On Mar 11, 6:21 pm, "George" wrote:
"Fred the Red Shirt" wrote in ...

I'll add that beech has an interlocking grain that resists splitting,
which is important when tapping a wedge into a square cornered
mortise to hold a plane iron in place.
...

As to resistance to splitting, dream on. The prominent
ray figure provides the same express route to the firewood stack as the even
more prominent rays in oak.

Several sources concur with what you say about beech
being easy to split. But given live oaks reputation as
a difficult to split wood, I don't think the ray flecks figure
into it one way or another.

You told us some folks you know were steaming it.
I;ve read that turns it pink. Do you know if that color lasts?

--

FF