Because wood is a natural material, it has its normal share of faults. One of the commonest is the knot, the cross-section of a branch exposed at the point where its starts growing from the trunk. Knots may be fresh (live) and tight-fitting, perhaps even oozing resin, or they may be dead, dark-colored and loose – a sign that the branch was damaged before the tree was felled

Another common fault is the shake Star shakes are caused by the outside of the log drying and shrinking more quickly than the rest, resulting in splits running from the centre to the outside of the log. Cup shakes occur when the inner part of the log dries more quickly than the outside, causing the wood to split between the annual rings. End shakes are caused by too speedy drying during seasoning.

Warping is caused by uneven drying during seasoning, and may occur across the grain (giving the wood a cupped cross-section) or along it as well (a twist, visible if you sight along the length).

You should look out for these faults when buying wood (except in the case of wood you want to be deliberately knotty’) and reject any that is not sound and straight