Splitting and checking

[E-wan]

Some of my tanalised timber has been drying out a little quickly as the only flat place I have to store it is not in the shade.

Are changes such as those pictures likley to affect the strength of the timber or are they more cosmetic and something that needs to be worked with when cutting joints.

If I am purchasing more timber which I will need to store in a place which will get sun for about half the day would sealing the ends or some other such technique help at all.

Thanks

Ewan

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[Sgian Dubh]

Naturally, every loss of integrity due to breaks in grain continuity whether cross grain or longitudinally, i.e., shakes, splits, fissures, etc reduces strength. Looking at that piece which I'd guess is meant to be a 4 X 4 post it's a low grade product from the centre of the tree - you can see the pith, and naturally the shakes radiate from the pith towards the bark. It should be strong enough for its intended purpose. As to joints you might cut in an item like that it would be very unusual to plan to undertake high level precision putting together things like mortice and tenons. More likely would be maybe a simple housing, or a groove for some purpose, and even more likely would be to nail or screw on some sort of cross rail.

As to sealing the ends I think that's probably a waste of time. Bear in mind the intended purpose of rough sawn tanalised wood of that type. It's prime use is in exterior projects generally simply put together - decking, fences, arbors, etc. I think the moral with that type of material is, generally, buy generously, use what's satisfactory, and dispose of the really unusable stuff. Slainte.