Why did my piece split so soon after I cut it?

[David Mitchell]

I cut a 7ft limb from a Gamble Oak (ranging from about 2" in diameter down to 1" in diameter). I removed the bark, started chipping away and by the next day it already split almost a 1/4 of the way through the piece and ran almost the entire length? What did I do wrong? This was my first time with oak and it was going great until it split. How can I avoid this next time? I have only been carving for 6 months and have only been working with Brazilian Pepper Wood and Acacia Wood. I have encountered only a few minor splits in my pieces and none caused any problems that could not be incorporated into the piece. After putting more and more effort in my work, and with each new piece, I can see how it could a big deal to have something happen that ruins the piece.

[AlArchie]

I've found oak to be a notorious "splitter", especially if worked green. As an example check a standing healthy oak and look for dead branches...you'll find them split and cracked along the full length.

You might have some luck with oak if you take the limb in the late fall or winter when the sap is down. Strip the bark and wax the ends. Then set that piece aside in a spot where it will dry slowly...mabe a year or so. I don't know of any way to expedite the process. It's going to be HARD when dry but that should solve the cracking problem.

Al

[Bob K.]

I have heard that if you paint or wax the ends of the limb it will slow down the drying out process and cut down on the splitting problem.

[Claude]

The mechanical reason is that the wood dried at different rates between the surface and the heart. If the split is on the outside, then taking the bark off was probably the problem, in my opinion. This allowed the outside wood to dry quicker than the heart wood, so the outside layers began to shrink, and then they split. You can also find cases where the wood splits from the core outward - obviously, because the center is drying quicker than the outside... The "normal" process for drying the wood is to coat the ends in paint, Thompson's Water seal, or melted wax, leave the bark on, and put it down laying flat on small sticks for 1 year for each inch of thickness.

If you're in a hurry and a have a few spare dollars, think about building a kiln for yourself. If you Google "wood kilns", you should find plenty of instructions.

Claude

[mpounders]

I have used Pentacryl to stabilize some green wood, also keeping the wood wrapped in plastic to slow down the drying out. But generally, I do exactly like Claude recommends! Some thinner pieces can be carved in less time, but I seldom carve green wood immediately any more.

[David Mitchell]

Thanks Mike.
I have been only carving for about 6 months and find that working with green wood is so much easier than working with seasoned/dry wood. I just purchased three new knives from Flexcut and find that they are so much better than the first knives I purchased that cost less than 1/2 of the new ones. I will go back a try working with dry wood. Any pointers wood be great. Thanks,

[Robson Valley]

Unfortunately, it isn't possible to expect every stick to dry the very same as the next one. Cut a dozen. Treat them in different ways. Wait & see. Green wood is easier to work but the carvings will create strange patterns of stress relief which may be your undoing.

A block down my street is a hiking staff/walking cane/log furniture builder. He say he has no choice but to play percentages with his specialty: diamond willow. Every spring, he cuts more than 100 sticks for staffs & canes, strips the bark and they all go into an outdoor shed bin. Some years, they are all OK, he's had a couple of years where 100% of the sticks split>>>firewood. That really annoys him after he has cut, split and stacked 6 cords of dry pine to heat the shop.

[Robson Valley]

I think that I have found the answer. Branches are the worst choice for sticks.
Why?
The growth of a branch, out the side of a tree like oak, generates what is called tension wood.
Most of it is on the upper side of the branch.
These tension wood cells have extra layers in the wood cell walls. The extra cell wall layers have 30X the surface area of normal (vertical) wood cell wall layers. In a coniferous species, like pine, this growth is called compression wood and forms on the lower side of every branch.

As the tension wood dries, the extra cell wall layers collapse quite dramatically with enormous stress on the gross structure of the wood. Snap, Crackle, Pop!

[landog]

Robson valley hit it on the nail. Limbs are most generally not good for any woodworking for the above stated reasons. The butt log (trunk) and above until the first limbs, best part for any woodworking. That is the part that is harvested and milled.

[David Mitchell]

SO does that mean I need to cut the tree down?
My pieces were cut from the bottom of the tree. There were not the trunk but grew up from the trunk from the very bottom of the tree.