Cracking noise

[john lucas]

I turned 18 6" spheres on the top of green cedar posts the last few days. The customer came to pick them up. Quite a few were cracking even though I kept them covered after turning. You could hear them cracking as we loaded them into his truck. Ive never heard that before.

 

[David Shumaker]

I had a similar experience with a cedar bowl made for a colleague. It sounded like sizzling bacon. It never actually cracked but it was noisy.

 

[Ric Taylor]

Cedar is known for cracking and you can often hear it happening.

I would love to find some 6" posts, but in a different kind of wood.

 

[John Hicks]

I got a load of fresh cut eucalyptus; It was cracking while I loaded it. The whole truckload was useless by the time I got it unloaded.

 

[Michael Anderson]

That’s wild to be able to hear them cracking. Was your customer okay with it?

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

Cedar is known for cracking and you can often hear it happening.

I would love to find some 6" posts, but in a different kind of wood.

Eastern white pine will work for something like what John did but it doesn't look as good as juniper.
About 6 years ago I was given a white pine log that I cut at about 12 feet plus and I milled one 8 x 8 12 foot and several 6 x 6's.
I coated the ends with anchor seal and took them all to a local kiln and none of them checked or split.
The 8 x 8 I turned 2 - 6 foot barber poles.

 

[Richard Coers]

I had the same experience when I did a job of making 8x8 western cedar knee braces for a timber frame porch. Sounded like rice krispies after the cuts were made and the braces were waiting in the shop. I took them outside and buried in a snow bank and called the contractor.