It's BOTH the nature of the beast and you need a controlled environment to
dry the blanks properly. There are all kinds of ways to set up a controlled
environment and control the movement of moisture in and out of the wood.
The best and most highly controllable is a kiln (not solar). That's not
practical for most people so they try to take shortcuts such as preventing
moisture from escaping too quickly in certain parts of the wood piece. Such
procedures include coating the endgrain (anchorseal, peg, wax, endgrain
sealer, etc.) and others just act upon the wood piece as a whole
(dishwashing soap, freezing, microwaving, diapers, scorching, water, etc.).
There's only so much that can be done, even by carefully controlling the
drying of the wood in a kiln. Some pieces just won't dry well no matter
what steps you take because of factors beyond your control such as internal
stresses in the wood itself or decay or structural defects in it.

If these blanks of yours are something you really do want to keep and try to
turn (maybe great figure or some other significance to you), you might still
be able to turn them. If the cracks don't make the blanks dangerous to
turn, just turn it as you normally would and let the cracks be a part of the
piece. You can enhance the cracks by filling them with stone or metal
powder or just whatever. Lots of things to do to them to make them stand
out. If the cracks make it structurally unsound to turn, fill them with an
epoxy or some other glue to hold them together (again, stone or metal or
whatever can be used at this stage too) while you turn it. Just be careful
and check it often to make sure it's still safe to turn. Some great pieces
have been created with cracks all over them although some would say to not
waste your time with a bad piece of wood (and I think we all know who said
that g). There's some truth to that too. There's only so much you can
do.

Don't automatically throw them in the fire. Don't automatically try to
create something from them. It all depends on what YOU "see" in them and
what you can do with them that counts.

- Andrew


"Denis Marier" wrote in message
...
I have accumulated anchor sealed blanks that have cracked during drying.
Also after finishing dried (6-12 months) blanks cracks started to
developed.
I still have a several cracked blanks. I did not discard any of these
yet.
I came to the conclusion that the only thing to do with these is to burn
them. Before throwing them in the wood stove I tough I ask for comments.
What I have learned from this is either its the nature of the beast or I
need a controlled environment for drying the blanks properly.

--
Denis
Sprucewood, Rothesay, N.B