Thread: Unusual grain feature in Tas Blackwood.

I agree, it looks like grafting or where one sheet of Blackwood has been joined to another using a serrated cutter, to give a larger sheet of wood. Hope that makes sense. You often see it in commercial extra large size panels or squares of length. Curious!

Regards,

Rob

Originally Posted by LGS

I agree, it looks like grafting or where one sheet of Blackwood has been joined to another using a serrated cutter, to give a larger sheet of wood. Hope that makes sense. You often see it in commercial extra large size panels or squares of length. Curious!

Regards,

Rob

This was from a rough sawn board, not a commercially manufactured bit.
It does look odd though. As if someone has sliced a couple of cuts into a tree with a sharp dovetail saw, chiselled out the bit between, then hammered in another bit of nearly matching grained timber and the tree has kept growing.
But what sort of mad person would do that?.
Another theory might be that the original piece of green timber was once in a larger bundle of boards that had been strapped together with those metal straps. And the strap caused a compression bruise in the green timber. Only guessing here.

Originally Posted by artful bodger

Another theory might be that the original piece of green timber was once in a larger bundle of boards that had been strapped together with those metal straps. And the strap caused a compression bruise in the green timber. Only guessing here.

That was my first thoughts when I saw your images. How wide is the mark in the grain? 19mm or so? Or some form of staining / bleaching from being stickered out?

I wonder if the tree had some kind of trauma whilst growing....dry /wet spell, an over abundance of one particular mineral(?) Bushfire....it could be anything. Isn't this why we love to work with timber? It's a natural material that keeps rewarding us with its all kinds of interesting things

Hello artful bodger, I would describe this as a felling shake. When a tree is cut down and it falls if it hits the ground awkwardly there is a type of rupture creating a weak spot from fibre compression also called a cross shake. Google felling shakes for more info regards volvo

I like that peg! Did you make it?

Volvo beat me to it, looks like shake

[QUOTE=woodPixel;2118067]I like that peg! Did you make it?[/Q


Thanks WP. Yes, I make lots of them in various sizes.The one in picture is about 215mm long.
I notice you are in Canberra. Bungendore wood work gallery have some in stock if you are ever passing through.

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

That was my first thoughts when I saw your images. How wide is the mark in the grain? 19mm or so? Or some form of staining / bleaching from being stickered out?

20mm Moby. Makes one wonder if you couldn't put a bit of feature into straight grained green boards on purpose?.

[QUOTE=artful bodger;2118096]

Originally Posted by woodPixel

I like that peg! Did you make it?[/Q


Yes, I make lots of them in various sizes.The one in picture is about 215mm long.
Bungendore wood work gallery have some in stock if you are ever passing through.

Do you have some in Leura AB? Was admiring them yesterday.

Originally Posted by artful bodger

20mm Moby. Makes one wonder if you couldn't put a bit of feature into straight grained green boards on purpose?.

20mm - strapping width??? I have seen quite a few felling shakes in PNG rosewood and other FNQ rainforest timbers over the years but none so geometrically perfect. In PNG Rosewood they present as an irregular fracture line across the grain. I very much doubt that it is a felling shake, more likely caused from storage issues. Only real way to tell is some destructive testing - cut across the mark on the diagonal - methinks that is now an unacceptable test.

btw love seeing your oversized clothes pegs, quite spectacular and very well crafted.

[QUOTE=NCArcher;2118143]

Originally Posted by artful bodger

Do you have some in Leura AB? Was admiring them yesterday.

Yes they are in Leura as well as other places.

The change in grain looks like cell variation caused by inhibited drying. Could be from stickers or strapping. just a guess.

If 'twas Meranti I'd point the finger at fell shakes, esp. if sourced from Indonesia. One of my first adult jobs was tailing out Meranti rails & stiles from a multi-head spindle-moulder, part of which was eye-balling and chalking defects before sending to the docking saw.

They often looked exactly like that.

But in Blackwood? I wouldn't expect it. Not such cleanly parallel shakes anyway.

Strapping alone wouldn't account for that depth of penetration, no matter how overtightened. Blackwood's much denser than Meranti! Perhaps the pack received a lot of jostling and... ummm... "forklift realignment" during transport or in the yard?