Mister Pants Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 Last time I was in Canada, a friend who lives in sticks loaded me up with some lumber from trees he and his wife had felled on their property. They were milled, stickered, stacked and air dried in their barn. The next project on my bench is a couple of end tables, one for my mother and one for Doug and his wife as a thanks (quite literally loaded up the floor of a small U-haul). The one for my mother is butternut (which milled completely fine), and the one for my friends is maple. I started milling some of the maple last night and there appears to be some defects in it. I'm not sure if it's a result of case hardening or what exactly. At first I thought it may be some nice figure when it was coming off the jointer, but those marks aren't flush to the board. If you run your finger along it they are slightly recessed. Can anyone explain this? Is it a symptom of case hardening (never had that issue in the past so not sure). I haven't ripped any of it yet, just cross-cut. It crosscut, jointed and planed (both power and hand) just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave H Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 I'm assumeing you used a thickness planner, if so feed the boards the opposite way, and see if that helps you may be lifting the grain instead of laying it down. I've had this happen before, sometimes if the board is figured there really isn't an optimum way to run the board through. Also a blade change might help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Pants Posted October 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 Fed it both ways, it doesn't feel like tearout, or at least not tearout that I'm used to, but I haven't worked a whole ton with maple in the past. Jointer blades are freshly sharpened, as are the blades in my handplanes, the power planer blades are probably getting close to needing replacement though (disposable unfortunately). Gonna try running it through the drum sander after work and see if it removes that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 If it was air dried, it wouldn't be case hardening...that's an issue you run into with improperly kiln dried lumber. Have you checked the moisture content? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Pants Posted October 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 I don't have a moisture meter unfortunately. He'd been air-drying it for a few years and it sat in my shop for almost a full year (Thanksgiving last year). It's only 4/4 so I would expect it to have acclimatized by now and it didn't feel heavy. Anyone know of a way to check the moisture content without a meter? Only reason I'd thought of maybe case hardening (besides being baffled) was in the event he hadn't stickered it, that I'm not sure on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Pants Posted October 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 Well completely stumped now. I ran the billet in the photo through the drum sander, took off quite a bit and it's still there, ran a piece of raw stock (non-jointed/planed) through the drum sander as well and the same thing. I also ripped that billet into 1 1/4" strips and it didn't bind, or go crazy like I'd expect of case hardened stuff (also wasn't kiln dried). A little relief stress, but no more than I'd have expected from any rough lumber I did the same thing to. I think it's got to be some sort of stress from the growth of the tree. The sapwood seems free of it, and parts of the heartwood are clear as well. Gonna try to make something from it anyways, it looks kind of interesting even though I can't seem to get it totally smooth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CessnaPilotBarry Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 Case hardening is related to kiln drying. Some call it "reaction wood"... If you have it, you'll know it... The wood often curls like Cheetos as you rip. If you're really unlucky, it'll grab the splitter or blade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 ==> If you're really unlucky, it'll grab the splitter or blade. actually, i find it does that pretty regularly. when i think a stick is case hardened, i rip on the bandsaw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CessnaPilotBarry Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 ==> If you're really unlucky, it'll grab the splitter or blade. actually, i find it does that pretty regularly. when i think a stick is case hardened, i rip on the bandsaw. My last pile of case hardened QSWO got returned to the dealer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted October 31, 2012 Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 Let me know if I've got this right... Case hardening happens when the wood dries too fast, so the outside dries and shrinks more than the inside, creating internal pressure. Reaction wood happens when the tree grows fighting gravity or the wind, so that one side is "pushing" and one side is "pulling" to keep the tree straight. When you separate those sides, things go crazy. That's why you generally don't make lumber from branches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CessnaPilotBarry Posted October 31, 2012 Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 Let me know if I've got this right... Case hardening happens when the wood dries too fast, so the outside dries and shrinks more than the inside, creating internal pressure. Reaction wood happens when the tree grows fighting gravity or the wind, so that one side is "pushing" and one side is "pulling" to keep the tree straight. When you separate those sides, things go crazy. That's why you generally don't make lumber from branches. I call anything that goes nuts when I cut it reaction wood, some is caused my natural circumstances, others improper drying. I might not be technically correct, but I'm not really worried about why it does what it does, only the resulting safety hazard and annoyance it creates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Pants Posted October 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 Case hardening is related to kiln drying. Some call it "reaction wood"... If you have it, you'll know it... The wood often curls like Cheetos as you rip. If you're really unlucky, it'll grab the splitter or blade. Yeah very much not that, there was a little relief stress, but not anything out of the ordinary. Been lucky enough to never have had any case hardened lumber I guess, I'm still stumped on this though. If they weren't essentially little pits (i.e. not smooth if you run your finger nail across), I'd chalk it up soley to an interesting grain pattern. Being little pits that I can't seem to sand out (as as soon as I get those out more appear), not sure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted October 31, 2012 Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 It almost looks like ray flecking, but doesn't sound like it. It sounds more like the tree had bugs. Either way, it's really pretty. Have you tried a scraper or sharp smoothing plane on it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jfitz Posted October 31, 2012 Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 That is a great looking board. Wipe it with some mineral spirits to bring out the grain and see what it might look like finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Pants Posted October 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 It almost looks like ray flecking, but doesn't sound like it. It sounds more like the tree had bugs. Either way, it's really pretty. Have you tried a scraper or sharp smoothing plane on it? I'd thought about ray flecking, but it's flat sawn. Yeah, seems like when I get one part smooth another part is revealed. I do agree it looks great and I'm gonna try to build with it. I'll post pics of how it comes out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted October 31, 2012 Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 make a fresh cross-cut and show us some end grain -- that may help. do you know what species of maple? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Pants Posted October 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 It's either sugar maple or red maple I believe as they're the most common on his property, but not entirely sure, it's definitely a hard maple though. I'll take a cross-cut shot and post it later today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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