Round Cut Tops (Almost) Always Split
All wood splits, some more than others, but it all splits. It even splits when paid professionals try to make it not split. This is good news for those of you wanting to snuggle by a warm fire, but not such good news for connoisseurs of split-free wood. And, it is especially bad news for anyone wanting to make a round table top out of a slice of tree.
It seems easy enough to just slice a cookie, or coin, or round, or whatever you want to call it, off the end of a log and use it as a table top, but it rarely works out. The problem (especially when swimming) is shrinkage, and in the wood realm it’s uneven and unproportional shrinkage.
I talk to customers a lot about this uncomfortable subject, and even though it isn’t pleasant, someone has to do it. As woodworkers, it is critical to understand how wood shrinks (read an earlier post about shrinkage by clicking here), and as customers it is important to understand the limitations of wood.
Drying quartersawn lumber is easy, relatively speaking, and almost always produces wood that doesn’t split. Drying flatsawn lumber without splits is more difficult, but if the ends are sealed and the lumber is dried at a slow, consistent pace, it can be done reliably. Drying round cuts from the end of a log, however, is a totally different story, and almost always results in split wood, and not just a small split, but usually large, unsightly, unrepairable and often devastating splits. So much so, that I tell customers I will cut rounds for them only if they take the milled pieces directly from my sawmill as soon as they are cut. That way I can prove that I had nothing to do with them falling apart – they do that all on their own.
It all goes back to the way wood shrinks and the way it does so unevenly. As wood dries, it shrinks twice as much with the rings as it does from the center. When viewing a log at the end (not a round cut off the end of a log but an actual log), this produces cracks that resemble spokes in a wheel. Sometimes there are larger cracks mixed in with the smaller ones, but they are always in multiples. The end wood wants to split, but since it is attached to a log which is holding it in place, the end cracks with many smaller splits to even out the pressure.
When still attached to the log there will be many smaller splits.
If that piece is cut from the end of a log all bets are off. There is no log holding things together, so the end result is usually one large split that relieves all of the pressure at once. With wood that is known to split easily, like oak, the round cuts will not only have large splits, but will often just break in two or more pieces.
Here are some examples of dried wood cookies. All of these were cut from the end of the log when the wood was wet and then air dried slowly in the shop. They are all about 18″ in diameter and 2″ thick.
Walnut-Cracked!
Pine-Split!
Maple-Busted!
What’s this! No crack? Every now and then they don’t crack. This walnut is half the diameter of the others.
So, now you know that the cool round table that you were planning to build is probably going to split if you do nothing about it, but can you do something about it? Well, maybe, kinda, sorta.
One way I know to work, from personal experience and from other local sawyers, is to cut the rounds at an angle. This will reduce or completely eliminate the cracks because the stress is going more up and down than in a circle, but it will turn your round table top into an ellipse. And, while a piece that stays together is probably better than a piece that falls apart, an ellipse is not always acceptable. I personally expect to see a round piece of wood when you tell me it was cut from the end of a round log, and find the ellipse shape a bit unnatural.
This slice (from roxyheartvintage.com) was cut on an angle so it wouldn’t crack. The angle cut is evident on the outside edge and by the fact that the “round” is not round. Logs that start out round, will end up as an ellipse angled slice.
Another alternative is to remove the pith (center of the log). Removing the pith can stop the devastating splits, but it obviously puts a hole in the piece of wood, and it is still a gamble because it is hard to tell from tree to tree how much pith needs to be removed to stop the splits from happening. A larger hole is better, but at some point the missing wood in the center will demand creativity, and perhaps more wood or glass to make a complete top.
The last and most widely used solution is to use a wood stabilizer like Pentacryl or PEG (polyethylene glycol). Originally developed to stabilize wood from archeological sites, Pentacryl works well to stabilize all kinds of wood from punky wood to crotches and will help with wood cookies. It works by replacing the water in the wood and keeping the cells at their original size, even when dry. Know that while Pentacryl will reduce and often eliminate cracks, wood cookies are by far the most difficult to dry and may still crack.
Pentacryl is a good option to keep wood cookies from cracking.
Pentacryl is not perfect. It works well, but it is expensive at $60 per gallon and adds a yellow tint to the finished piece. And, wood cookies which could normally be dried relatively quickly need to be dried extremely slowly. So slow, in fact, that thicker pieces could still take over a year to safely dry.
PEG is applied like Pentacryl, but has drawbacks that make it less than perfect too. Like Pentacryl, it is also expensive and the resulting wood surface may not accept the finish of your choice. It also takes extra time to apply and may require additional equipment to make it work correctly.
The bottom line is that you can make a table out of a round end cut from a log, but you’ve got to be prepared for failure and/or be prepared to throw plenty of time and money at the problem. I still steer away from cutting wood cookies and do my best to direct customers away from them as well. And, if I do end up cutting wood cookies for a customer, I literally cut and run.
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Good evening, interesting topic. I have a cutting board, made by those guys; http://boardsbyjoel.com/hardwoodRounds.htm
What do you think is there process??
Cheers
David
My guess is one of the chemical treatments, either PEG or Pentcryl. I doubt Joel will be in a hurry to share the info with us.
I was wondering if it would help to carefully 1/4 the cut end thru the middle (pie cuts), let it dry and then clean up the cut edges and “reassemble” the round. I know that even with thin kerf cut it would be hard to realign the grain- but it might give a stable result. Any ideas?
Reassembling pieces after they are dry will work, since most of the shrinkage happens during the initial drying. It will require two pieces that match that can be split before drying and then machined and reassembled after drying. The results can be more than satisfactory, but still a lot of work for what everyone assumes is just one cut.
I have a question I hope you can help me with: I just cut down a 60 foot silver maple in my backyard and retained seven 6 foot logs that I hope to use for landscaping. I’m wondering what I should do to avoid them splitting/ cracking. This wood will just be used as logs in the backyard. So would coating the ends with Thompson’s water seal be a good idea or something like that?
I don’t think anything will help. Silver maple logs will not last long outside. Within a couple of years you will see significant degrade, especially with ground contact. Sealing them doesn’t help because they are already wet on the inside and sealing them just traps in the water.
This is really helpful. So, can you paint a picture of what “degrade” looks like? Will the logs mostly get big cracks ,or the wood start decomposing on the outside? (Or completely fall apart?)
My thought was have the logs rest just above the ground (putting a couple notched logs underneath), as well as cut a bunch of different height stumps (sitting on the ground) that could create “stairs” or sitting areas, creating a kind of kid-friendly space for playing, climbing, hanging around.
I’m curious now what’s likely to happen to the logs. BTW, I live in the Chicago area, so we have cold winters and hot n humid summers…
Thanks for this–this knowledge you’re sharing is very much appreciated…
Cracks will happen no matter what. The degrade will be the wood decomposing and falling apart. Even white oak and walnut logs, both known for durability will start to degrade on the outside in a similar time frame. They will last longer if you can get them dry and keep them dry.The logs need minimal ground contact and the bark should be removed. The bark holds in water and promotes the decay. If you can do both of those things, the logs will last for much longer.
Hi!
Lovely article, very educational!
Quick question, I have some 5″ thick, 16″ diameter black walnut cookies that have been air drying outside for about 6 months (winter here in Toronto). Basically I am going to resaw them to about 2.5″ thick but I would like the to crack exactly like the picture above. Repeat, I want them to crack 🙂 I was thinking I could maybe add a slit with a hack saw to try and induce it?
Hope you find the time to respond! Cheers!
If you start a crack with a saw cut, it will continue to crack along that line and most likely nowhere else, since all of the stress will be relieved.
I have about 5 stumps maybe 2 feet in height dont know the diameter but about 18 inches by 15 inches i have alot of oittle cracks like in the pictures i want to cut them straight down the middle and made rustic cuting bords but will there be little cracks even inside the wood that is not exposed at the moment ?
The cracks always start at the outside, so the middle may not be cracked (yet). They will most likely crack like the ends. Hopefully, you will get lots of small cracks instead of one big one that completely breaks.
My mom received some cookie trivets that are about an inch thick and they split just like in your picture. I did a burning pen technique to create an art piece on one, but I’m now concerned. The crack runs almost to the middle. Will it continue spreading until the piece breaks, or should it stop on its own? I don’t want someone buying it and then it breaking. I didn’t want to put anything on it for fear of making it worse. Thanks for all the info- the post is great!
The crack will stop at the middle. If another one meets it at the middle it will break in two, but one big crack usually relieves the stress so the other cracks aren’t as bad. Keep it inside drying and keep an eye on the cracks. They will get worse as it dries. I wouldn’t try and sell it until it is dry and the cracks stop opening up.
I just picked up a maple log roughly 8′ x 2′ diameter that had been stored inside for 6-7 years. It is very split, most of the burls were cut off in the beginning. I was thinking of forming the top a little for a seat and tables( leave it whole kinda of has that form already) I would leave it outside put it on a stand of sorts to keep it off the ground. I want to know how to seal it large holes and all! Live on the sunny Olympic Peninsula of Wash. St where it only rains 3/4 of the year. Would like to preserve it best I can for the years to come. Can send you a picture of it if that helps. Thank You!
My favorite outdoor sealer is Sikkens Proluxe Cetol Door and Window. It’s your best chance for complete outdoor protection. You will still have to maintain it every other year, but it is the longest lasting outdoor finish I know of.
Thank you for a great read! I have two 6″ thick, 36-40″ diameter cookies from an ash tree that was cut down today. I would like to build a table from one of them. I was thinking of putting a thin saw cut from the edge to the center of one to have a controlled crack that I can fill in later. On the other I am debating whether or not to let it soak in PEG or just take my chances with a crack. Is PEG going to significantly increase my chances of having a solid cookie? Also, I don’t know anything about wood. Are my ash cookies likely to fare any better or significantly worse than the woods you have shown in your post?
Any soaking you do will help, but is still no guarantee. At 6″ thick you will need to soak for a long time, in the months, not days or weeks. I haven’t tried to dry ash cookies, so I have no first hand knowledge of how much they will split. I can tell you that ash splits very easily, so any stress will definitely lead to a crack. My guess is that you will have splits, no matter how you treat it.
This is a great help to those of us amateurs who love working wood. I have a redwood round cut from a stump about 5′ in diameter and about 10″ thick. I was hoping to pond float it for a year or so to prevent the drying damage. I have heard that the pond float will eventually ‘dry’ the wood, even though the saturation from the pond will keep it soaked. Have you ever seen this? Do you think that I would be stuck with the same problem after a year or so with drying damage, or would the water coming from the wood after the year long bath be a different makeup than the normal water content from the live cells? Thank you for your advice!
I have never heard of that approach and my gut tells me that it won’t help much in a short amount of time. I suppose that with a long period of floating that something may physically chance in the wood, but it will take a while. I know that river recovered walnut dries quicker than newly cut walnut.
Thank you for your information. My questions are regarding Mesquite. I plan on cutting some 4 inch high rounds for an event in January. How soon should I start cutting and treating the pieces?
If you cut them a couple weeks out from the event, you can get the surface to dry enough so that it won’t get moldy, but not so dry that it will have catastrophic cracks. It will still crack some, but you should be able to avoid the major ones.
Hi Scott. Great article! Very informative and has shed more light on the issues I have had with rounds. I actually found your article while researching Pentacryl. I am currently bidding on a job to make 20 stump stools for a classroom from recently felled red oak trees. The stools will range from 8″ to 16″ in height and diameters will range from about 14-20″. I will debark the logs and was hoping I could apply the Pentacryl all over each surface and deliver the stools in a couple of weeks. Can you provide some feedback on this approach, please? I’m not too considered about a few hairline cracks, but the last thing I want is for these stools to split and warp. This wood is very green and I’m concerned all of my effort may be a waste of time.
Pentacryl will definitely help, but it isn’t foolproof. Even if treated with Pentacryl the wood can still split. The longer you soak the wood the better the odds of it not splitting, so your short timeline doesn’t bode well for you. The bottom line is that it wants to split. Good Luck.
I ran across your post when trying to search for a solution to a slightly different problem. We had several large stands of big-leaf maples removed to stop them from dropping any more large branches on/around the house, and have been left with a few large rounds. (Most of the rounds were hauled away by an acquaintance for firewood.) I had the idea of keeping one of the large pieces (~3 feet across, maybe 1 foot thick) and using it (on edge) as an address marker near the road. I was trying to figure out what to do (or have done) to it to keep it from disintegrating outside. I hadn’t thought of splitting as a potential issue, though.
I have several choices of large rounds remaining, including one that already has a hole in the center (maybe 4″ x 4″). Any suggestions for me, or is this a terrible idea I should abandon entirely?
It is not the worst idea you have ever had. First off, the piece with a hole in the center has the most potential to not split. With that said, it is possible for a totally solid piece of maple to develop lots of small cracks and not develop one large crack. I would cut more than one slice, let them dry for a few months and see what happens. If they stay together, go ahead and use them. If you keep the wood off of the ground and standing up it will last pretty long since the water won’t pool anywhere. You can seal the wood if you want, but I think it will last a pretty long time unsealed, as long as it can dry out between rain events.
I live in Oregon and made an address marker with a round of cedar. It has been almost 10 years now. It did develop a very slow crack but not bad enough to destroy it. I just removed a maple tree and will dry 2 rounds – one for an eventual replacement address marker when the cedar marker bites the dust, and one for another spot in the garden. I imagine maple will last longer too.
Excellent article, and very informative replies to all the questions. Thanks!!
Great read and great info …thx
This is the best article I’ve found yet concerning these problems! I got a large round of pine that’s about 30″ diameter and 3″ thick and being a completely amateur I left it to dry and split. I want to salvage it for a tabletop still, perhaps by placing another wood into the crack or doing the thing mentioned above of cutting it into pie slices and reassembling them. The split is already a couple inches apart and has started to separate the rings towards the middle (the pith is off-center). Do you have any recommendations for how to repair the round or can you direct me to any online tutorials? It may be a lost cause, but I wanted to give it one last shot.
All of the fixes you mentioned are viable options, but will still be obvious as repairs. I am afraid that I don’t know of any tutorials. This is going to be a trial and error type of operation for you at this point. Sorry that I can’t be of more help.
Tracy, you could always use epoxy on it just google epoxy table tops to see what im talking about. its not easy work but i do that for all my wood cookie cuts. i think the cracks in the wood add art that cant be done by my own hands. i also soak my cuts i dont want cracks in polyurethane and i mean like in a bath tub soak. for two weeks on the really big cuts. it works for me but i only do hard woods too so im not sure how it would be on a soft wood like pine but your could always try.
Hello all…. great blog! I just had a large maple cut down and I was talking to the tree surgeon and he said he has a friend who soaks in Pentacryl then buries it for 6 months…. he said it works well…can’t hurt to try right?
I know what the Pentacryl does. Don’t know what the burying does. I imagine the Pentacryl is doing all the work in that case to stop the splitting, while the burying probably encourages spalting.
I Have a beautiful slab of mesquite wood that has a large void that runs to the edge of the bark. I would love to turn this into a bar top using a clear epoxy. My question is there anything i can use to keep the epoxy from pouring out like some kind of putty and then be able to remove it from the bark ?
We usually form epoxy dams with wide packing tape, sometimes backed up with a solid backer to keep it flat. To keep it from coming out the bark side, you may need to flip the wood on edge to make the bark the top side for filling.
So I have a question regarding cutting and then using a cookie from a stump to make a wall hanging. We saved some tree rounds (large logs) from a tree that fell into our yard during Hurricane Matthew. We’d like to cut a round from it, have a talented friend paint and letter “I survived Hurricane Matthew” for a decoration and hang it up. If we cut it at an angle, you are saying we’ll have a better change of it not splitting? The first cookie we tried split pretty much right away so we stopped! The wood has been sitting in our garage for 6 months waiting as we just didn’t know what to do at this point! Thanks for any suggestions.
So, splitting should be expected. Slicing at an angle will help a lot, but the angle needs to be pretty steep, like 45 degrees. Since your piece has already had some drying time, this may not make a difference. I would try both a cut straight across the log and one at an angle and see what happens.
I have a very large red oak tree that has to be removed. (15 1/2 feet circumference) that I wanted to cookie saw a table top from. Reading your article, how large of a center hole would you suggest I cut, followed by all other treatments?
I can tell you that a hole in the center will help, but I am not sure what the minimum size is that will do the trick. I think to be safe that the log needs to be more hollow than just having a hole. Pentacryl is the only other additional treatment that will give you a fighting change. Note that it is expensive and does take awhile, but it can be effective.
Hi. When we had to take down a pin oak two or three years ago, I had the tree guys cut several cookies for me. They just sat in the shed. This summer I tackled the first piece, for a table top for outside. It’s roughly 2 ft x 18 inches.
There was a nice crack in it (adds character), so that didn’t bother me. I finished it with a good five coats of with spar urethane and was careful to get it down in any small cracks from the edges as well as down the big one. It went through a big rain fine, then another one, and there is a new large crack and an area about 6″ from the edge where it looks like someone chipped through the 2″ thickness. First, I’m guessing that even spar urethane wasn’t going to protect an end cut – ?? Second, how to do I tackle repairs now? I can live with the cracking, but I’m not sure how to go about the repair. More spar urethane? Fill the voids? (epoxy?) And cover it to protect it from the rain.
With your wood being outside and subjected to constant changes in temperatures and humidity, cracking will be a constant battle. Filling with urethane or epoxy is a fine way to go, but the piece will constantly have at least some small cracks. Keeping it under cover will help immensely. The rain and sun wreak havoc on wood.
I have a piece of oak that has a crack like your pictures show of the cookies !! It had dried inside for over a year some people say cut it in half and Join it back together other said just fill the crack with epoxy. Would one of those options work ..
Both options will work. Cutting the piece in half and gluing back together (after the wood is dry) will be the most difficult to make look natural since the grain won’t line up across the entire piece. I normally use epoxy to fill large voids and it will work in this case as well. It will look like you filled it, but there isn’t a way around it once the piece is dried and cracked.
Hello I have a question about pentacryl how long it will take for it to work on a cookie that is 8×12 and 2″‘ thick? And how do I know us dry?
It will take weeks of soaking for good penetration with the final determining factor being the species of wood, as some are more open and willing to accept pentacryl. The wood is dry when it stops losing weight. The dryness can also be determined by using a moisture meter.
Great advise. I know my red oak cookie slabs will split. The slabs are 37 inches in diameter and about 3-4 inches thick right now, before finishing. I like the slabs to be rustic. Will painting both sides with house paint “help” reduce the larger cracks or am I wasting my time? I am just trying to avoid catastrophic breakage of the complete cookie!
I think you are wasting time. It will slow down the drying a touch, but that just means it will be another day or two before it splits. Hopefully, the splits won’t be catastrophic and just add “character”.
Hi, thank you for the very informative article. I have two questions for you. One of them Has to do with this article and the other well, I’m just hoping you’ll answer anyways or give me a link to another article of yours.
First, at what point does a piece of wood stop being a log and start being a cookie? It seems that this is the difference between cracks and splits.
Second, do you have a technique for cutting rounds at Angles so that you end up with approximately the same angle through a log over and over?
A log is just a long cookie and given enough time will crack all of the way through just like a cookie. The cracks won’t be catastrophic in a log because of the extra length of material to hold everything together, though a dried log can have some monster cracks.
As far as the angle question goes, I am not sure what you are asking. However, I can tell you that cutting cookies at angles (which produces oval shaped cookies) does help reduce cracking during drying. It is hard to describe, but when cut at an angle there is no longer one continuous circle of wood in the cookie, but multiple small pieces which are already disconnected from one another and less likely to pull until they are destroyed.
I had a neighbor who had a cottonwood that died 3 years ago; she had it removed and we grabbed a cookie that’s probably about 2.5-3 feet across, one side is probably 4-6 in thick and the thinnest side is about 1-2 in thick; i was aware that it may not be all the way dry but went ahead and sanded it as most of it looked pale and “dry”; of course there’s a crack, this crack was already present and has grown. At the moment it is the only large one and it doesn’t appear that any smaller ones are expanding; it has almost reached the center of the cookie so i was wondering if you think it will stop there? If so it’s actually what i consider an acceptable crack width and almost looks nice but i’m afraid of it falling apart.
My guess is that the crack may continue to open, but since it is just one crack, it probably won’t fall apart. Species like oak, that split easily are more prone to catastrophic failure and breaking into multiple pieces. When you bring the wood inside and it dries more, the split gap will widen.
Thanks for the reply! We’re at the point that it’s sanded and we’re finishing it, do you think it’ll be ok to do that? We’re finishing the top with a polyeurathane stain but aren’t going put the finish in the crack yet. As i mentioned we are more or less alright with the crack but just don’t want it to turn catastrophic, as you said.
It won’t hurt anything to finish it, assuming that it is relatively dry. If you end up having a problem with the finish you can always sand it off and do it again.
Cant you just fill the crack with a wood filler? Or clay? Or could u just cut the crack out and use the wood cookie as a corner table?
After the wood is dry you can treat the cracks however you like. The main point is that there is usually much more cracking than you would hope for.
Hi Scott, interesting article. If a cookie is sealed in epoxy after cutting, would that cease the drying process and prevent the splitting? And perhaps the epoxy itself would provide structural support holding the wood in position to prevent the separation?
Not sure. Never tried it. My guess is that the wood will still eventually dry out and crack along with the epoxy. If you seal it well enough the water will be sealed inside and cause other issues like mold and rot.
Hi Scott, thanks for the article. I have a question. I have 2 tables from the same red oak tree that I made. I used cookies. The log dried for 2 years. I cut the rounds, planed the rounds and epoxied the cracks. Then sanded and finished with Watco Danish oil and a few coats of poly. The tables have been in use for 2 months and I just noticed they both cracked. What could I have done to avoid the cracking since they dried for many months. Also what can I do now to avoid more cracking?
Thanks, Sandi
Cracking is part of the process of the wood drying out because it shrinks and doesn’t to it evenly. Coating the wood simply slows down the drying process, it does not eliminate it. I assume that you brought the wood inside and it dried more than it was when you finished it, causing it to shrink more and crack more. I am afraid that I have no foolproof advice to avoid further cracking. If it is still drying out it will continue to crack.
Thank you for an interesting and informative article! If I’m lucky enough to find a cookie that’s been dried for one or more years without cracking, would it be unlikely to crack in the future? Or can cracking suddenly happen at any time during the cookie’s use as a table?
The cracking occurs due to wood shrinking when it dries out. Once the wood is dry, it shouldn’t crack more.
Great article……I have a number of rounds that I have been drying out for several months (not treated), some have cracked and some not. I was wondering when is the wood considered dried?
I have a moisture meter to check levels and it’s showing 20% moisture, so I’m guess they are still drying. What % should they be to be considered dry?
Many Thanks
It depends on where you live, or where the wood will live. Here in St. Louis equilibrium moisture content (emc) is 9%. Throughout the US, the range is about 6%-11%.
Thanks….I’m in the UK, the rounds will be for indoor use eventually
Jackie
question: I bought 12-11- 16″X 1/2″ thick 1- 18″X 2″ thick —slices of wood from a guy for my granddaughter’s wedding. The wedding is not until Oct. and the wood pcs. are cracking around the edges. I put used some water and soaked them and they went back together, however I brought them in the house and they started cracking again. My question can I put water on them so the crack will close up and as soon as it dries, can I put the Pentacryl wood stabilizer on the slices to keep them until Oct.??
question:
Good question. I think you can. Pentacryl basically replaces the water, keeping the wood from shrinking. I’m not sure if the wood cares if the water was in it originally or if you added it. I would certainly try it.
I cut a Beech down, the stump appears to have six hearts, I cut a 9 inch slab of for a step for my whirlpool tub, the tree was green, trying to dry the cookie, not really worried about splits as long as don’t get too bad, it’s was on my front porch couple of weeks, started raining so i brung it inside. Any suggestions
I have better luck with the multiple heart pieces. It will probably crack, but not fall apart. Just let it dry evenly and slowly on both sides.
I learned a lot from the questions/answers here. I am about to start my first slice project on a cedar piece that was in someone else’s collection, already dries. One thing I didn’t read here what do you sand first or seal first? Thanks.
Sand first.
sorry, I misspoke-do I stabilize first before sanding? My cedar slice was cut in 2014, dried indoors so I am guessing it won’t split when I sand it? I am going to fill some open areas with epoxy as well as remove the bark.
You have passed the time to worry about stabilizing the wood. It should be ready to be epoxy-filled and sanded after you remove the bark. Then go ahead and finish it.
Does using dried seasoned wood relieve this issue? i.e. I have a tree that was failed two years ago and cut into 18″ sections and has been stacked outside. If the log has dried will it crack in the sections that I cut the cookie from if it hasn’t already cracked?
Wood moves the most from green to 20% moisture content (air-dried). If your chunks are truly dried throughout before cutting the cookies they shouldn’t crack any more than they are now. However, even after two years the 18″ long sections can still be wet inside depending on where and how they were stored.
My experience is that the cookies will always split – without exception. That is the nature of wood. As with all carpentry you have to design your piece to work with the wood rather trying to fight it against it. Make some sort of feature with the crack. Trying to disguise it will look like a bit of a cobble up when the grain does not line up. Make a feature of the crack by filling, or covering it with something contrasting. I use burr wood to fill or cover many large faults and it looks as though it is a deliberate attractive design feature. The more wavy the stitched in burr the more attractive the feature it will be. But as always your wood has to be very dry!
Hello, we have some freshly milled white pine stair treads. We are trying to determine how quickly we should put a finish on them. Or if we should wait to let them dry. One source says to put a finish on sooner than later and another source says to wait a couple months to Let them dry. We are concerned because they are starting to get some cracks in
them. What is your experience with this issue and advice, please? Thank you!
The wood should be dry before you try to finish it. The wood will crack some during drying, which is normal, but shouldn’t be too bad in pine. Finishing before it is dry won’t really help anything.
I have been given a few pieces of fir about 32 in dia and 3 in thick They are about two years old so pretty dry. I have cut a 30 in dia piece of plywood and screwed to the underside in the hopes this will prevent further splitting. Then from the top I have filled the cracks with wood glue and sawdust. Time will tell if this works. One cookie had split completely in two so I made two table tops which kinda fit together.
I have a 50 cm diameter round cutting board with hairline cracks. A syringe wont fit in the cracks. I guess it’s fine to use. My concern is bacteria. What can I do in this situation?
Nick
We use thin super glue to repair small cracks. You can use it to bond the broken pieces and to fill gaps. Use an accelerator with it for quick results.
I recently had a 3′ diameter maple tree taken down. I left the stump at a 4′ height to use as an outdoor table for game players. My plan was to finish the top well enough to clearly read annual rings and label family and historical events going back 100 years and then epoxy seal top. I am familiar with pentacryl, having used it in other outdoor wood sculptures. Given that this is not a cookie but a stump, will I be favored with less cracking or more. Also had planned to carve trout going around the stump (very high relief), leaving a 3 inch top thickness. Assume that doing the trout will expose the top (as with cookies) more and promote cracking. Also, as a recently cut tree….how long should I wait before doing anything?
I am not sure how your situation will affect the cracking, but I assume it will be similar. The biggest problem you will have is that the stump will remain wet inside and eventually rot from the inside out. I am afraid I have no solution to that problem.
Thank you for responding. As I suspected. Will not waste time carving the trout around the perimeter but might finish the top surface and epoxy as mentioned. It will take years before the rot renders the top useless. Temporary enjoyment for little effort. Thanks again.
I didn’t see my questions yet so I’ll give it a try! I’ve got a white oak coming down tomorrow with 30″ diameter or so under the bark for much of the trunk. I’m trying to decide what kinds of cookies to ask for from the arborist. Ideal would be 3-4″ thick round, to keep it from being to heavy. 1) There is at least one section with a 10″ diameter cavity toward the side that was home to honey bees for years. Are natural cavities enough to forestall cracking, or only if they encompass the pith? 2) I’m willing to try an angle cut (which makes it about 45″ wide oval) if that seems like it has a reasonable chance of surviving – does that seem likely with a white oak? Thanks, this was a sobering read.
Anything that breaks up the full circle or eliminates the middle will help reduce or eliminate the cracking.
Would the piece still split if it was a half circle slice?
Most likely not. The splitting tension would be relieved when the round is cut from the outside to the middle. Cutting it into a half circle would be like two relief cuts from the outside to the center – twice as good.