- The first step in making use of wide wood is to make sure it’s fully dry. And this means storing what might seem like dry wood in a heated, indoor space for at least three weeks before construction, ideally during winter.
- Next, choose wide boards with growth rings as nearly square to the board face as possible. This is called quartersawn or vertical grain growth ring orientation, and it minimizes the kind of seasonal wood movement that can cause trouble.
- One final thing… when you attach wide solid wood elements to the rest of a furniture project, use a method that allows seasonal movement to occur. In the case of a tabletop, that means securing the wood with metal clips designed for this job, or using screws driven through oversized holes bored through the table framework.