Wood

Carrie Duran <carried [at] cityofgastonia__com>

>...  We have a cross-section slice of a 300+ year old tree
>that we use in our education programs.  Unfortunately, it is
>starting to develop a large split from the outside into the center.
>I'm afraid it will just keep splitting until we have two halves of a
>tree "cookie". ...

Wood naturally shows a shrink in circumference of some percent
during the drying-process, depending on the sort of wood and the
climate. This causes the split that you describe. Normally the split
will stop in the center and the cross-section will not split in two
halves. Nevertheless it might be a good idea to be more careful
while handling since the wood might break easier now (depending on
its thickness of course). Make sure that the wood is allowed the
minimal movement with the changing climate of the seasons (to "work"
as we say in German). Tensions might accumulate if the cross-section
is fixed (e.g. screwed) onto some plate or anything and might cause
the split to widen or even to break the "cookie" in half.

Sebastian Keil
Conservator
Germany


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 19:13
                 Distributed: Friday, September 2, 2005
                       Message Id: cdl-19-13-015
                                  ***