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What does everyone use to stop wood cracking in inlays, extensions etc.
i have become curious of late, what others use?

pipedreamer wrote:What does everyone use to stop wood cracking in inlays, extensions etc.
i have become curious of late, what others use?

Stable wood.

pipedreamer wrote:What does everyone use to stop wood cracking in inlays, extensions etc.

Stop or prevent?
If cracking started, my advise is to sand tenon a little bit to reduce the pressure on mortise.

To prevent cracking I just don't make shank too slim. For example, if mortise width is 7mm, shank width is not less then 14mm. So walls are not less then 3.5 mm. 2mm of briar and 1.5mm of inlay (boxtree for example). Such shank will be strong enough.

Some makers use brass tube under the inlay.

I assume from the thread title that you mean the wood cracking by itself, rather than from force against it?

Long answer - Wood checks because the moisture level reduces too rapidly so some parts of the wood move faster as they dry quicker, thus splitting apart. The thinner it is the quicker it dries, so when you work wet wood you speed up the drying compared to the uncut blank, so it might seem stable and crack when it has been worked.

There are a variety of ways to get green wood down in moisture level without checking, but once it has, it would be considered stable. This can take years, so stable wood costs more, and some dealers may sell wood which hadn't dried fully.
Once it is stable the moisture level can go up and down depending on atmosphere, but that is unlikely to be enough to check it, unless you keep it outside or something.

Short answer - Use stable wood.

I mean to prevent from cracking and for Walt, Let's say you got a s-load of fresh cut wood suitable to make inlays etc. "buy stable wood " please Mr. Cannoy, You guys ! :banghead:Forget it!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think many of us here make inlays out of wood we get green. You can stabilize wood with ca glue or shellac. Those are the common solutions. The other side is letting it equalize with the environment for several months to a couple years, depending on the kind of wood. Use wax or paint to seal the end grain so it loses moisture consistently.

Or you can buy pen blanks for fairly cheap considering the amount needed for pipe inlays. Those are usually pretty stabile.

I bought some unstabilized pen blanks a while back and then sent them out to have them stabilized. It took a little bit, but I remember the cost being pretty reasonable.

I have two nice 24"x 8"dia. Logs of spalted Box Elder wood. It had been down for three years, and when I started cutting it up into logs I found a nice section that was spalted. I then brushed them off, and put them in my shop to dry out slowly as logs for the last year. This spring I plan to cut them up in to blocks probably a selection of sizes for use of bowl blanks, knife scales, pepper mills, and of course pipe adornment. After I cut them up I will wrap them in packaging paper and let them sit for another year if need be. I'm hoping that the ends of the logs will be ready for use this summer. But my point being, it may take several years in different stages to properly stabalize various wood. Also if anyone is interested, I will post a limited amount for sale here.

pipedreamer wrote:I mean to prevent from cracking and for Walt, Let's say you got a s-load of fresh cut wood suitable to make inlays etc. "buy stable wood " please Mr. Cannoy, You guys ! :banghead:Forget it!!!!!!!!!!

You can stabilize wood with PEG, wax, linseed oil, plastic bags.... like, this isn't rocket science. Get the drying process to slow down.

If that's your question. If your question is "how do I safely use uncured green wood for inlays?" the answer is, don't.

The easiest way to dry green wood is put it somewhere cool and dry with limited airflow and a stable temperature. 1" thickness should dry in around a year at 12 degrees. So for a 2" blank, a couple of years-ish should be okay. Depends on the woods and the conditions of course. Full trunk logs from large trees won't really dry at all, or take a very long time.

When i get a shit load of fresh cut wood i cut it into smaller blanks (with a bit of extra length in case it checks a bit), seal the end grain with PVA glue, put it in my workshop, and forget about it for a few years.

Quicker methods are out there, like PEG or making a kiln, but they're not fool proof and take money, time and effort.

I thank all that have responded. I use Anchorseal 2, But recently found a product called Pentracryl, some sort of resin polymer. Suppose to speed up the process by 90%. I love spalted maple, but in the sizes we use, it tends to fall apart. I was given a load of spalted maple and thought someone might have a better solution. Sas, as usual, hit it on the head. I'll use the Anchorseal 2 and try the new product. Thanks again!

WCannoy wrote:

pipedreamer wrote:What does everyone use to stop wood cracking in inlays, extensions etc.
i have become curious of late, what others use?

Stable wood.

IAWW

A knifemaker friend of mine told me how he does it. This is the recipe:

Take a glass jar with wide neck that can seal properly (those tobacco ones work nice) and fill with hardener. (I just used a polyurethane varnish, because I had it). Put your slabs of wood inside and put the lid back on, but just loosely. Do not tighten.
Now take an old tin that is bigger than the jar and punch a small hole in the bottom. Put the jar inside and fill the tin with boiling water. As the water cools down, keep refilling with boiling water. Keep doing for 1/2 an hour or so, until the glass is too hot to touch with a naked hand.
You'll see little bubbles escaping from the wood. Remove the jar and close the lid real tight. Leave as is for a week, then remove the wood and let it stand for another couple of days.

I've only done it once, for both wood and horn. I was happy with the result, but that said, I'm no professional.
If I have a choice, I still think that buying from a penmaking supply shop is much easier and less hassle.

Thanks Charl, that is one thing I was looking for.

Cool. I'm going to try this.