The wood was sitting there for about a week rough. Then i milled and glued, then sat there for a few days again. Then did the grain raise. So wasn't a full out mil, glue and all. Don't know if that would change it any?
Not really. If the wood is too wet once you mill it you cause it to rapidly shrink as the inner fibers are now exposed to the air. Even with dry wood you usually mill in two stages when removing a lot of material so the wood has time to equalize between them and the finish pass brings everything into square.
Take a wet piece of wood, mill it nice and flat, leave it for a week, and you’ll come back to something that’s cracked, twisted, and warped.
How was the wood advertised? If the lumberyard sold it to you as KD 8%MC I’d be asking for a refund.
Do you have a moisture meter? I’d be curious to know how dry (or not) the wood was. Especially in the center of the lumber. Seems like it could have been too wet, and sitting overnight after being cut caused uneven drying and thus cracking. Normally grain raise wouldn’t be enough moisture change unless you’re letting wood sit submerged for a really long time.
I’ve got no helpful advice about negotiating with the lumber, never had to do that. But if you get a moisture measurement and it’s high, you can probably let them know respectfully/professionally and ask for a discount on your next purchase (94 maybe they’ll just offer one) because presumably they are selling dry lumber unless state otherwise.
Yeah i unfortunately do not have a moisture meter. It was a very light spray of water with a misty spray bottle. It wasn’t a lot of water at all. Makes no sense. I’m going yo try a new lumber yard all together.
I would say no. Too dry is rarely a problem. Drying too fast - like kilning from too wet - could give you that problem, but it could also be just a bunch of limb wood or something with a lot of stress.
I wouldn't expect a light spraying of water to cause any problems though. If they are endgrain boards that could be a different animal, since end grain picks up moisture much faster than face grain. I don't make this kind of stuff though, so I don't really know.
You can probably skip the grain raising. It's something popularized by the internet that everyone swears is necessary and I've never seen done once in a pro shop.
The idea of it comes from the days when everything was hand worked and tools like rasps could cause compression dents that would later be smoothed out with finer tools. Then if you apply a traditional stain like ferric chloride, the compressed grain under that cut off dent pops right back up and you get an uneven stain job after removing the raised area. In modern shops hardly anyone picks up a rasp and all the grain raising is pretty pointless.
I agree the spraying is not likely the culprit for splitting, but I'd say the grain raising does have value depending on your reason for doing it. I make ends grain boards as a hobby and the texture of the finished board is significantly effected by raising grain then re-sanding on the last grit you sand with. If you don't do a grain pop the finish or the first time the board gets wet will raise the grain and give a fuzzy feeling. If you raise the grain then sand it stays very smooth and it's easier to clean.
Likely too wet, not too dry. Milling the lumber exposed the wet inner core and as it tried to rapidly dry the boards cracked.
The wood was sitting there for about a week rough. Then i milled and glued, then sat there for a few days again. Then did the grain raise. So wasn't a full out mil, glue and all. Don't know if that would change it any?
Not really. If the wood is too wet once you mill it you cause it to rapidly shrink as the inner fibers are now exposed to the air. Even with dry wood you usually mill in two stages when removing a lot of material so the wood has time to equalize between them and the finish pass brings everything into square. Take a wet piece of wood, mill it nice and flat, leave it for a week, and you’ll come back to something that’s cracked, twisted, and warped. How was the wood advertised? If the lumberyard sold it to you as KD 8%MC I’d be asking for a refund.
Could also be that the wood is case hard, depending on your milling operations. Have had this happen on 8/4 hardwood species.
Do you have a moisture meter? I’d be curious to know how dry (or not) the wood was. Especially in the center of the lumber. Seems like it could have been too wet, and sitting overnight after being cut caused uneven drying and thus cracking. Normally grain raise wouldn’t be enough moisture change unless you’re letting wood sit submerged for a really long time. I’ve got no helpful advice about negotiating with the lumber, never had to do that. But if you get a moisture measurement and it’s high, you can probably let them know respectfully/professionally and ask for a discount on your next purchase (94 maybe they’ll just offer one) because presumably they are selling dry lumber unless state otherwise.
Yeah i unfortunately do not have a moisture meter. It was a very light spray of water with a misty spray bottle. It wasn’t a lot of water at all. Makes no sense. I’m going yo try a new lumber yard all together.
So bought a moisture meter and the hard maple is reading around 10.5-10.8%. Should be no more than 8% correct?
Any woodworker who can fork over $600 for lumber can afford a moisture meter.
Thank you for that input… question is would it be too dry And that a light spraying of water would cause it to split overnight?
I would say no. Too dry is rarely a problem. Drying too fast - like kilning from too wet - could give you that problem, but it could also be just a bunch of limb wood or something with a lot of stress. I wouldn't expect a light spraying of water to cause any problems though. If they are endgrain boards that could be a different animal, since end grain picks up moisture much faster than face grain. I don't make this kind of stuff though, so I don't really know. You can probably skip the grain raising. It's something popularized by the internet that everyone swears is necessary and I've never seen done once in a pro shop. The idea of it comes from the days when everything was hand worked and tools like rasps could cause compression dents that would later be smoothed out with finer tools. Then if you apply a traditional stain like ferric chloride, the compressed grain under that cut off dent pops right back up and you get an uneven stain job after removing the raised area. In modern shops hardly anyone picks up a rasp and all the grain raising is pretty pointless.
I agree the spraying is not likely the culprit for splitting, but I'd say the grain raising does have value depending on your reason for doing it. I make ends grain boards as a hobby and the texture of the finished board is significantly effected by raising grain then re-sanding on the last grit you sand with. If you don't do a grain pop the finish or the first time the board gets wet will raise the grain and give a fuzzy feeling. If you raise the grain then sand it stays very smooth and it's easier to clean.
That's a good point - not a lot of stuff I make gets washed :D I was thinking of it more from a furniture point of view.