Hello!
I've been working with the Worthington wall clock for a quite a while now and I was SO proud of myself last weekend when I had finally put all the final touches in place and it was officially finished. It's my first large clock and it's going to be a birthday present for my dad. Boy, am I thrilled to see what he says when he sees it!
But then the reality hit me hard. The clock has been hanging on my wall for a week for a test run. Today I took it down to be packed and wrapped and ready to go tomorrow. And I found a very bad crack in the most prominent piece, the gable ornament. The wood is red oak and it had cracked along one of the brown stripes or rays.
There was no crack there three weeks ago when I assembled the clock. There was just a small scratch-like crack two weeks ago when I did the finishing (2 coats of Danish oil) and a week ago it was just the same. Now it's 1 mm gap all way through. I inspected the clock very closely and found several small cracks. Actually they all were in the pieces cut from the same board. Can it be coincidence?
I need your advice for three things:
1. What am I going to do with the gap? I have wax putty in almost perfect colour. But if I'd add it and sand it down it'll ruin the finish. On the other hand I need to give it away tomorrow. I guess I'll need to ask it back and fix it later.
2. Is there any way to prevent the other small cracks cracking wide open, too? I was worried about the joints holding with just glue when the humidity changes, but it never occurred to me the wood would be so fragile itself. Now we are in ca. 40% humidity (from 60% while assembling) and it'll drop down to 20% in winter.
3. What was I *supposed* to do in order to prevent the cracks all together. I mean, is this typical for oak and should be treated accordingly? All the cracks are in the brown rays. Yet I'm relatively new to woodworking, I haven't seen anyone mentioning this before.
Any ideas appreciated,
-Satu
I've been working with the Worthington wall clock for a quite a while now and I was SO proud of myself last weekend when I had finally put all the final touches in place and it was officially finished. It's my first large clock and it's going to be a birthday present for my dad. Boy, am I thrilled to see what he says when he sees it!
But then the reality hit me hard. The clock has been hanging on my wall for a week for a test run. Today I took it down to be packed and wrapped and ready to go tomorrow. And I found a very bad crack in the most prominent piece, the gable ornament. The wood is red oak and it had cracked along one of the brown stripes or rays.
There was no crack there three weeks ago when I assembled the clock. There was just a small scratch-like crack two weeks ago when I did the finishing (2 coats of Danish oil) and a week ago it was just the same. Now it's 1 mm gap all way through. I inspected the clock very closely and found several small cracks. Actually they all were in the pieces cut from the same board. Can it be coincidence?
I need your advice for three things:
1. What am I going to do with the gap? I have wax putty in almost perfect colour. But if I'd add it and sand it down it'll ruin the finish. On the other hand I need to give it away tomorrow. I guess I'll need to ask it back and fix it later.
2. Is there any way to prevent the other small cracks cracking wide open, too? I was worried about the joints holding with just glue when the humidity changes, but it never occurred to me the wood would be so fragile itself. Now we are in ca. 40% humidity (from 60% while assembling) and it'll drop down to 20% in winter.
3. What was I *supposed* to do in order to prevent the cracks all together. I mean, is this typical for oak and should be treated accordingly? All the cracks are in the brown rays. Yet I'm relatively new to woodworking, I haven't seen anyone mentioning this before.
Any ideas appreciated,
-Satu
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