Disappearing Crack

[William Rogers]

This is two first for me. Sunday I was sanding the inside of a 12” diameter bowl running at 50 rpm. I heard a loud pop and knew the bowl had cracked. Darn, although I wasn’t happy with the tear out on the beading, Took it off the lathe to put in the firewood pile for later. Today I looked at it and cannot even see any evidence of a crack. It did not crack through to the inside initially, guessing the crack went about 1/4” deep. If I hadn’t known it was cracked I would have never discovered it, Will let set a week and see if it opens up again. Have anyone had this happen to you?

 

[Kevin Jenness]

Not in a bowl, but I have had cracks emerge and disappear from hollow forms more than a few times.

 

[Brent@TurnRobust]

The crack may have disappeared from the naked eye, but it didn't "heal". It's still there. As moisture in the wood changes, and the wood moves, the crack may appear and reappear, but it's always there.

 

[Sam Force]

Happened to me once, almost cried when I heard the pop!! Quit for the day and went back out the next and the crack was gone. I would not have believed it could happen but it did

 

[Darryl Fective]

I did a large, fairly thin walnut bowl with a sort of rolled rim. When I saw the cracks in it the next day, I was disappointed, but in looking at it realized (in hindsight) the rolled rim made it very rigid and limited movement. Duh, no wonder it cracked. It looked pretty bad with a large split (nearly 3/8" wide) on each side. I set it aside, but when I looked at it aa couple weeks later, the splits had closed almost completely. I opened them enough to get some glue in and lined them up and clamped lightly. You almost can't tell it was ever split.

 

[Richard Coers]

The crack does not disappear, it’s still there. the cells do not repair themselves. It is just not visible to the human eye. In a different place, your title would mean something completely different!

 

[Webb Willmott]

That’s impressive on the Houdini crack.

Should it flexed to make the crack reappear then flood it with CA glue and release the flex?

 

[Kevin Jenness]

The crack does not disappear, it’s still there. the cells do not repair themselves. It is just not visible to the human eye. In a different place, your title would mean something completely different!

If it can't be seen, it disappeared. If you want it to reappear, sozzle it with ca glue.