Timber Framers Guild Forums General General Forum Questions centercut verus no heartwood in timbers

Hi Nate,

This is a very good question and one which I am struggling with right now. It is unlikely that a halved timber will not to some extent relieve itself of its inbuilt stresses when it is cut along the pith. Some timbers are known to react very badly to this practice, for example, I recently discovered that all Greeheart timbers leaving Guyana are shipped in boxed heart form to ensure the straightness and dimensional stability of the baulks. English oak (quercus robur) was oft times halved and used quite sucessfully giving rise to the description of half timber buildings (half being substituted for halved). Its quite possible to work around known likely drying deflection characteristics of wood especially when a frame is to be scribed. The alternative might be to cut, wait and resaw.

Jim Rogers should be able to help on this one.

Regards

Ken Hume