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Question Re Southern Silky Oak "Sap Veins"
I've been making various furniture items using Southern Silky Oak (Grevillea robusta). Recently, I've noticed that some boards have what I think are "Sap Veins" in places. The veins are pink to red in colour, and when they occur they follow the growth ring along the length of the board. So far I've been avoiding these boards with Sap Veins, wondering how I could work around these "defects" with minimal wastage. The Sap Veins mostly seem to appear in the Pink coloured Southern Silky Oak. So far I haven't seen any Sap Veins in the more yellow coloured Southern Silky Oak.
Recently I decided to try using a small piece of the Silky Oak with gum veins in it, as a Coffee Table Top, mainly as a test to see how durable the Sap Veins are, and what the timber with that defect looks like with a finish on it. I've included two close-up photos of these defects - double click the photos to open a much larger version.
Attachment 344594Attachment 344596
Now that I've seen the timber with the Sap Veins finished with 3 coats of oil based PolyU, I think that I'd be happy to have the Sap Veins appear in some areas of the furniture I'm making.
BUT, does anyone know how stable the Sap Veins are when they occur in Southern Silky Oak. Are these Sap Veins likely to be the source of cracks in the future, or are the Sap Veins stable once the timber has been fully seasoned. (Note the timber I'm working with is down to ~8%, so it's pretty well seasoned.)
Thanks,
Roy