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Kiln dried Douglas fir = bad

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loefflerchuck:
Since any wood I cut I can't use in my Veritas arrow maker for a couple years, I've been using kiln dried wood with good results. Poplar, hickory, maple, oak, and birch have all worked well. I got a perfect piece of douglas fir for $80 that I planned to get about 140 shafts from. So far almost every 1/2" square I have tried to feed through has splintered and gone in the trash.
 Has anyone out there had this problem with kiln dried fir?

willie:
I have not had much trouble with doug fir that was kiln dried. but I am not torquing it into a veritas. 1/2" square seems like a lot to shave down. how fine is the grain?

not all drying kilns are operated the same. mistakes are made and sold. I had a unit of spf that was very brittle, and the carpenters blamed the drying on that.
just recently, I remembered reading that wood is often dried to different M.C. depending on where the product is intended to be shipped. ie if you live in a very dry area, your supplier might spec a lower mc to match emc of your area. wood intended for use on the coast or back east is dried not so much as it will just regain. some wood is heated to HT (high temp) specs to sterilize for export. and some, like I found recently at a small local mill, is dehumidifier dried, never going over 120F.

loefflerchuck:
Thanks Willie. This has pretty fine grain. The 3 out of 20 that made it through without splintering had about 8-9 rings in a 11/32 shaft.

I'm in Utah, so I'd imagine if it was dried for here it is pretty dry.

Badger:
  Doug fir will dry very fast on its own. 1/2" squares would finish drying in just a couple of days if you dried out a 1X6 for about 1 month. I would want it down below about 12% before I cut it into squares so it doesn't warp. I run doug fir through my veritas tenon cutter all the time. Not sure if that is the same as the arrow maker you are talking about. I cut mine closer to 7/16 and I don't push it very hard.

Bryce:
The problem probably lies in the material itself. If it's not good-straight, old growth/ tight ringed fir it won't make the best shafts.

The best way in my experience is a shafts plane. Or the surewood shafts workshop;)
Those dowel cutters are tearing out the ends right?

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