#BUT CRACK SPLITTING FREE#

This post is encompassing both the ‘Heart’ and the ‘Pith’ of the tree and as such it shrinks and swells at different rates. This post has been in the ground for about 12 months and supports a gate. You can see that very clearly with my fence post as an example, this was not supplied via Tuindeco but by a local fence supplier, our posts however will be the same. This is because the posts are made from a whole tree trunk. The properties exhibited here are mainly found in products that utilise posts such as our gazebos and outdoor play equipment. Round pole split along the radius What is mainly affected? At the moment this piece of timber is still drying to reach an equilibrium with it’s surroundings, the inner core is wetter than the outer but once that has dried to the level of the atmosphere virtually all these splits will dissapear. Most of the splits are occurring perpendicular to the growth rings because there is more shrinkage along the direction of the rings. You’ll notice that cracks and splits are appearing and will continue to do so at different rates. Here’s a picture of my gate post at home, the weather we’ve been having is having a major impact on it. There is some shrinkage radially and a greater amount tangentially (along the curvature of the growth rings). Wood shrinks by different amounts in different directions, there is however very little movement in the grain lengthwise. Regardless of how well dried a piece of wood is it will always grow and shrink according seasonal changes in relative humidity of the air.Ĭhanges in ambient humidity is all that is needed and will always affect timber regardless of any other influences.Ī good treatment can slow this process down greatly regulating how fast moisture gets in and out of the timber. During summer this moisture content in the air is going up and down all the time as is the temperature and the wood is trying to do the same thing. It is, by its nature trying to reach an equilibrium with it’s surrounding air moisture. The timber starts to exhibit cracks and splits where it further dries out from it’s original point of FSP. This is where we start to see a problem, especially during the Summer months and soaring temperatures.

Dried wood is generally a lot stronger than green wood.Īs I’ve mentioned wood wants to be the same as it’s environment both in moisture content and temperature.

Preservatives and finishes penetrate better with dried wood.

Dried wood has better thermal and insulation properties.

Many wood loving insects can only live in green timber.

Decay organisms generally cannot thrive in wood with a low moisture content.

Wood is dried to it’s natural surrounding environment and as such is engineered to work within it to about 20 – 25%.

#BUT CRACK SPLITTING FREE#

When timber is dried it will be the free water that is the first to leave.īefore timber is used it is dried when most of the free water is removed (fibre Saturation Point of Wood (FSP)) FSP is achieved at about 25 – 30% moisture content.

It can be absorbed and expelled.īound water is water within the wood that is bonded via hydrogen atoms. This water is naturally contained in the wood and is divided into two categories:įree Water is water that is held within the wood via capillary action. When a tree is first cut down (green wood) it can contain over 50% of it’s weight in water. And, as it is organic, it is greatly influenced by it’s surroundings and more specifically it is trying to reach an equilibrium with it’s natural surroundings. Timber is a natural substance, we all know that. Summer historically costs the timber industry thousands upon thousands of pounds due to perceived ‘defects’ in timber by customers when 99% of the time no defect exists at all. Thankfully, it’s not just us either, every single supplier of timber products for the garden gets exactly the same thing. 1.1 A personal Experiment with Cracks in TimberĬracking and Splitting of timber is a complete pain for our industry during the summer, it’s at this point we get customers questioning the ‘quality’ of our timber used in some of our products as some cracks and splits start to appear in items that use posts such as play equipment and gazebos.Index for Cracking and Splitting in Timber

But crack splitting