Body blank sat...now has huge crack...ugh

[goodchicken]

So this ash blank sat in the closet for a few years and I pulled it out today while contemplating a build. Yuck...look at that crack...and it goes all the way through the body.

I guess I could maybe fill it somehow...CA? Zpoxy? Might not be aesthetically what I want, may be better off cutting out the good section and finding more ash to glue to. I wanted to dye it, no pore fill, then clearcoat. Maybe even sandblast it.

Anyway, any thoughts on why this may have happened? I know wood sometimes does silly stuff, apparently even when all precautions have been taken. It was supposedly kiln dried. I was stored in a stack of wood...maybe that's not the best idea but I've seen plenty of wood stored this way.

Ok, well someone please come visit my pity party so I'm not so sad and alone

 

[Uncle Daddy]

Saw it down the middle and flip the outside edges to the centre and glue it up. Another tree saved!

 

[Peegoo]

If the crack is all the way through the wood, press a strip of blue painter's tape over the crack on one side of the blank. The narrower of the cracks on either side is the best one to tape up.

Flip the blank over. Carefully run some medium CA into the crack. Go slowly, allowing the CA to sink in as you proceed along the crack. Allow that to set up overnight, and then reattack the next day until the crack is completely filled. Don't use any accelerator; allow it to cure on its own.

 

[hopdybob]

can't see the end grain but you always have to keep in mind that wood can have growing forces in it.
to say, when growing the compleet tree keeps all together, sawing it in planks removes that compressing force and sometimes you get this.

sometimes you can see it happen while sawing, the wood behind the saw turns away from the 2 parts in a V shape, but also can turn to each other and and close the gap.
i would go with the advise of @Uncle Daddy

 

[Tele-friend]

So this ash blank sat in the closet for a few years and I pulled it out today while contemplating a build. Yuck...look at that crack...and it goes all the way through the body.

I will try to cheer you up. Lets look at this from the positive perspective. It is better that you noticed this crack now and not after you have finished building this guitar

You might (hopefully) fix the issue or use a new piece of wood.
Good luck!

 

[guitarbuilder]

Saw the wood down the crack. Joint both sides and reglue it. Cracks are caused by drying.

 

[Ronkirn]

Saw it down the middle and flip the outside edges to the centre and glue it up. Another tree saved!

and to repete...

Saw it down the middle and flip the outside edges to the centre and glue it up. Another tree saved!


r

 

[Telekarster]

and to repete...

Saw it down the middle and flip the outside edges to the centre and glue it up. Another tree saved!


r

Why am I having trouble understanding this???? LOL!!! Seriously, I can't seem to wrap my head around this. "Flip the outside edges to the center"? Also wouldn't the width of the blade take away that wood and thereby change the geometry of the body? Sorry I'm confused on this, happens more and more with each passing year LOL!!

 

[VintageSG]

Route a channel on the top, 10mm wide and half the body depth. Painters tape on the rear, fill the base of the crack with sucessive drizzles of thin cyanoacrylate then between each drizzle, apply accelerator. Dam the ends of the channel and fill with resin to which you've added a colour and mica of your choosing. Make it a feature.

Or, resaw and glue.

 

[Ronkirn]

Why am I having trouble understanding this????

saw/rip the plank down the middle where the crack is... then joint the edges, wither inside or outside.. then. do a glue up, just as if you were making a normal 2 piece blank..

 

[Telekarster]

saw/rip the plank down the middle where the crack is... then joint the edges, wither inside or outside.. then. do a glue up, just as if you were making a normal 2 piece blank..

Thanks Ron! Now I get it! Brain fart. Geesh.... this getting older stuff is for the birds...

 

[Ronkirn]

yeah being old makes me respect the Old guys.. of course, all my friends are Old guys these days... and being Old sure beats the alternative...

 

[jvin248]

.

+1 wick 'Thin' (it's a type not adding chemicals to it) CA adhesive. That will wick up the crack. I've had it pop up a foot a way where I didn't know the crack continued that far.
Clamp and let set for a day or two to dry on its own.

Build your guitar.

.

 

[maxvintage]

If the blank is big enough I would saw at the crack and reglue it. If there isn't enough wood to do that--if the saw kerf would make the blank too narrow--then I would do the superglue thing. Or maybe epoxy. I might think about mixing a top layer of glue with ash sawdust.

 

[Engine Swap]

Nothing worse than seeing a picture of a huge ash crack

 

[guitarbuilder]

You don't have any routs or cuts in it. Now's the time to make the body correct with a cut and reglue. If you had to, you could glue on a piece of scrap to the lower bout to make up for the lack of width. Do you really want a body with a nasty glue line....I wouldn't, but that's me. There's a good chance your body is warped a bit too at this point.

 

[tomasz]

Look like it finally dried, that's good. Imagine a scenario, when this happens after a few years of being an instrument.. or worse, that this moisture is still trapped under the lacquer.

Anyhow, I agree with folks advising to resaw and reglue.

 

[goodchicken]

It's only 12.5" wide, but I was going for a custom tele style that's more like a 7/8 design. So I should get maybe 12" wide after a resaw and glue up. Guess that'll work. I was only worried the grain would look really weird with that type of glue up there. Oh well.

Still wondering if there's any tips to help prevent this from happening again? Maybe just luck of the draw though.

 

[guitarbuilder]

Buy your wood locally and let it acclimate indoors before you glue it up. Kiln dried hardwoods are dried to around single digit moisture content. There's a good chance that the wood was a higher moisture content and then your conditions caused it to lose more moisture. Finishes help but aren't 100%.

 

[trev333]

the little wing has saved a few blanks by giving them that little extra bit on the lower bout...