Worse internal stress in wood?

[boblon]

Am out making some boxes and am using Wenge for the frame for the top on one of them. Cutting the pieces to width, once again the Wenge bows due to lots of internal stress being released (it was milled perfectly flat beforehand). It seems I've had the worse time with various lots of Wenge so I'm wondering....

....what species of wood have you guys had the most problem in this area?

BobL.

P.S. I know that improper seasoning/kiln drying can exaggerate this issue, but it seems like every piece of Wenge shows this to some degree.

[SARGE..g-47]

I have never worked with wenge Bob, so I can't speak for the particular species. But.. I can speak for around 13 other ones and say that your foot-note of how it was kiln-dryed is probably a major factor. I suspect there is not a lot of sources of wenge and that someone possibly took a short cut in the drying process which will create stress when the stock is down-sized from the way it came out of the kiln.

I just returned about 100 linear feet of poplar in 16"-18" widths. I was some of the best looking poplar I have ever seen on the surface. I use it often for drawer sides which it is intended in this case. But.. when I ripped it we have some of the most beautiful poplar that would be well suited for "bows" as in "bows and arrows".

Returned it to the source which is extremely reliable since 1978 for me. They had just recieved the batch from a different supplier that that were going to try. Several local cabinet-makers had already made a return. I dug around the bottom of their huge bins and came up with what I needed from older stock on the bottom to do what I need to do.

I doubt they will use the source again as I have never had the problem with any poplar I have purchased over 36 years now. I have seen the internal stress on various species over the years but... it was random in species and seemed to be isolated to a particular batch that was recieved. That's why I would guess that a short cut was taken at the kiln to get the stock to market. Could be natural effect... I just can't say for sure.

[boblon]

You could be right Sarge, but it just seems strange that it always happens with Wenge. This is over the course of two years with wood from at least 4 different sources.

Oh well, part of the fun I guess.

To paraphrase a quote "...wood is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get"



BobL.

[SARGE..g-47]

And it could be just the wenge, Bob. It throws up a smoke signal to me that it came from different sources and you have seen it a number of times. With that I would be hesitant to use it (as if I could actually afford it anyway) as there are alternatives to about everything.

Forest Gump's mom's quote on "like a box of chocolates" was spot on.. BTW! Taking a small hand plane to the yard to uncover the surface and if they will cut a piece before you plot down the cash could be a great asset before the fact.

[Russianwolf]

Strange. All the Wenge I've worked with has been very stable. No warping or twisting at all. Even when I saw pieces off the massive 13*36*4 piece I bought a couple years ago.

[JimD]

I've never used wenge but I've read that unstable wood sometimes comes from trees that were leaning as they grew and from limbs (that are virtually never vertical). On softwood, you can pretty much count on instability around knots.

[SARGE..g-47]

That's the natural and most common cause for it, Jim. It just seemed un-likely that he has seen it several times and Russian-wolf has been spared in all cases he mentioned?

Another or life's mysteries I suppose. You buy 3 bags of groceries and take out 5 bags of trash. Go figure or sometimes better to let it be.

[ragswl4]

I had the same issue with some Lyptus. I think it was not dry enough even though it was kiln dryed. Warped like crazy every time I cut it.

[boblon]

Strange. All the Wenge I've worked with has been very stable. No warping or twisting at all. Even when I saw pieces off the massive 13*36*4 piece I bought a couple years ago.

I'm envious. Don't suppose you've bought any recently? And if so could you share the source?

As far as substitutes for the Wenge I'm not so sure about that. I suppose Ebony, but that definately would not be less expensive. I suppose I could ebonize some other wood, but I wold prefer not to.

BobL.

[Tom Slick]

I've had 8/4 hard maple bind up almost to a stop the blade on a 5hp cabinet saw. the saw operator (not myself) called me to fix the saw, I looked at the kerf and saw it bowed in and told the operator to try another piece. it went through fine, he asked me how I fixed it, I told him "I'm good" and that was acceptable to him.

[Russianwolf]

I'm envious. Don't suppose you've bought any recently? And if so could you share the source?

As far as substitutes for the Wenge I'm not so sure about that. I suppose Ebony, but that definately would not be less expensive. I suppose I could ebonize some other wood, but I wold prefer not to.

BobL.

Got it off ebay for the sum of $81 shipped to my door. Good luck finding another. It was an off cut of a larger piece

The hunk is now down to about 11*26*4