Best practice regarding split ends of new timber boards?

[Tetsuaiga]

Should I cut off the ends where there are splits in my planks or just leave them? I guess most of the splitting occurs when it dries initially in the kiln or prior to that, but i'm still concerned existing splits perhaps encourage further splitting.

So does anyone know whats recommended?



Thanks

 

[blackrodd]

I would say It's best to leave the ends alone just have them waxed to slow drying.
If they are a little too long, You won't have to be too concerned about any potential end damage
Regards Rodders

 

[Jacob]

Keep it dry and leave it alone until you want to use it

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Keep it dry and leave it alone until you want to use it

... and when you do use it you can often leave all or some of the split end in place until after initial machining to square up the wood, because if there's going to be snipe it will occur in this area - snipe may occur at the other end too, so you really should allow for that in your initial cutting to length. Later you'll be able to cut the sniped bit(s) off (if you've allowed enough in the length), but you should also cut off an extra 50 mm or so beyond the extent of the split to ensure you're working with solid wood during later stages. Another useful advantage of leaving part or all of the split in place during initial machining is that this machining can sometimes reveal that splits extend further than you realised when you were looking at the rough sawn (pre-machined) surface of the wood. Slainte.

 

[Tetsuaiga]

Thank you everyone =). Good tip about the snipe, my planer used to do this but for some reason not anymore.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Good tip about the snipe, my planer used to do this but for some reason not anymore.

I should perhaps have mentioned it's a good idea to check the ends of boards got from a timber yard for things like staples and embedded stones or grit prior to machining. One way to eliminate all these blade chipping/ dulling foreign bodies is to automatically cut about 6 - 10 mm off the end of every board just before any other operations proceed: this is not something I do routinely, preferring generally to just visually inspect the ends and dealing with foreign bodies if necessary, but for some people this is standard procedure. Slainte.