"ebd" wrote in message
...
Wood shrinks the most around the annual rings. A
log looses about 10% of it's circumference as it dries. A 10" diameter
log has an approx. circumference of 30" and 10% of 30 = 3. So as it
dries it needs to open a 3" wide crack. In reality it is not quite
this bad but you get the picture. If the log is split down the pith it
can shrink from both ends of the diameter chord so the chances of it
cracking are greatly reduced.

In reply you wrote
Wood doesn't shrink 10% in circumference. The figures cited by FPL (fig
3-5) are from FSP to 0% MC, something unobtainable save in an oven. At a
human-comfortable Temp/RH of ~50%, that's 9% moisture content, which means
the wood will have lost 2/3 of the full shrinkage figure. Not to mention
that the critical figure in circumference, as always, is the radial (2 pi
r)
shrink.

What is it about the words "most", "about", "aproximate", "in reality
it's not quite this bad", "but you get the picture" that you can't
seem to grasp. It seems to me that Canchippy put in all the
discalimers and was only speaking "in general".


Read the data and get enough of a handle not to make obvious mistakes
before
you try to interpret it.

Not everyone wants to be as pedantic as you.

Not everyone wants to learn enough to understand. Think hard on this.
Decrease in _radius_ decreases the circumferance of a circle, not the
shrinking of a chord. That's effect (radial check), not cause. Simple, IF
you think.