I've keyed (bow tied) 2x in Douglas Fir at the request of others. For my own projects I don't.
Most of my DF slabs don't have the several inches of end split that some of those slabs that went up north had. That particular batch of logs didn't seem to take the end grain sealant that I used... So normally I just don't have the splits to deal with. If you want full length, bow tie away. I was thinking that with the ~ 1 foot+ extra length that it wouldn't hurt many projects to trim both ends and brush some primer on to the fresh cuts.
The trimming and sealing the end grains is necessary to prevent the existing splits from expanding. I have had a few customers specifically request big long splits... It boggles the mind. hah And since I rarely have logs do that, it's kind of tough to supply rare requests like that without setting aside a good log for a year or two.
From "How Wood Shrinks and Swells EDWARD C. PECK Technologist, Forest Products Laboratory,1 Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture"
Wood consists largely of hollow fibers or cells, most of which lie nearly parallel to the axis of the tree trunk. Chief exceptions are the wood-raycells, which are perpendicular to the axis of the trunk. The walls of the wood cells are crystalline in structure (Fig. 1). In normal wood, most of the crystallites of the cell walls, including those of the wood-ray cells, are oriented nearly parallel to the axis of the tree trunk. The crystallites of the primary layer of the cell wall (Fig. 1) are oriented, however, so that they fall in planes perpendicular to the crystallites of the rest of the cell walls. Since the crystallites are joined end to end, they can approach or move away from each other in the lateral directions only. (...) When a piece of wood of any appreciable thickness dries, gradients of moisture content are established. That is, surface portions that are exposed to the drying atmosphere become dry before the interior portions. When the moisture content of any portion of the wood falls below 30 per cent, its cell walls shrink and tend to reduce the overall dimension of that portion. Since the relatively dry surfaces are intergrown with the wetter interior parts, however, they are prevented from attaining their full shrinkage. As a result, tensile stresses are set up in the dry surface zones and compressive stresses in the wet interior parts. During this stage, the overall dimensions of the piece decrease slightly,because the dry surface zones shrink and the wet interior is compressed. The tensile stresses in the surface zones, and the compressive stresses in the wet interior, may cause the wood to deform more or less permanently. These deformations, called tension and compression set, complicate shrinkage. Because of set, the tensile stress that was in the surface zones at the start of drying moves progressively inward as drying progresses. At some intermediate stage in drying, both the wet interior and the dry surfaces are in compression.In the final stages of drying, the interior is in tension and the rest of the piece is in compression.
Thanks for that. So to reduce splitting, trim the edges a few inches and apply primer... What kind of primer? Any old oil based (pigmented ok since it will get trimmed off? - cuz that's what I have handy)
_________________ “Finding ‘common ground’ with the thinking of evil men is a fool’s errand” ~ Herschel Smith
"The said Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms." ~ Samuel Adams
“A return to First Principles in a Republic is sometimes caused by simple virtues of a single man. His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example. Before all else, be armed!” ~ Niccolo Machiavelli
I have used any old paint or primer with good results. The goal is just to slow the evaporation from the end grain. The "real stuff" that I use is called Anchorseal.
I bet you still get Christmas cards from Xaviera. Man, you're old.
_________________ I always thought growing old would take a lot longer.....
So, when does that "Old enough to know better" shit kick in??? I've learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everyone off is a piece of cake.
Mon Sep 17, 2018 5:01 pm
NWGunner
Site Supporter
Location: South Seattle Joined: Thu May 2, 2013 Posts: 12474
Real Name: Steve
I have used any old paint or primer with good results. The goal is just to slow the evaporation from the end grain. The "real stuff" that I use is called Anchorseal.
Think I can find a little philly like thet to spray anchorseal on my wood?
_________________ “Finding ‘common ground’ with the thinking of evil men is a fool’s errand” ~ Herschel Smith
"The said Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms." ~ Samuel Adams
“A return to First Principles in a Republic is sometimes caused by simple virtues of a single man. His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example. Before all else, be armed!” ~ Niccolo Machiavelli
Láodòng zhèng zhūwèi zìyóu
FJB
Mon Sep 17, 2018 5:58 pm
sportsdad60
Site Supporter
Location: The banana belt of MT Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2015 Posts: 8584
Real Name: Brian
I have used any old paint or primer with good results. The goal is just to slow the evaporation from the end grain. The "real stuff" that I use is called Anchorseal.
C'mon now Mike, when you and Lincoln were in High School, History class was just looking out the window and writing what was going on down.
_________________ I always thought growing old would take a lot longer.....
So, when does that "Old enough to know better" shit kick in??? I've learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everyone off is a piece of cake.
Mon Sep 17, 2018 8:17 pm
Sinus211
Site Moderator
Location: Marysville Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2012 Posts: 13502
Real Name: Mike
I have used any old paint or primer with good results. The goal is just to slow the evaporation from the end grain. The "real stuff" that I use is called Anchorseal.
I check whether she is monitoring my internet usage this way once in awhile. If I stop posting for good, she was monitoring. She is a sweetheart though, really. Pretty sure that she'll make my death relatively quick and painless.
Ah, so today while I should have been at the doctor being seen for an old-man-trying-to-do-young-man-work-injury I was doing young man work again. In my defense, I was being careful. On the way to the sawmill I had to check progress for the future wine :
The first batch was some White Oak... Some of the most figured wood I've ever sawn. Birdseye type markings to beat the moon. There were dark marks that folowed right through all the sawn boards that looked like cat foot prints too. I've never seen the like. This pic is not the best, and I guess I didn't take a good pic of it. Oh well.
Then I got into some Doug Fir to make some shelving boards... This little gem was hiding under the bark. You can almost always tell when something strange is going on. I love confused wood.
Confused barely covers it... I was sawing along taking board after board off without much interesting going on... Then about 2" from the end of one board I heard a loud SPROING... Felt it right through the saw head too.
It not only jumped up several inches when it let loose, it also would have jumped off the cant to the left had it not hit my leg. That was an impressive amount of internal stress.
That was the only board out of the log that did that. The next one had a slight indication of stress, and the rest were flat and straight.
While getting ready to make my "European drying stack" (beats me) I set this one down, and was walking over for the stiff brush to knock some sawdust off of it...
Great big cracking noise, I look back at it and it had split half way down the board. This is the type that deserves a bow tie or key. It has a lot of nice coloring that may not be showing up well in the pics.
Red Alder in the back and some of the strongly figured White Oak in the front. That's about 10% of today's yield.
So while I was goofing around and having fun with Man Glitter, the Balrog was working real hard cleaning up the bottom of the pond since we let it get down to 2' deep or a little more. If the pond had been kept full this year, it'd be about 2-3' over her head where she's standing.
Nasty little Balrog was catching and eating things down there in the mud. *shrug* Cuts down on the feed bill I guess, so I don't complain much except for when she kisses her papa with that mouth.
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