Dealing with compression while milling timber

[Rhob the Log]

If both sides resemble a banana they can either be trued up and milled, or stood on edge and milled that way. If you do the latter, boards are only half the width but I've found far less movement.

 

Right, it was not how I expected a halving cut of ash to behave. 13" diameter so pretty skinny boards if I were to mill it standing on edge but the principle is good. Cheers Alec, showing good experience as always

 

I cannot recall the last time I had any noticeable tension in a halved log. There certainly wouldn't be anything in a quarter.

 

Well jealous! Hopefully I'll have my chance soon on a windfall Oak at 50".

[agrimog]

so many factors affect how stresses occur in timber,ground conditions, prevelent winds, other trees in close proximity, disease, the normal trick is a close inspection of the rings to try and establish any signs, but in general till the first cut is completed you dont know, splitting the cant in half usually stops any problems, and Ive never had any quarter sawn move coming off the saw, but unless its a large bit of timber to start with , quarter sawn doesnt give very big boards. I try to alternate the sides when I cut from smaller bits and most of the time this makes the problem less pronounced