Wood splitting

Scott Turner

Member
Messages
57
Yes I voted... so now I am asking for your thoughts.

I am making another jewerly box. This one is out of walnut and ash. I have a piece of ash that is 8/4 thick and I want to use it for the lid, as a solid piece.

I am going to use a router to clean out the underside of the lid. The edges of the lid will only be about 1/2 " thick. My question is, if I finish this with laquer do you think I will have a problem with the wood splitting as the years go by?
 
Yes I voted... so now I am asking for your thoughts.

I am making another jewerly box. This one is out of walnut and ash. I have a piece of ash that is 8/4 thick and I want to use it for the lid, as a solid piece.

I am going to use a router to clean out the underside of the lid. The edges of the lid will only be about 1/2 " thick. My question is, if I finish this with laquer do you think I will have a problem with the wood splitting as the years go by?
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Well Scott, it's kind of like an old concrete man once told me about concrete. There are two kinds. That's that cracked and that that's gonna crack.

With wood it's gonna move and we can mostly just guess which way and how much. Sometimes how it's sawed and grain pattern can be chosen to hold it to a minimum.
 
The ends will be very weak... thin end-grain only wood. No amount of finish will keep the moisture out, so it will expand and contract across the ends, in a weak piece of wood. Bottom line, I wouldn't waste the wood or effort on it.

IMHO the most durable structure is like a floating panel door, with rails and stiles around the edge, and a floating top. Even for a lid, I sometimes make the rails and stiles go vertically, holding a floating horizontal top.
 
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