Advice on crack needed, urgently!

[brainstrust]

Hi all, this is a piece of English Elm fresh from harvesting! It varies from 5 to 8 cms thick and at its longest point would be about 70 cms wide.
The crack does go full thickness. I would luv to try keep it as one piece, is it possibly? Would resin keep it bonded together? Anything:?

https://s8.postimg.cc/4ph75cd39/20180710_154517.jpg (https://postimg.cc/image/64iru2e69/)

[artful bodger]

Get your biggest chain saw and cut right through the crack, get rid of it. Rest of the log looks good. Why faff round with crack when you can get rid of it?.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Fresh from harvesting? Nope, not a chance of "gluing it together." If it was fully dried and you asked the same question, well... then it'd be a qualified "maybe."

Mind you, that split through the heart can stop other star shakes forming while it dries.

[tony_A]

If you want to keep it in one piece then resin is what I would use. I would let it dry as is and then fill the hole with resin when it has stopped moving. As it is already cracked I wouldn't be concerned if it cracked a bit more. If you fill the hole with resin now it is likely to crack radially elsewhere as it dries.
You could weigh the piece, write the weight on it and then re-weigh periodically. When the weight stabilises it is good to go.

Turning a piece like that will have its own challenges and as stated above will require careful assessment at the time.
Tony

[derekcohen]

Nakashima made famous his butterfly or dovetail joint on boards like this.

https://www.woodworkerssource.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/nakashima_table_butterfly.jpg

Such opportunity!!

Regards from Perth

Derek

[smiife]

Looking at the photo , I would cut thru the crack as that is the orientation
for a bowl blank , you wouldn, t want a blank on the end grain , would you ?
Not saying you can, t , but is better on side grain , just my 2 bob, s worth:U

[brainstrust]

should of mentioned I don't want to turn it but rather leave as a slab.

[orraloon]

As a slab then not nearly the worries of turning. Just let it dry then do what you like. Either resin or butterfly it. It will likely crack some more as it dries.
Regards
John

[brainstrust]

As a slab then not nearly the worries of turning. Just let it dry then do what you like. Either resin or butterfly it. It will likely crack some more as it dries.
Regards
John

But wait till it dries first right and don't worry about doing anything in the meantime?

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

But wait till it dries first right and don't worry about doing anything in the meantime?

Yep. Just seal & sticker it, treating it the same as any other green timber that you want to dry.

Perhaps treating it a bit better wouldn't hurt :wink: but don't try "locking the halves together."

If you hold your hands flat together, in prayer fashion, then curl your fingers... that's what that timber is going to do. The split is going to widen at the heart, as that shrinks quicker than the outside of the log, and the split will probably become longer towards both ends as they're 'pried apart.'

If there's too much material holding the piece together at the ends it may form star shakes at the heart, a chance which can be reduced by cutting the two ends of the existing split to separate it into two halves for drying.

IF you do this, there's a chance that once dried the cut ends won't mate together again properly and you'll lose some timber flattening the faces to joint it together again.

As I've already said, leaving it as is will have a slightly higher chance of forming splits but at least the ends would dry more or less aligned with each other.

FWIW, there's always some chance of splits happening in the heart, whether you separate or not. All one can do is try to minimise the risk. :shrug:

[brainstrust]

Yep. Just seal & sticker it, treating it the same as any other green timber that you want to dry.

Perhaps treating it a bit better wouldn't hurt :wink: but don't try "locking the halves together."

If you hold your hands flat together, in prayer fashion, then curl your fingers... that's what that timber is going to do. The split is going to widen at the heart, as that shrinks quicker than the outside of the log, and the split will probably become longer towards both ends as they're 'pried apart.'

If there's too much material holding the piece together at the ends it may form star shakes at the heart, a chance which can be reduced by cutting the two ends of the existing split to separate it into two halves for drying.

IF you do this, there's a chance that once dried the cut ends won't mate together again properly and you'll lose some timber flattening the faces to joint it together again.

As I've already said, leaving it as is will have a slightly higher chance of forming splits but at least the ends would dry more or less aligned with each other.

FWIW, there's always some chance of splits happening in the heart, whether you separate or not. All one can do is try to minimise the risk. :shrug:

thanks muchly :2tsup: