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Would you like to add information to this article? Interested in writing or submitting an article? Have a question about this article? Hard maple cracks and causes by Professor Gene Wengert Q.
A.
If you can imagine that a piece of lumber is drying and the core has finally begun to shrink. But the outside fibers are dry and very strong, so they do not give in or accomodate the shrinkage. Hence, there is quite a bit of tension stress in the inside of the piece of wood. Now, let the outside fibers be exposed to water or high humidity (which shouldn't happen, but sometimes does due to operator error [or rarely, equipment malfunction]). The outer fibers swell, pulling on the inside, which adds to the internal tension stress. The result in some cases is a crack. Now when all the moisture leaves as drying continues, the stress is reduced and the crack closes tightly so that it is invisible (but it isn't healed). As you begin to process the wood, you will remove the outer fibers which are the driest part of the wood. The core, which is slightly wetter is exposed. Further, the RH in the plant, especially if the heat is on, is quite dry. As a result, the core shrinks a little, creating stress which results in the pre-existing crack re-opening. The cure is to dry the maple properly. If the wood isn't dried properly, you can sample the load for defects, cutting check samples. Or you can cut a few pieces in half and expose them to the dry air in the plant and see what happens. You could also raise the RH in your plant, which would cause the cracks to stay closed in your plant, BUT they would likely open in the customer's dry home. Who dries your wood? I would be glad to work with the drying people, as a consultant, to correct the problem. If you have any questions, please feel free to call and discuss this further. I imagine that it is quite an expensive problem. Feel free to fax any kiln records or other pertinent data. Let me know what I can do further to help. Professor Gene Wengert is Extension Specialist in Wood Processing at the Department of Forestry, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Click on Wood Doctor Archives to peruse past answers. If you would like to obtain a copy of "The Wood Doctor's Rx", visit the Wood Education and Resource Center Web site for more information. Have you reviewed the related Knowledge Base areas below? 
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