Replies

1. 
   JohnWW | Nov 23, 2005 05:30pm | #1

   Erik,

   Checking occurs because the end grain of the wood loses moisture much faster than the rest of the board, causing the first few inches of the stock to shrink faster than the wood further in from the ends.  The uneven shrinkage causes stress that cracks the end grain.  Most often checking occurs when the wood has a fairly high moisture content and is suddenly brought into a drier environment.

   The solution is to slow down or stop the moisture loss from the ends of the boards and then to allow the wood some time to dry out until it at equilibrium with the environment in your shop.  Ideally, this should happen before the wood is made into a piece of furniture.  This is why you should always bring wood into the shop and sticker it for a few weeks before starting a project.

   What you need to do now is seal the ends of the boards in your bench's base.  A quick way to do this is to apply a tape over the end grain, I've used duct tape, masking tape, and box tape for this at various times, they all work well.  The advantage to the tape is that it can be applied and removed as you work on the project.  After the wood fully dries out you can remove the tape and go on to final assembly and finishing of your project. 

   An alternative is to seal the end grain only with a finish but many finishes aren't especially good at slowing moisture loss and won't prevent further checking.

   John W.  

1. 
   Erik123 | Nov 24, 2005 08:02am | #2

   John,

   Thanks for the information.  I have had the wood in my garage in the Sacramento, California area for several months.  I used a moisture meter to monitor until the moisture was close to some other maple that I had bought earlier.  I do not know if the checking just occurred or if it was there when I started.  I did not notice it until I had the base shaped. 

   Do you think if I worked some epoxy into the cracks and cut some wedges to take up some of the space it would prevent the checking from getting larger?  The cracks are very small right now - about 4 of them.  I will at least cover the ends as you suggest.

   Erik

1. 
   JohnWW | Nov 28, 2005 01:27am | #3

   Checking, unless it is severe, is primarily just a cosmetic flaw and is self limiting, once the wood is at equilibrium with its environment, the checks won't get any worse and will possibly close up, at least partially, on their own.  By slowing down the excessive moisture loss from the wood's end grain, you will have basically done all that you can to prevent them from spreading further.

   Anything else that you do to try to glue or fill the checks will probably make them more obvious, prevent them from closing on their own, and will cause problems later when you try to apply a finish.

   The wood may have reached equilibrium with the older stock in your garage, but is that where you worked on it or was it brought into a drier environment when you started to work with it?

   John W. 

2. 
   notDusty | Nov 28, 2005 06:23pm | #4

   Hi Erik123 ,

              As John W has said it is hard to make the cracks go away . Typically many boards have anywhere from 3 to 6" of checking on the original ends . Sometimes they may go deeper then you can see .

                  A good practice depending on the species and severity of the checking is to cut off the ends past where you see the checks and try and bend  the cut off piece or see if the checks continue past the cut . I know some extra waste in length will occur but in the long run this will help prevent the problem you are dealing with now .

                            dusty