Knots (Timberbee)

From the Quicksilver Metaweb.

Overview

You have to figure that for every knot you see on the surface, there will be an extra 20 minutes, or so, of just chopping wood, and I’m not talking hewing here. I’m talking about ‘’’Chopping’’’. Knots are cross grain, and they are a pain in the ass, there is no way around that, and this holds just as true for the little ones as it does for the Cabbage sized, and larger, knots that a Field Tree, or a transition tree can develop.

Grain

Grain changes around knots. The easiest way to think of it is that grain comes towards a knot, from both above and below, as well as from either side, and then travels down the branch itself. To the Hewer this means that when you are hewing the heart of the knot, you are striking perpendicular to the grain. In other words, you are no longer shearing the wood, but chopping it.

Hewing Towards the Knot

When you approach a knot, say that the knot is in front of you, and let’s say you are a Right handed hewer, in this case let’s have you hewing towards the Tip, with the Butt of the log behind you. This has you approaching the knot in the strongest possible manner, you are shearing it. It won't take much for you to get a clean, crisp, bottom corner on your finished face -- and that's a big deal. * ’’’Crisp Edges’’’ are important to Hewers for several reasons;

1. It’s a demonstration of skill. There is no question about it, Blowouts, or Rollout – when the bottom edge of the Hewn timber is literally broken – demonstrates an inferior knowledge of the craft, as a novice this is less an issue than for someone who is expected to be well versed in Hewing. Blowout demonstrates lack of control, and, more importantly, a failure to understand grain and how it relates to Hewing.

2. Your product is not all it can be. Hewn timbers are time consuming enough to layout as it is. The presence of Wayne slows down the layout, Blowouts slow that down even more, for, generally, this type of damage must be “Blended” into the overall surface, both for aesthetic reasons as well as to eliminate snags which might deflect the chalk line, and to make it easier to wrap lines around the timber

Hewing the Center

As soon as you get into the heart of the wood, you're breaking off little pieces. There’s nothing you can do about that, this is the nature of cross grain, and if you look at the chips you've just made, you'll see this, especially If you compare it with the other chips you made further back. You should notice a stark difference. Your older chips should look more like bundles of tooth picks, possibly HUGE toothpicks, but toothpicks nonetheless, while the new chips should look much more like sawdust, though thicker, and possibly bundled together in sheets. If you've managed to hew off a sizeable piece of the knot, you will notice that you can pretty much count the rings. This type of chip is Very easy to take apart, and can be broken up into very small pieces – there’s the sawdust. Whereas with the older chips, the chips from the body of the timber, yes, you can break them down, but, when you do, you end with what look very much like toothpicks -- long, stiff, strands of fiber.

Ripping is going With, or parallel to the grain, while crosscutting is running perpendicular to the grain. It’s far easier to sever the wood parallel to the grain, than perpendicular to it. For a quick example of this, try splitting a piece of firewood, as you normally would, by standing the piece up. And then try splitting it by laying it on it’s side.

When stated this way, it’s fairly obvious. You’ve moved from splitting to chopping, and that’s almost exactly what you are doing when you go move into a knot after having been hewing a clear section.

Going through the heart of a knot with a broad axe is Just Plain Hard, that’s it. The larger the knot, the more cross grain you must sever, and the more energy and time you have to expend But you'll get it, it's not a big deal, it just takes practice, but this is ONE of the things which acts to make a knots miserable, especially your first few Dozen! logs.

Passing the Knot

So far you've hewn through Two Thirds of the knot, you've made it through all that cross grain stuff, you've maintained your posture, your axe is making beautiful arcs, you're still lifting, and dropping, from the shoulders -- Didn't I tell you that? (Hell, put a smiley face here), That means it's time to look at form.

A Quick Look at Form

Good form will save your elbows, help your back, and, POSSIBLY provide you with a little insurance '’’’When’’’ your axe comes free of your lead hand, and suddenly you become one of Edgar Allan Poes' lead characters, the one tied below a sharpened pendulum, but, guess where this one is headed.

But, in this case, Good form will blow out your bottom edge. You see, hitting that last third of the knot, in the Same way you've been Shearing and Battering, at all the rest of the grain, is going to be like hitting the end of a diving board with a baseball. And. If that particular grain is on the bottom edge, in other words, if it's Not protected, nor Supported -- Supported is the key word here -- then it's going to break, and that will take a chunk right out of your bottom corner, possibly a Big chunk, and that’s a key to understanding how blowout happens in the first place, it’s all about how you strike that unsupported edge.

Rollout is a little different, Rollout is due more to your technique with the axe than it is with the grain running out.