cracking blanks, how can I prevent this ??

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indychips

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Jun 21, 2010
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Indianapolis, IN
A few weeks ago I purchased a 3x3x6 block of Paduak. The block had a wax coating. I stripped the wax and cut the wood into bottle stopper blanks. Yesterday I went to turn some and noticed all of the blanks have began cracking/splitting on the ends. Is there anyway to prevent this cracking after the block has been cut? What is the proper way to dry wood without the cracks developing? Thanks again for the help
 
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Take the wax off and then toss the block in a bucket of sawdust for a couple of weeks. Once the moisture content is down to 7-8% you should be safe to cut it.
 
strip the wax from all but the ends and let it dry that way. might do this in conjunction with the sawdust idea for quicker results
 
use AnchorSeal on the freshly cut ends. the cracking is from the blank drying TOO fast. Wax used on the ends effectively locks in the moisture and it will take forever to dry.

If you dont have anchorseal, latex paint helps a 'little', the idea is to allow the blank evenly, and moisture leaves the end grain exponentially faster than the other surfaces.

What the sawdust/paper bag does is create a 'controlled environment' to allow the blank to dry at a even rate, it may take 5-6 months to get dry enough.

You can also soak it overnight in denatured alcohol to speed that process up a bit. the alcohol will reduce the moisture content quicker than air drying .. you still have to paper bag it, but its quicker.
 
just melt wax back on the wood. Get a old metal pan some old candles that suck. and a heat gun... melt some wax in the pan with the heat gun, then dip the end grain in the wax until covered completely... some woods you dont need to cover the whole peice but with exotics i would. especially since it is little. Those cracks that formed already on your peices can be fixed with medium ca glue, once they are done drying. Hope this helps
 
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