"Eigenvector" wrote in message
...
One other thing popped into my head while browsing the selection of
hardwoods at the yard - some of the pieces were separating or fraying in
sections. I don't know the technical term for it, but I would imagine it
is caused by uneven drying and having two halves of the wood crook in
different directions. Basically the edges of the wood are fine, its the
middle that has split apart.

So let's say you have 1 foot of that on an 8 foot board - would you
attempt to talk them out of making you pay for that 1 foot of useless wood
Here's a pic of what I mean - http://images.lowes.com/general/s/split.jpg

End checks. The reference I posted above will tell you how they happen. It
is a drying fault normally, though I have seen some actual splits, as in
running more than a couple three inches, caused by the skip planing
operation at the sawmill. The rollers squash a cupped (you know what that
is now) board so hard they split. Then there are my personal favorites "wind
shakes."

Reason you seldom see them is that hardwood sticks are cut over length to
compensate. When they trim for sale, the checks are trimmed away. Just
ordered some red oak yesterday in 8' lengths. Will get 100-102" rather than
the 96" for that nominal length.