Wood Cracks

**Joe Gadget** · 1st October 2021, 08:53 AM

Hi all..

I'm currently restoring my dad's old trusty claw hammer. I cleaned the head up as best I could and had to saw off the handle (I think there were 5 or so screws in the end wedging it in).
we recently gutted the garage and i took apart the old side bench made from who knows what kind of hardwood and decided to try and use it for the handle.
well.... it didn't exactly go to plan. when I say it was hardwood.... it was hard wood..... got lots of tear out on the lathe and it had these weird cracks all the way through it (you can see in the finished photos). I kept going with it because they look kind of funky..

Can anyone tell me what they are and how they would be caused?

They are more obvious in the finished product with some poly on it..

The last 3 photos show it sitting on part of the board i cut it from.

Cheers

Joe20210926_121405 (2).jpg 20210927_143716 (2).jpg 20210929_181125 (2).jpg 20211001_065018 (2).jpg 20211001_065024 (2).jpg 20211001_065031 (2).jpg

**crowie** · 1st October 2021, 12:50 PM

Well done on saving your dad's old hammer

On the timber cracks, I've recently started using Starbond Medium Thick CA with the Accelerator to fill cracks in repairs, works very well...

This is the main website link but you can buy it from a number of vendors in Australia.

Starbond Premium Super Glue | Cyanoacrylate Instant CA Glues

Cheers, crowie

**Joe Gadget** · 1st October 2021, 12:59 PM

Thanks Crowie.
I actually used some Titebond glue with sawdust mixed in... what a bugger to sand off....

**ian** · 2nd October 2021, 12:20 PM

Joe
Can't help you with the cracks -- but I've seen the same sort of cracking in lots of pieces of Australian hardwood.

How did you attach the hammer head?

**Joe Gadget** · 3rd October 2021, 12:35 PM

Hi Ian. I used 2 metal wedges (that Dad had used in the old handle). they worked a treat...

**bruceward51** · 4th October 2021, 10:01 AM

Hi Joe,
Nice job on the handle!
There are a lot of reasons for cracks in timber. Some are the result of how that particular piece of wood was grown, others are the result of forces during seasoning. I am not an expert on this, but it could be 'honeycomb', where the cracks form during seasoning. Some species are more prone to this than others. See my post from 2014 where I had huge voids in timber I dried myself Drying wood - what went wrong?
I have since seen evidence of this sort of cracking in the end gain of recycled mountain ash.

There are also some good resources out there that explain this sort of thing better than I can. This one is a bit basic, but the best I could do with two minutes searching.
Types of Defects in Timber as a Construction Material
Bruce

**Joe Gadget** · 5th October 2021, 08:22 AM

Thanks Bruce.

The cracks don't seem to make the wood any weaker and they look pretty cool, so I'm trying to salvage as much of it as I can (although most of it is beyond saving - probably only get a very thin panel once flattened... lol).

I was just curious because it looked like the wood had shrunk unevenly....

Anyway - thanks for the response - will keep digging into it..

Joe

**Tung tied** · 21st October 2021, 06:36 PM

You could possibly get the wood stabilised with something like Cactus Juice resin in a vacuum chamber (not the prickly stuff you drink). That'll add some protection to the wood but won't fill in cracks or voids. It more works on the microvoids that hold air and moisture.

Cheers

Bryan

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