Wood movement crack

[Reiley Akkari]

I am working with hickory, and had this piece of wood sitting outside in the sun for about an hour. The temperature was about 95 degrees F, and the board started to crack (I'm guessing from wood movement from the temperature change). I immediately took it into a cooler area but have seen no improvement in the past few hours. There was a small, visible split in the wood before this incident, so I filled it with epoxy and it fully cured since then, but it still cracked when put out in the sun. I was wondering if there was anything I can do to both fix and prevent this from happening in the future. I am planning on finishing the piece with a water based polyurethane, and it will spend it's life inside. the crack runs basically along a four foot board. Thanks for any help in advanced. 

[mat60]

 Not a expert here but Im thinking the wood wasnt dry.    Wondering why you sat it outside also.

[phinds]

Likely there was some internal tension in the plank but it wasn't strong enough to cause a crack until it was exacerbated by the heat.

[Reiley Akkari]

@mat60I had wiped it down with mineral spirits because I was going to apply the finish, and did it outside because my shop doesn't have great ventilation. Probably not the best call on my part leaving it outside hahaha

[RichardA]

You just might want to go to the lumber yard and get another piece.

[pkinneb]

Reiley I think the responses above pretty much cover the post so I will just say welcome to the forum!

[Eric.]

Yeah that board is toast.  Too bad because it's a nice board...for hickory.  Some pretty colors.

And I think you've probably figured it out...but for the record...don't leave your boards cooking in the sun.  No matter how dry, that's just bad bizness.

[gee-dub]

I lost a nice plank trying to 'sun tan' a piece of cherry.  Turns out the dry desert basin is not a good place to do that.  In 15 to 20 minutes the board became a small parts source.

[Sawdustdad]

That board would have cracked eventually any way. Better now before you invested more time in it.   Looks like it might be the pith? That is, the center of the tree?  You will routinely see the pith split, so it's best to avoid using it in a project. Rip the board down the split, remove the damaged wood and glue it back together. 

Wood splits for different reasons. Sometimes it is differential shrinkage when drying. Sometimes the logs sit too long before being milled and checks occur in the round log and then show up in the boards later. Sometimes the logs crack when they are felled due to stresses. Sometimes the tree cracks due to growing conditions/wind stress, etc.