Thread: Cabinet - problem with wood cracking

Originally Posted by mitch722

On a side note how much should one expect to pay for 20mm x 120mm ( or something similar) per meter blackwood or another hardwood

You sound like you are into woodworking for the long haul, so I wondered if you had thought of getting a band saw and thicknesser so you could start with boards. A lot cheaper and more flexible than buying dressed material.

If you are interested in the Fine Woodworking DVD archive, they currently have the latest edition on special for US$ 99 instead of $150. See here.

Seeing this, I just ordered a set while the dollar is strong, Add $13.40 for postage and its a great deal

Originally Posted by mitch722

Hello all. I'm Mitch and I've been making a cabinet over the past year. It has been a slow project with productive and unproductive months. At the end on November I had finished it up to the stage where it could be french polished. I had read in various places that using a grain filler was a good preparation for french polishing. I painted on the grain filler and ran out of time before christmas to sand it and start polishing. I've just come back to have a look and the wood has cracked in a few places down the sides and the filler seems to have cracked slightly on the top. The cracks down the side are up to 2mm wide. It is being stored in a shed and it does get hot but I didn't think it was that hot.

Mitch

as noted by IanW what you have is the result of trying to constrain natural timber expansion and contraction

your piece is basically not recoverable, without a huge amount of rebuilding
However, you should be able to recover most of the wood to use on other projects


A note for other builders
using biscuit joints to attach panels to frames really only works where the panel is made of ply or veneered MDF/partical board, with solid wood panels you should stick to frame and panel construction, with the grain running in the long direction of the panel