Wood needs time to dry

A Blackthorn branch fork caught my eye in a recent cycle around Carsington Reservoir.

Branch forks need time to dry out before sectioning

The branch had come down at least a few months ago as the leaves were brown and hard and the timber when cutting out the branch fork was not wet.

The sectioned "Y" had a deep brown heartwood and was hard. The outline of the hei matau can been seen in the pic below along with it's identifier. I usually wait until I have a few different types of wood "Y" before I make the next cut , to give a 15-20 mm section. The wait can be months.....

Section of Blackthorn cut sanded and marked up for cutout no cracks or splits

I went back the following day to mark out some "traders"and found the wood had cracked. This is stress relief and it happens sometimes.

Section of Blackthorn branch fork marked up with splits appearing overnight

Section of Blackthorn branch fork marked up with splits appearing overnight