do with yours?
BB
Replies
I find alot of it with the Jatoba I get. Branches?
I find it still works great if you DO NOT rip it down the length. Get a sort of same width board and then plane it to size!
Will,
That's the problem. I only find it when I'm grip'n and rip'in.
Dusty's idea of large pieces works OK. I jest dunt get 2 may 16" boards. (kidding there dusty)
BB
Dusty said something that caught my eye... 'I won't use it for door frames'
I use to make new and repair old doors for very old houses. Supplemental work to make ends meet when my first two baby girls came. I traveled ALOT and worked for 'Salary' so I insisted for 'some' time off between critical repair jobs. 'Salary' meant working day and night and weekends and 'whatever it took to get it running'... That could be for weeks on end.... I got away with that because I was GOOD at my job AND kept records of all my time working, traveling and waiting.
Anyway..
I wonder about 'I won't use it for door frames'. NOT that Dusty said ANYTHING wrong! Not everything in your mind, at the moment, can be expressed in a few typed words. I do it all the time.
My first thought was.. How would anybody know 'reaction wood' until it reacts? Yes, some boards will give a hint that it is but many do not until you rip into the wood at a critical place. Some you expect to react never do. Why you need to be VERY careful using your table saw. I once had a so called 'reaction' wood break my 1 inch BANDSAW blade and destroyed the fence. Yes on a bandsaw!
I had one old door that had served well on a house for many, many years. It exploded like a rifle shot when I hand sawed into it.
Anybody that has split more than 'just a few' tree trunks with wedges knows I am not exaggerating if they experienced it.
The log splits with an explosion like a rife shot sound (I remember a Elephant Gun going off) and I ended up with a leg broken from the half that hit my leg planted on the ground.
Not really sure how a real Elephant gun sounds but my grandfather had a 8 gage shotgun. Sort of like that I would think! My thought of a Elephant Gun is from the first movie of TREMORS..
I sure loved Reba McEntire with guns!
Dusty.. No offence from me to you! I am just me.
Will , to make my statement more clear , when I rip stock and find any spring wood , I will not use it to make door frames , only parts that get glued to something like a face frame . It's usually not flat or straight enough to use for doors.
dusty
Will , to make my statement more clear LOL
I understood the first. Just riding the wave here!
I did a bit of Googling when reading the other thread, and found some pics and explanation of reaction and compression wood in trees. Click here for the Tree Dictionary page that shows natures contribution to our frustrations.
FG,Good lead there. Now I know what the tree looks like that all my suppliers have been using :)BB
"Now I know what the tree looks like that all my suppliers have been using :)" Too funny. Ya know, I drive around the island here and am surrounded by trees. Ninety percent of the Madrona bows out away from the forest, leaning over the edge. Easy to see why it's hard to find Madrona that's worth milling. (There are other reasons that add to it)forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Johnnie boy ,
When I recognize stress wood I have found it to be best utilized in as large a pieces as possible .I won't use it for door frames but I may use it for face frame members 3.5 - 5" and up , just avoid narrow rips .
Red Oak and Alder I can usually look at the grain of the board and tell if will have a mind of it's own or not .
regards dusty
Dusty,
That was what I was thinking toward but the the stuff just kept getting more and more squirrely- sort of Cirque du Soleil!
At the price of Walnut I'm a little from that country due north of England -- hate turning it into chop suey.
BB
Dusty,I've found that true on Red Alder but it doesn't seem to read on Black.
Maybe I'm just getting comatose or can't read a tree anymore. Could be.
Don't know too much about the red Oak.John
Give it away? Make "modern art"?
and www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com)
- Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
OOOOH! I like that! And it's all one off.
I find it makes excellent firewood and precious little else.
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