Was gifted with about 300 board feet of black ash - surfaced and edged,
all 6" wide and 8 ft long. Very beautiful stuff.
Now the catch. The wood was rejected by a local mill as being case
hardened in the kiln and each and every piece has one to three full
length checks going almost through the thickness of the pieces. Anyone
have any experience with this? I'd hate to think I have a very
beautiful pile of firewood?
On Tuesday, November 4, 2014 9:46:18 PM UTC-6, Lew Hodgett wrote:
> Several years ago Norn did a NYW project using a home built kiln
> as follows:
>
> A PVC pipe with couplings and plugs on the ends.
Steamer or kiln? May not matter.
I didn't think PVC was appropriate for, at least, steaming. I suppose, though, for use a few times, PVC would work just fine.
Sonny
On Fri, 31 Oct 2014 01:21:26 +0000 (UTC), Bruce Kaatz
<[email protected]> wrote:
>Was gifted with about 300 board feet of black ash - surfaced and edged,
>all 6" wide and 8 ft long. Very beautiful stuff.
>Now the catch. The wood was rejected by a local mill as being case
>hardened in the kiln and each and every piece has one to three full
>length checks going almost through the thickness of the pieces. Anyone
>have any experience with this? I'd hate to think I have a very
>beautiful pile of firewood?
How thick ?
John T.
--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: [email protected] ---
"Bruce Kaatz" wrote:
> Was gifted with about 300 board feet of black ash - surfaced and
> edged,
> all 6" wide and 8 ft long. Very beautiful stuff.
> Now the catch. The wood was rejected by a local mill as being case
> hardened in the kiln and each and every piece has one to three full
> length checks going almost through the thickness of the pieces.
> Anyone
> have any experience with this? I'd hate to think I have a very
> beautiful pile of firewood?
-----------------------------------------------
Get a good 24T rip blade and rip the checks out then reglue back
together,
if required.
Lots of patience will be required, but what the heck, the wood was
obtained
at a good price.
Have fun.
Lew
On 10/30/2014 7:21 PM, Bruce Kaatz wrote:
> Was gifted with about 300 board feet of black ash - surfaced and edged,
> all 6" wide and 8 ft long. Very beautiful stuff.
> Now the catch. The wood was rejected by a local mill as being case
> hardened in the kiln and each and every piece has one to three full
> length checks going almost through the thickness of the pieces. Anyone
> have any experience with this? I'd hate to think I have a very
> beautiful pile of firewood?
>
That wood is not only useless, but it's dangerous. You should ship it
to me for proper disposal. :)
"Bruce Kaatz" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Was gifted with about 300 board feet of black ash - surfaced and edged,
> all 6" wide and 8 ft long. Very beautiful stuff.
> Now the catch. The wood was rejected by a local mill as being case
> hardened in the kiln and each and every piece has one to three full
> length checks going almost through the thickness of the pieces. Anyone
> have any experience with this? I'd hate to think I have a very
> beautiful pile of firewood?
I have seen wood defects filled with colored epoxy. If it is colored to
match the wood or compliment the wood color, the epoxy can give the wood an
unusual character.
"Bruce Kaatz" wrote:
> It has been surface planed and edged and is an actual 3/4 inch
> thick.
> Most of the checks seem to go 1/2 inch to 5/8 deep. Some of the
> boards
> are checked / split from both sides.
---------------------------------------------------------
Assuming you can salvage the wood, what do you plan to do with it?
Lew
Bruce Kaatz wrote:
> Thanks for the info from US Forest Products Lab. Lots of interesting
> material there. If I had access to a kiln I'd try the
> re-moisturizing -
> sounds very possible. I suspect that when the stock was surfaced,
> it
> was taken beyond messed up.
---------------------------------------------------------
SFWIW:
Several years ago Norn did a NYW project using a home built kiln
as follows:
A PVC pipe with couplings and plugs on the ends.
A 5 gallon metal gas can with water on a burner to generate the steam
and connected to the side of the pipe with a radiator hose.
The PVC pipe was inclined about 10 degrees.
Pieces of green oak wood were steamed and bent into a hat rack.
If you can get a length of SCH 10, 8" PVC pipe 9'-10' long and a can
with a nozzle (if still made) , you could probably duplicate using
propane for a heat source.
Might want to poke around the NYW web site for more detail.
Have fun.
Lew
Lew Hodgett wrote:
>
>> Several years ago Norn did a NYW project using a home built kiln
>> as follows:
>>
>> A PVC pipe with couplings and plugs on the ends.
-------------------------------------------------------
"Sonny" wrote:
>
> Steamer or kiln? May not matter.
>
> I didn't think PVC was appropriate for, at least, steaming. I
> suppose, though, for use a few times, PVC would work just fine.
---------------------------------------------------
Talk about a brain fart.
Norm's project was definitely a steamer, NOT a kiln.
Lew
Sonny <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:
> On Tuesday, November 4, 2014 9:46:18 PM UTC-6, Lew Hodgett wrote:
>
>> Several years ago Norn did a NYW project using a home built kiln
>> as follows:
>>
>> A PVC pipe with couplings and plugs on the ends.
>
> Steamer or kiln? May not matter.
>
> I didn't think PVC was appropriate for, at least, steaming. I
> suppose, though, for use a few times, PVC would work just fine.
>
> Sonny
I think the melting points of both CPVC and PVC are just shy of 200F. CPVC
will handle something like 20 degrees more.
As an alternative, what about metal heating duct? Some woods like Oak will
react with steel, but I don't know about Ash. You might need a couple
spacers in any case.
Puckdropper
--
Make it to fit, don't make it fit.
On 10/31/2014 10:17 PM, Richard wrote:
> On 10/31/2014 9:02 PM, Bruce Kaatz wrote:
>>>> Now the catch. The wood was rejected by a local mill as being case
>>>> hardened in the kiln and each and every piece has one to three full
>>>> length checks going almost through the thickness of the pieces. Anyone
>>>> have any experience with this? I'd hate to think I have a very
>>>> beautiful pile of firewood?
>>
>>
>>> How thick ?
>>>
>>> John T.
>>
>> It has been surface planed and edged and is an actual 3/4 inch thick.
>> Most of the checks seem to go 1/2 inch to 5/8 deep. Some of the boards
>> are checked / split from both sides.
>>
>
>
> Sounds like really nice firewood, Bruce.
That's a shame. Sounds like it's not usable for much. Honestly, if it's
really case hardened, you probably will not be able to cut a straight
board of any usable size from it (it will twist and warp while it's
being cut). You might take it to use for small/thin accent pieces, but
for anything major, I'd pass. It will never be stable in larger pieces,
and filling or reinforcing the checks will only be a temporary cosmetic
fix. Too bad, because black ash is among my favorite woods. I hate to
see it going up in smoke.
JP
--
This is my signature. Really. I'm not kidding. Stop reading now.
Bruce Kaatz <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:
> Was gifted with about 300 board feet of black ash - surfaced and edged,
> all 6" wide and 8 ft long. Very beautiful stuff.
> Now the catch. The wood was rejected by a local mill as being case
> hardened in the kiln and each and every piece has one to three full
> length checks going almost through the thickness of the pieces. Anyone
> have any experience with this? I'd hate to think I have a very
> beautiful pile of firewood?
I'm curious to see what suggestions you get on this. I've
always understood that case hardening results in stresses
in the wood (hence the checks), and that it will warp,
cup, or twist when cut, which makes it pretty difficult
to do anything with.
John
>>Now the catch. The wood was rejected by a local mill as being case
>>hardened in the kiln and each and every piece has one to three full
>>length checks going almost through the thickness of the pieces. Anyone
>>have any experience with this? I'd hate to think I have a very
>>beautiful pile of firewood?
> How thick ?
>
> John T.
It has been surface planed and edged and is an actual 3/4 inch thick.
Most of the checks seem to go 1/2 inch to 5/8 deep. Some of the boards
are checked / split from both sides.
Just Wondering <[email protected]> wrote in news:54533430$0$16418$882e7ee2
@usenet-news.net:
> On 10/30/2014 7:21 PM, Bruce Kaatz wrote:
>> Was gifted with about 300 board feet of black ash - surfaced and edged,
>> all 6" wide and 8 ft long. Very beautiful stuff.
>> Now the catch. The wood was rejected by a local mill as being case
>> hardened in the kiln and each and every piece has one to three full
>> length checks going almost through the thickness of the pieces. Anyone
>> have any experience with this? I'd hate to think I have a very
>> beautiful pile of firewood?
>>
> That wood is not only useless, but it's dangerous. You should ship it
> to me for proper disposal. :)
>
I should, but I don't want to endanger the shipper.
John Paquay <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:
> On 10/31/2014 10:17 PM, Richard wrote:
>> On 10/31/2014 9:02 PM, Bruce Kaatz wrote:
>>>>> Now the catch. The wood was rejected by a local mill as being case
>>>>> hardened in the kiln and each and every piece has one to three
>>>>> full length checks going almost through the thickness of the
>>>>> pieces. Anyone have any experience with this? I'd hate to think I
>>>>> have a very beautiful pile of firewood?
>>>
>>>
>>>> How thick ?
>>>>
>>>> John T.
>>>
>>> It has been surface planed and edged and is an actual 3/4 inch
>>> thick. Most of the checks seem to go 1/2 inch to 5/8 deep. Some of
>>> the boards are checked / split from both sides.
>>>
>>
>>
>> Sounds like really nice firewood, Bruce.
>
> That's a shame. Sounds like it's not usable for much. Honestly, if
> it's really case hardened, you probably will not be able to cut a
> straight board of any usable size from it (it will twist and warp
> while it's being cut). You might take it to use for small/thin accent
> pieces, but for anything major, I'd pass. It will never be stable in
> larger pieces, and filling or reinforcing the checks will only be a
> temporary cosmetic fix. Too bad, because black ash is among my
> favorite woods. I hate to see it going up in smoke.
>
> JP
Well I randomly selected two of the boards and found it did just as you
said when . The contortions that wood went through was amazing. And I
found out that I was able to make my good old Unisaw into a Sawstop.
Impressive how it was able to bind up and instantly stop the saw. I
think I'll just cry a little and enjoy a campfire.
dpb <[email protected]> wrote in news:[email protected]:
> On 11/01/2014 1:09 PM, dpb wrote:
>> On 10/30/2014 8:21 PM, Bruce Kaatz wrote:
>>> Was gifted with about 300 board feet of black ash - surfaced and
>>> edged, all 6" wide and 8 ft long. Very beautiful stuff.
>>> Now the catch. The wood was rejected by a local mill as being case
>>> hardened in the kiln ...
>>
>> If you're game, you can try the US Forest Products Lab recipe for
>> relieving case-hardening. It's feasible because the problem is that
>> the resulting movement when sawn is resulting from forces created by
>> the nonuniform drying that has occurred that aren't able to equalize.
>> Re-moisturizing at temperature will basically return it to it's
>> starting point and one can then dry again.
> ...
>
> BTW, unfortunately, I'd expect this will have a marginal success rate
> on this particular bundle owing to the fact it's been surfaced which
> has already upset the equilibrium as achieved out of the kiln. If
> they'd stopped after discovering it on the first few boards and gifted
> the remaining unsurfaced bundle as received I'd think your chances of
> success would have been dramatically higher.
>
> I'd still give it a go on a few pieces, however, before relegating it
> all to the burn bin; as you say, black ash is a nice material and
> would be a shame to lose a score.
>
> --
Thanks for the info from US Forest Products Lab. Lots of interesting
material there. If I had access to a kiln I'd try the re-moisturizing -
sounds very possible. I suspect that when the stock was surfaced, it
was taken beyond messed up.
Couldn't help myself and have been experimenting a bit. Doesn't seem to
matter how it is cut (half way from each side) or with what sort of
blade is used. It will contort in amazing ways, and does create a
unique "sawstop".
Was thinking about building a hutch. Still is in the back of my head,
but I'll be doing some shopping for some good black ash. In the mean
time, I'll enjoy a beautiful ash fire.
Appreciate the wisdom of the group.
> I don't know; I've not had experience directly with either black ash
> nor a case such as yours where tried on surfaced material--it was all
> still roughsawn when I re-moisturized. Most of what I did was thicker
> walnut slabs 6/4 and above which was why felt it worth the effort.
>
> The setup I used was an old water heater tank that I laid on its side
> and made flange access on the top end. Used a tap off of the house
> hot water supply to run a recycled stream thru it and just let a pool
> sit below the material for a couple of days to a week depending on the
> thickness (I said this was a homebrew made up formula didn't I? :J) ).
>
> I didn't worry about trying to control the actual humidity level and
> it isn't steaming, just keeping it in a warm and humid environment so
> that the free moisture content hopefully re-equilibrates. I'm sure
> the "kiln" temperature never reached the full 160-180 F but I turned
> the hot water supply up to near the max the tank would put out. I
> don't remember that I ever did actually measure that temperature; I
> just used what I could get.
>
> Most of the pieces I did this way and then air-dried in a stickered
> pile with cover and in a south-facing location to get some sun heating
> came out successful. In the one big experiment that caused me to make
> the effort, I suppose it was about as much as you've got in bd-ft but
> a quite sizable fewer number of individual pieces as some was as thick
> as 10/4 by 8" or so.
>
> Over the years following I did a few other random bits and pieces, but
> it wasn't terribly much later that made the move from TN to VA and I
> didn't take the setup with me and never got ambitious-enough again. I
> was just a young kid fresh out of school when got the woodworking bug
> after moving to VA from western KS and was surrounded by all that
> gorgeous (and cheap) hardwood...
>
> I did cut 10 and 12-ft stock down to where it would fit lengthwise;
> that didn't seem to negate the success rate.
>
> I don't know what would have happened if it had been S2S, though...
>
Thanks for the info on your efforts. I have a friend with a large home
built steamer box that is oil fired. Sure works nice for bending. Will
load a few of the least checked pieces and see what happens. In this
case, my only expense will be some fuel and my time. Will see how it
goes. Odd thing here is the ends of the boards are still coated with
some sort of wax like sealer.
Greg Guarino <[email protected]> wrote in news:m3arrq$kt4$1@dont-
email.me:
> On 10/30/2014 9:21 PM, Bruce Kaatz wrote:
>> Was gifted with about 300 board feet of black ash - surfaced and edged,
>> all 6" wide and 8 ft long. Very beautiful stuff.
>> Now the catch. The wood was rejected by a local mill as being case
>> hardened in the kiln and each and every piece has one to three full
>> length checks going almost through the thickness of the pieces. Anyone
>> have any experience with this? I'd hate to think I have a very
>> beautiful pile of firewood?
>>
> I suggest a barbecue for all of the fine folks here at the Wrec.
>
A great idea. And it would be nice to be able to have a face to go with
the regulars and us lurkers. (And with the beverages and recipies that
have been shared over the years, it would be a real feast of a barbecue.)
dpb <[email protected]> wrote in news:[email protected]:
> On 11/04/2014 3:31 AM, John Paquay wrote:
> ...
>
>> I had never heard of a method to relieve these stresses in lumber as dpb
>> posted (USFPL link), but it certainly might be worth a try.
>>
>> JP
>
> Just in passing, I was certainly surprised the link didn't seem to
> generate any comments; beginning to wonder if anybody had noticed it.
>
> Wonder whether Bruce came back and saw it and perhaps may give it a go
> before lighting up the fireplace/wood stove...
>
> --
>
Yup, I faithfully check out the group and saw the post. The lab is just
about three hours down the road from me, and I had heard of it before, but
never dug into their wealth of information before. Spent quite awhile
digging through their site last evening. Lots of interesting stuff. The
research on reversing case hardening has been around a number of years from
the article. Was wondering if steaming what do the trick after reading the
article, since I don't have access to a kiln. Then you followed up with
just what I was thinking about. So a question, if you recall, how did your
10/4 turn out after it was steamed and dried?
"Bruce Kaatz" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
Was gifted with about 300 board feet of black ash - surfaced and edged,
all 6" wide and 8 ft long. Very beautiful stuff.
Now the catch. The wood was rejected by a local mill as being case
hardened in the kiln and each and every piece has one to three full
length checks going almost through the thickness of the pieces. Anyone
have any experience with this? I'd hate to think I have a very
beautiful pile of firewood?
No, it may be able to be used in projects that a few checks / cracks won't
hurt such as cutting boards, butcher blocks or decorative items for display
such as lamp bases (if you're into turning) where you glue up a number of
pieces or use bowties to stop the checking. It may be case hardened but
depending on how thin you cut it, it should remain reasonably stable.
A thick table top with natural checking can be a thing of beauty if done
properly.
Bob S.
On 10/30/2014 8:21 PM, Bruce Kaatz wrote:
> Was gifted with about 300 board feet of black ash - surfaced and edged,
> all 6" wide and 8 ft long. Very beautiful stuff.
> Now the catch. The wood was rejected by a local mill as being case
> hardened in the kiln and each and every piece has one to three full
> length checks going almost through the thickness of the pieces. Anyone
> have any experience with this? I'd hate to think I have a very
> beautiful pile of firewood?
If you're game, you can try the US Forest Products Lab recipe for
relieving case-hardening. It's feasible because the problem is that the
resulting movement when sawn is resulting from forces created by the
nonuniform drying that has occurred that aren't able to equalize.
Re-moisturizing at temperature will basically return it to it's starting
point and one can then dry again.
<http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/products/publications/specific_pub.php?posting_id=13507&header_id=p>
<128.104.77.228/documnts/fpltn/fpltn-213-1952.pdf>
First URL is page that has link to the doc, second is directly to the
server holding the pdf file.
--
"Bruce Kaatz" wrote
> JP
Well I randomly selected two of the boards and found it did just as you
said when . The contortions that wood went through was amazing. And I
found out that I was able to make my good old Unisaw into a Sawstop.
Impressive how it was able to bind up and instantly stop the saw. I
think I'll just cry a little and enjoy a campfire.
***************************
If it were me, I would find a rip blade with about 12 to 24 teeth, the fewer
the better, out of non carbide teeth. Bend some wild extra set into the
teeth, and try again.
If worse comes to worse, try ripping it from both sides at half the
thickness on each pass. If it is binding on the rip fence by bending
sideways, make a sled that you can clamp the wood to, then cut out the
checks. You would be limited in the length you could do, of course. For
ideas on a sled, if you need some, search for "using a table saw for a
jointer."
I have never had to try to use case hardened wood, so these are just ideas.
I wouldn't give up after one attempt, though.
Jim in NC
---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com
On 11/04/2014 3:31 AM, John Paquay wrote:
> On 11/3/2014 9:11 AM, Morgans wrote:
...
>
> There are methods to work case hardened wood, as Jim suggests. The
> problem is that case hardening produces tremendous internal stresses
> within the wood. The twisting, warping and binding that occurs when
> sawing are only symptoms or evidence of these stresses. The fact is that
> as-is, this wood will never be stable in pieces of any significant size.
>
> I had never heard of a method to relieve these stresses in lumber as dpb
> posted (USFPL link), but it certainly might be worth a try.
The point made above in the first paragraph is the bigger issue than
simply being able to chop the stuff up w/o losing fingers or the like.
Unless the stresses are relieved, it's basically a waste of time because
the end piece of work in which all the effort has been expended is
likely going to self-destruct sooner rather than later.
I have used the formula (or a self-devised variation thereof before I
actually found the recipe 30 yr or so ago) but only on a very small
amount. It takes essentially a steamer to accomplish and most folks
don't have the capacity to deal with much of any size. It also must be
done with the material as it is or at most only taking shorter lengths;
once one rips it and it moves, then it's not going back even if
re-moisturized.
In VA, in the days before things got so ridiculously expensive, I knew a
small sawmill operator who also had a kiln (pronounced as a "dry kill"
:) ). Back then often they would steam black walnut before drying to
cause some of the heart wood coloring to migrate to the sapwood so he
had the capacity to do so already. Doing so then caused more care to be
needed to be sure one didn't overdo the early drying to avoid
casehardening the whole kiln full. I'm not sure this is a common
practice at all any more; haven't heard of it recently. It has the
somewhat detrimental side effect that the heartwood comes out a little
duller than otherwise.
He occasionally would resteam bundles of walnut or cherry to reclaim it
and had moderate success. Now, with the cost, I doubt any commercial
kiln would bother; it's just overage that's a cost of doing business
that occasionally something will go wrong. Even then, for anything
other than the most pricey species it simply wasn't cost-effective in bulk.
To salvage a few boards as an individual is something else but it is a
significant amount of effort to have any hope of success.
--
On 11/04/2014 3:31 AM, John Paquay wrote:
...
> I had never heard of a method to relieve these stresses in lumber as dpb
> posted (USFPL link), but it certainly might be worth a try.
>
> JP
Just in passing, I was certainly surprised the link didn't seem to
generate any comments; beginning to wonder if anybody had noticed it.
Wonder whether Bruce came back and saw it and perhaps may give it a go
before lighting up the fireplace/wood stove...
--
On 11/01/2014 1:09 PM, dpb wrote:
> On 10/30/2014 8:21 PM, Bruce Kaatz wrote:
>> Was gifted with about 300 board feet of black ash - surfaced and edged,
>> all 6" wide and 8 ft long. Very beautiful stuff.
>> Now the catch. The wood was rejected by a local mill as being case
>> hardened in the kiln ...
>
> If you're game, you can try the US Forest Products Lab recipe for
> relieving case-hardening. It's feasible because the problem is that the
> resulting movement when sawn is resulting from forces created by the
> nonuniform drying that has occurred that aren't able to equalize.
> Re-moisturizing at temperature will basically return it to it's starting
> point and one can then dry again.
...
BTW, unfortunately, I'd expect this will have a marginal success rate on
this particular bundle owing to the fact it's been surfaced which has
already upset the equilibrium as achieved out of the kiln. If they'd
stopped after discovering it on the first few boards and gifted the
remaining unsurfaced bundle as received I'd think your chances of
success would have been dramatically higher.
I'd still give it a go on a few pieces, however, before relegating it
all to the burn bin; as you say, black ash is a nice material and would
be a shame to lose a score.
--
On 10/30/2014 9:21 PM, Bruce Kaatz wrote:
> Was gifted with about 300 board feet of black ash - surfaced and edged,
> all 6" wide and 8 ft long. Very beautiful stuff.
> Now the catch. The wood was rejected by a local mill as being case
> hardened in the kiln and each and every piece has one to three full
> length checks going almost through the thickness of the pieces. Anyone
> have any experience with this? I'd hate to think I have a very
> beautiful pile of firewood?
>
I suggest a barbecue for all of the fine folks here at the Wrec.
On 11/04/2014 8:52 PM, Bruce Kaatz wrote:
...
> Thanks for the info from US Forest Products Lab. Lots of interesting
> material there. If I had access to a kiln I'd try the re-moisturizing -
> sounds very possible. I suspect that when the stock was surfaced, it
> was taken beyond messed up.
>
...
I don't know; I've not had experience directly with either black ash nor
a case such as yours where tried on surfaced material--it was all still
roughsawn when I re-moisturized. Most of what I did was thicker walnut
slabs 6/4 and above which was why felt it worth the effort.
The setup I used was an old water heater tank that I laid on its side
and made flange access on the top end. Used a tap off of the house hot
water supply to run a recycled stream thru it and just let a pool sit
below the material for a couple of days to a week depending on the
thickness (I said this was a homebrew made up formula didn't I? :J) ).
I didn't worry about trying to control the actual humidity level and it
isn't steaming, just keeping it in a warm and humid environment so that
the free moisture content hopefully re-equilibrates. I'm sure the
"kiln" temperature never reached the full 160-180 F but I turned the hot
water supply up to near the max the tank would put out. I don't
remember that I ever did actually measure that temperature; I just used
what I could get.
Most of the pieces I did this way and then air-dried in a stickered pile
with cover and in a south-facing location to get some sun heating came
out successful. In the one big experiment that caused me to make the
effort, I suppose it was about as much as you've got in bd-ft but a
quite sizable fewer number of individual pieces as some was as thick as
10/4 by 8" or so.
Over the years following I did a few other random bits and pieces, but
it wasn't terribly much later that made the move from TN to VA and I
didn't take the setup with me and never got ambitious-enough again. I
was just a young kid fresh out of school when got the woodworking bug
after moving to VA from western KS and was surrounded by all that
gorgeous (and cheap) hardwood...
I did cut 10 and 12-ft stock down to where it would fit lengthwise; that
didn't seem to negate the success rate.
I don't know what would have happened if it had been S2S, though...
--
On 11/3/2014 9:11 AM, Morgans wrote:
>
>
> "Bruce Kaatz" wrote
>> JP
>
> Well I randomly selected two of the boards and found it did just as you
> said when . The contortions that wood went through was amazing. And I
> found out that I was able to make my good old Unisaw into a Sawstop.
> Impressive how it was able to bind up and instantly stop the saw. I
> think I'll just cry a little and enjoy a campfire.
> ***************************
>
> If it were me, I would find a rip blade with about 12 to 24 teeth, the
> fewer the better, out of non carbide teeth. Bend some wild extra set
> into the teeth, and try again.
>
> If worse comes to worse, try ripping it from both sides at half the
> thickness on each pass. If it is binding on the rip fence by bending
> sideways, make a sled that you can clamp the wood to, then cut out the
> checks. You would be limited in the length you could do, of course. For
> ideas on a sled, if you need some, search for "using a table saw for a
> jointer."
>
> I have never had to try to use case hardened wood, so these are just
> ideas. I wouldn't give up after one attempt, though.
>
> Jim in NC
>
There are methods to work case hardened wood, as Jim suggests. The
problem is that case hardening produces tremendous internal stresses
within the wood. The twisting, warping and binding that occurs when
sawing are only symptoms or evidence of these stresses. The fact is that
as-is, this wood will never be stable in pieces of any significant size.
I had never heard of a method to relieve these stresses in lumber as dpb
posted (USFPL link), but it certainly might be worth a try.
JP
--
This is my signature. Really. I'm not kidding. Stop reading now.
On 10/31/2014 9:02 PM, Bruce Kaatz wrote:
>>> Now the catch. The wood was rejected by a local mill as being case
>>> hardened in the kiln and each and every piece has one to three full
>>> length checks going almost through the thickness of the pieces. Anyone
>>> have any experience with this? I'd hate to think I have a very
>>> beautiful pile of firewood?
>
>
>> How thick ?
>>
>> John T.
>
> It has been surface planed and edged and is an actual 3/4 inch thick.
> Most of the checks seem to go 1/2 inch to 5/8 deep. Some of the boards
> are checked / split from both sides.
>
Sounds like really nice firewood, Bruce.
On 10/30/2014 9:12 PM, Lew Hodgett wrote:
> "Bruce Kaatz" wrote:
>
>> Was gifted with about 300 board feet of black ash - surfaced and
>> edged,
>> all 6" wide and 8 ft long. Very beautiful stuff.
>> Now the catch. The wood was rejected by a local mill as being case
>> hardened in the kiln and each and every piece has one to three full
>> length checks going almost through the thickness of the pieces.
>> Anyone
>> have any experience with this? I'd hate to think I have a very
>> beautiful pile of firewood?
> -----------------------------------------------
> Get a good 24T rip blade and rip the checks out then reglue back
> together,
> if required.
>
> Lots of patience will be required, but what the heck, the wood was
> obtained
> at a good price.
>
> Have fun.
>
> Lew
>
>
I used Tamarack from a local sawmill for my cupboards and
wainscoting. Most people around here just use it as firewood.
http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/softwoods/tamarack/
My wood is similar to the photo but with very little of the dark
color. It is almost all like Knotty Pine in color and appearance but
with a very pronounced Fir sort of grain. In my opinion it is one of
the nicest looking wood I have seen. Even those that use it for heat
say it is the best firewood available. It is also the most expensive
local firewood.
It is difficult to work with but the finished product is well worth
the extra effort involved in using it.
This is a photo of the cupboards They have been stained.
http://www.mts.net/~lmlod/Photo/cupboards3.jpg
If you like the look of the raw wood you will not likely be
disappointed when you have finished it. Don't worry about the time
clock just enjoy the challenge of creating something beautiful out of
what others may consider junk.
LdB