Shopsmith Forums

Hey guys, I'm about ready to start installing the ceiling paneling for my secret-room project. I ran short on cheap Craigslist cherry, and had to buy some lumber from a local sawmill. I thought it would be good to use a lighter-colored wood for the ceiling, and it turned out that I could get quartersawn sycamore at a very reasonable price -- considerably less than maple. It has a very cool grain pattern, to boot. I'm going to mill it into T&G, and face-nail it with antique-style cut nails. I plan to use a clear finish, probably water-based, as the ventilation will not be great.

But I ran into a small problem with the sycamore lumber. The widest boards are 7", and several of those have developed cracks in their midsections. Below is a photo showing one of the cracks -- I spritzed the board with denatured alcohol to simulate a clear finish for the photo.
So now I'm wondering if I should try to fill the cracks, or just let them be. I'm concerned that a glue/sawdust filler would make the finish blotchy. Any ideas out there?

One thing for sure -- I'll be pre-drilling the holes for those cut nails.

That crack in sapwood?

BD, I think I would just leave them, wood character. I get the impression that it has an aged look to the room, if so, character, if you want a perfect room then fill them but they may crack more later, I bet they were not dry enough to start with.

It must be. I've never worked with Sycamore before, but here's what wood-database.com has to say about that.

ERLover wrote:BD, I think I would just leave them, wood character. I get the impression that it has an aged look to the room, if so, character, if you want a perfect room then fill them but they may crack more later, I bet they were not dry enough to start with.

Lover, you're right .. I'm definitely going for a vintage feel in the room. The hardware tends to cast iron and antique bronze, including electricals .. at least to the extent that I can find stuff the building inspector will approve.

My dilemma is that while I want it to look vintage, I'm not going for a "primitive" antique style. I would rather have it look like it was built by a master craftsman, albeit a century or two ago.

Have you moisture tested them? My gut feeling is they are still drying and if so you might not want to do any thing with them until they are dry. Ones that crack might need to be ripped smaller and put back together. If wet and you do the T&G and put together it can shrink a lot and leave some really big openings.

I have a nice piece of sycamore I have saved to make a saw cane out of. It really is handsome wood. I've made a few thing out of it and want to do more.

Ed

reible wrote:Have you moisture tested them? My gut feeling is they are still drying and if so you might not want to do any thing with them until they are dry. Ones that crack might need to be ripped smaller and put back together. If wet and you do the T&G and put together it can shrink a lot and leave some really big openings.

I have a nice piece of sycamore I have saved to make a saw cane out of. It really is handsome wood. I've made a few thing out of it and want to do more.

Ed

I bought the Sycamore from a very reputable local sawmill, and it is kiln-dried. The local sawmill didn't have enough Sycamore on hand for my project, so they bought some more from a nearby Amish mill. I must admit to being disappointed at the overall quality. A lot of the boards are not straight for the full 8' length, and the average width is much less than the 6" that I ordered. But I order a fair amount of extra B.F., and the sawmll threw in even more, so I have just enough straight stock for this project. Plus a whole lot of pretty wood left over for projects that can use shorter pieces.

But to your question, this project finally motivated/scared me into pulling the trigger on a decent moisture meter (Lignomat Mini-Ligno E/D). I moved the Sycamore indoors shortly after picking it up several weeks ago, and the meter tells me that it is at about 7% moisture content. So I think it should be stable at this point.

I guess I was thinking it was cracking on you now, but more likely you are saying it came that way........ right?

Ed

BuckeyeDennis wrote:

reible wrote:Have you moisture tested them? My gut feeling is they are still drying and if so you might not want to do any thing with them until they are dry. Ones that crack might need to be ripped smaller and put back together. If wet and you do the T&G and put together it can shrink a lot and leave some really big openings.

I have a nice piece of sycamore I have saved to make a saw cane out of. It really is handsome wood. I've made a few thing out of it and want to do more.

Ed

I bought the Sycamore from a very reputable local sawmill, and it is kiln-dried. The local sawmill didn't have enough Sycamore on hand for my project, so they bought some more from a nearby Amish mill. I must admit to being disappointed at the overall quality. A lot of the boards are not straight for the full 8' length, and the average width is much less than the 6" that I ordered. But I order a fair amount of extra B.F., and the sawmll threw in even more, so I have just enough straight stock for this project. Plus a whole lot of pretty wood left over for projects that can use shorter pieces.

But to your question, this project finally motivated/scared me into pulling the trigger on a decent moisture meter (Lignomat Mini-Ligno E/D). I moved the Sycamore indoors shortly after picking it up several weeks ago, and the meter tells me that it is at about 7% moisture content. So I think it should be stable at this point.

reible wrote:I guess I was thinking it was cracking on you now, but more likely you are saying it came that way........ right?

Ed

BuckeyeDennis wrote:

reible wrote:Have you moisture tested them? My gut feeling is they are still drying and if so you might not want to do any thing with them until they are dry. Ones that crack might need to be ripped smaller and put back together. If wet and you do the T&G and put together it can shrink a lot and leave some really big openings.

I have a nice piece of sycamore I have saved to make a saw cane out of. It really is handsome wood. I've made a few thing out of it and want to do more.

Ed

I bought the Sycamore from a very reputable local sawmill, and it is kiln-dried. The local sawmill didn't have enough Sycamore on hand for my project, so they bought some more from a nearby Amish mill. I must admit to being disappointed at the overall quality. A lot of the boards are not straight for the full 8' length, and the average width is much less than the 6" that I ordered. But I order a fair amount of extra B.F., and the sawmll threw in even more, so I have just enough straight stock for this project. Plus a whole lot of pretty wood left over for projects that can use shorter pieces.

But to your question, this project finally motivated/scared me into pulling the trigger on a decent moisture meter (Lignomat Mini-Ligno E/D). I moved the Sycamore indoors shortly after picking it up several weeks ago, and the meter tells me that it is at about 7% moisture content. So I think it should be stable at this point.

I'm not sure. I didn't notice the cracks when I picked up the lumber. We stacked it on my trailer pretty fast, carrying small stacks. Then it lived in my garage for a couple weeks, and could have picked up a little humidity before my son and I carried it inside to acclimate. The cracks are not nearly as noticible when dry, so I may have just missed them.

What's wrong with ripping the boards along the cracks. If you did that you would have solid boards of varying width. A good look in my mind.