Fig. 695.
Fig. 696.
Fig. 697.
Fig. 698.
In splitting stock flatwise, i.e., making two thinner boards out of a thick board or plank, a similar result often follows. The latent power set free, so to speak, by suddenly exposing the middle of a board, plank, or other timber to the atmosphere sometimes causes curious developments. It being necessary one day to split for a picture frame a large mahogany board, 1" thick by 2' square, with a circular hole already sawed from the centre, the pieces warped and twisted as the sawing went on (Fig. 698), until, just as they were nearly separated, the whole thing "went off" with a report like a toy pistol, breaking into a dozen pieces and scattering them around the shop.
In very crooked-grained wood you will frequently find uneven and undulating forms of warping and twisting that you do not find in straight-grained pieces, but such wood is often of the most beautiful figure for indoor work. Where the grain is crooked, cropping up to the surface as in Fig. 701, the cut-off ends of the fibrous structure, so to speak, are exposed in places to the atmosphere. These open ends, "end wood," thus brought to the surface are more susceptible to moisture and dryness than the sides of the bundles of fibrous tissue, which tends to produce unequal swelling, shrinking, and warping.