We are a high-end european furniture producer which is working only in complete solid furniture.

However we have a huge problem at this moment.
Since All of our timber is Rift/quarter sawn.
If we are glueing a table we usually have around 2 out of 10 planks with ray flakes.

The problem we are having with these ray flakes is that after sanding sometimes it is happening that 1 of the flakes is chipping And it looks like a crack on the outside. While it's only the ray flake.

How does this come? What can we do to avoid it?
Because at this moment we can throw away 1 out of 3 topplates we are making...

If you are machine sanding, it sounds to me as though you are going against the grain instead of with it

I have seen this in quartered oak before, and it has come up here on the Forum.

It is a drying defect that causes the ray to be "loose" and when tapped with a fingernail, you can hear that it is loose. Planing these will allow them to chip since they are loose. I have injected cyano glue under them and pressed them until it sets, but this is tedious.

I would have a talk with my lumber supplier. Ask them if the problem is within your ability to control.

it's not from sanding crossgrain, we are alway's sanding in the right direction with our wide-belt sander

The only problem it might be is the drying.

We are buying all of our timber fresh.
Then keeping it outside for a few months, and then kiln drying it ourself till 7-9% humidity.

Maybe we are doing something wrong? but what can be the reason for this?

because this is really a huge problem for us.

Dominique:

The phrasing of your problem makes it sound as though this is a relatively recent occurence.

Was there a point in time when this was not a problem, and what has changed since that point in time?

I'm sure a lumberman may chime in; in fact, you may get a better answer to your issue by posting it on the "Sawing and Drying forum". I am not a lumberman, but if I had to guess, I would say that you are drying the lumber too fast.

Is there a difference in the moisture content of your "fresh" lumber from previous purchases; is this being checked prior to storage outside? Have you changed suppliers?

You may try abrasive planing, rather than cutter planing, to get your rough lumber down to size, as this would have less "grab" on the lumber, and perhaps reduce the incidence of the ray/fleck popping.

TonyF

Tony

We have been having this problem for the past 6 month's. And we haven't changed anything. It's still the same timber, same way of drying, stickering ...

In general when we start KD at around 35-40% we are around 8% in approximatly 35 day's we are alway's trying to prevent drying to rapidly.

It's just very frustrating because today we have had this problem for the 70th time in 6 month's ... So financialy this really is becoming a problem + we aren't meeting our deadlines any more because of this

Dominique,

Would it be possible for you to purchase all rift cut lumber and eliminate the quarter cut? Or is flake part of the appeal and your customers expect it?

My guess is the lumber was air dried too quickly causing "honeycomb". If so it did not happen in the kiln, sanding, or machining processes. Search it in the archives and you should find good info about it and how to avoid it in the future.
As Tony suggested, post on the Sawing and Drying forum and Gene may chime in.

I would be playing hardball with this supplier.

In other words I would be looking for any reason to make a point when the next shipment comes in. Inspect everything carefully as it comes off the truck, and at the first sign of trouble send back the entire batch. Its generally your right/responsibility to do this prior to signing off on a shipment. Don't let the truck driver pressure you. They can wait.

If you start sending stuff back they will either learn quickly what they can, and can't get away with sending you, or they will realize your standards are higher than what they can provide and run.

I have encountered this before as well. My solution was similar to David's, except I used clear 2 part 5 minute epoxy instead of the cyano glue , as it is what I had on hand.
Squeegeed a bit under the flake, let set up, then sanded lightly.