Jun
23
2009
Having great materials to work with is every woodworkers dream. Wood is part of nature though and needless to say unpredictable. The key to good craftsmanship is working with what you have. This means taking that imperfect piece of work and doing something with it.
You may discover that the piece of wood you have picked out as a blue gray tinge to it. This is most often seen in pine, or sycamore and sometimes holly. It?s caused by a mold where it may have been stored that was too warm or not enough ventilation. The only solution is to use that piece of wood where it?s not likely to be seen, perhaps on the bottom of your project. If you are going to be using a dark stain then it?s not going to be a problem for you.
It seems no matter how hard you inspected your wood, that when you go it home you still notice a bow in it. This is often the result of poor storage where moisture evaporation was evident. It?s difficult to work with pieces like this. You can cut it into smaller pieces or if worse comes to worse then nail or screw into place but make sure the bulge is facing out.
Usually if you are going to detect any splits or crack in the wood you are going to see it at the end and it will run along the grains. Drying the wood too fast has created this problem. If the cracks are too bad not only will it affect the look of the finished project, it could weaken it as well. The only solution here is to work around the cracks, or if possible cut that section off and discard it.
If wood is not dried correctly and stored properly than its going to warp and be difficult to work with. You will often find that this wood was cut from the center of the tree. You can cut the high spots away with your table saw if necessary.
Another type of warping is along the face of the board edge to edge. It means that one face dried faster than the other did. It?s difficult to work with wood like this. You could try adding some pressure and letting it dry that way.
A dark knot in the wood can enhance its overall look unless it?s loose. This is as a result of a surface dead branch. Ideally, you will want to glue it in place, and then apply putty to it.
Excessive sap residue evident on the board was caused when the tree was injured in some way prior to cutting. Either cut it off or scrape it and fill the indent where it was.
Dark streaks normally caused by dull planer blades. Either sand it or cut it down. Other minor problems may be breaks, a tight knot, and twisted ends from warping. A good lesson is to learn about the various types of woods and imperfections and this will guide you in what to look for how to avoid the problem or at the very least perhaps correct it.
