Ripple logs

[Al Cormack]

not really any way to tell from the out side, axe a patch of sapwood off and you can feel it underneath, I'm working with someone who has some huge ripple grain sycamore to fell in the next couple of weeks, will try get a few pictures.

 

ian

 

 

 

You need only knock off the bark, no need to go deeper.

 

 

Thanks Ian and Dave.👍

[timbernut]

Just out of interest what is the best way to mill rippled logs: quarter sawn or thru n thru?

[Ukulian]

Quarter. It will give the best grain pattern and be the most stable

[SamWhiting12]

What causes the rippling in the wood?

[codlasher]

My dad, his partner and I to some extent ran a commercial saw-mill until 1991. At one time employing 15 men there. One of the joys of milling was the unexpected. With some very interesting pieces of timber that came off the saws. Some certainly went to make lovely interior pieces and also to bespoke furniture makers in and around the High Wycombe area.

 

To dispel the myth of the sloper-dooper money-making piece of timber......In my 35 years of involvement they never had pots of money! It always went on improving the set up or breakages or wages.....

codlasher

Edited October 29, 2014 by codlasher

[Rich Rule]

It has been asked twice now and here is the 3rd time...

 

Can anyone enlighten me as to the cause of the ripple?

[SteveA]

It has been asked twice now and here is the 3rd time...

 

Can anyone enlighten me as to the cause of the ripple?

 

4 times now....

[codlasher]

I am going to hazard it is formed by compressive forces as the tree grows, possibly on a wind-blown site, possibly a tree grown on the edge of a woodland.

I knew it was sycamore as this ripple is fairly common and being almost a weed in certain situations, so they grow anywhere and this may have come up a little later that other trees in its vicinity and leaned as it tried to get to the available light. Resulting in rippling over many years.

codlasher

[David Humphries]

Can anyone enlighten me as to the cause of the ripple?

 

just thinking out loud here, so I'm not saying that this is the definitive cause...

 

perhaps its a lack or reduced presence of lignin between the primary & secondary cell wall (made up of cellulose & hemi-cellulose), which may affect & make the wood volume partially collapse particularly in compression. Bit like being spongy and not rigid (which is the property lignin gives wood particularly in compression situations.

 

Might be interesting to know if the ripples were from the under side of a leaning trunk/underneath branches or from the entire circumference of the wood.

 

The below example is a woodland beech....

 

.

[se7enthdevil]

It has been asked twice now and here is the 3rd time...

 

Can anyone enlighten me as to the cause of the ripple?

 

 

 

my understanding is that they've tried to work out just how it happens and as far as i know they are no closer to working it out as it seems to happen in all conditions with all sorts of factors involved. they still don't know how maple gets that birdseye figure.

 

wood is a natural product and it seems to be luck of the drawer.

 

you do get patches under branches so it's got to be some sort of compression but there is no definitive answer.