weak wood solution

If you had a picture of it that would help. With pine, I usually find that grain direction can really hurt you when it comes to strength in fixtures. Sometimes I like to use hardwoods and either laminate them to the softwoods or forget the softwoods all together if it requires alot of strength.

-- Thomas Porter, Phoenix, AZ, www.thomasporter.com

Debbie a finish would not have stopped this from happening. They might all break of if your waves are to skinny.(no strength) It might have just been a flaw in that board. Glue it back and you will probably be ok. Next time try a different wood. That is how we learn where to put what type of wood. Poplar might have been a good cheap wood to use.

Debbie
For small things like this, some thin Birch plywood would ideal, & if you wood burn, a lot of woodburners use it for their work. You can buy a 2’ x 4’ piece fairly cheap, & make lots of things with it.

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

thanks everyone for your guidance.
I’ll add these wood alternatives to my list.

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

I agree with, Thomas. The grain direction is very important. When laying out your waves, you need to make sure that the tips of your waves have the long fibers of the wood running from the bottoms to the tips. This is where the strength of the wood lies. Birch plywood works because plywood is layered with the grain crossing in opposing directions, thus making its strength equal in all directions, even though maybe not as strong as wood fibers would be in a board. This strength is sought after in chair building, thus the reason why the legs and rungs are made from rived wood instead of cut lumber. In rived wood the wood fibers are continuous from end to end, where as in cut lumber these fibers may have been cut through by the saw, depending on the way the wood was sawn.

-- Jesus is Lord!