WillieIV Posted December 12, 2011 Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 Doing several cutting boards for Christmas presents and have a couple purpleheart/maple boards where the purpleheart is cracking. No cracks were present during the final glue up but I left them in our basement on some cold tile while the glue was curing (very dry - low humidity basement). I went to grab them last night and my heart sank. I brought them upstairs and left them in the kitchen overnight and it appears that some of the cracks were closing up a little. After the final sanding will mineral oil close these cracks back up or what other options other than scrapping them do I have? It does not appear that any of the cracks are thru the entire section. The maple is not showing any signs of cracking - just the purpleheart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick2cd Posted December 12, 2011 Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 the final sanding may push some fine saw dust into the cracks and fill them in a bit. was the purple heart good and dry? it looks like you are getting some end checking, which happens when you expose the end grain of a green wood. i believe it's caused by the wood drying out too quickly on the freshly exposed end grain. this is why you see people painting the ends of a freshly down tree or even on green, rough cut lumber. it slows the drying process and you lose less to end checking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WillieIV Posted December 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 I think I might try some sanding dust and some TBIII and see where that gets me. An opinion of a fella that's been woodworking longer than I've been alive is that the material was heated too quickly - called it heat checking. Anyway wish me luck as I have 3 boards that are doing this and I'd REALLY hate for them to be firewood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick2cd Posted December 12, 2011 Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 Keep us posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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