Flat cut boards (this is what is most available) will curl away from the heart, and tends to shrink pretty good too. When you see CUP in the board, the rounded side is the heart side. Orienting the CUP side down in your work should aid in keeping it looking good since the board will move upwards, presenting a rounded appearance. If you orient the other way, the board will have a sunken appearance which isn’t what you are going to want. Another trick that is often used on glued up panels is to alternate the boards, CUP up, CUP down, with the overall kind of balancing out all the movement. I have done this with pleasing results, however, depending on the moisture content and how the lumber was dried; you can wind up with boards that will literally pull themselves apart, regardless of what you do. We aren’t like the old time furniture makers who kept their lumber for years until they used it, allowing more than ample time for drying and acclimating to the environment. The other MAJOR advantage they had was their finished goods went into a no air conditioning or central heating home. They were able to avoid the huge swings in humidity since the homes then were more stable with the outside air than our homes of today. They used sound building procedures but, these pieces have had YEARS to settle out before all the extremes began to work on them. If you look at many antiques you will find cracks from movement if you look hard enough. The old craftsmen were also good at hiding WHERE these cracks would appear.

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Last update : 28-04-2008 18:55

Keywords : detail on what wood is

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