What Are the Qualities of Ideal Wood for Woodcraft Kits?

The oldest known puzzle involved an exercise of dissecting a square mentioned by Archimedes around 250BC. Such puzzles and their wood craft kit are exciting to play with, but how often does your woodcraft kit get broken? Does your woodcraft kit protect your puzzle and other games pieces well? The protection of your puzzles and family games is essential if you have to use them for long or pass them on to your friends and family.

You can get the best protection from durable woodcraft kits with sturdy frames and strong wood with ideal structural properties. This post presents to you the essential factors that you'll need to consider when choosing the right type of wood for your woodcraft kit projects.

The Hardness of the Wood

High-quality wood should be workable and hard. It should also have resistance against penetration. The hardness of wood gets determined by its heartwood properties and density. If the heartwood is durable, then the hardness of the timber is also high, and such wood can resist damage with greater ease than softwood.

The Permeability of Wood

Permeable wood isn't ideal for a wood craft kit because it can take in moisture, which could weaken and damage the wooden kits and the board games or puzzles within it. Ideal timber shouldn't absorb more than 12% of water by weight when it gets placed in water. The level of permeability of wood is determined by different factors, which include the type of cut, timber, and the age of the wood. In a nutshell, wood that is less permeable is perfect for your woodcraft kit.

Workability

Workability is the ease with which you can work on wood or cut it into the required shapes. Perfect timber products should be easy to work with and such wood should not block or damage the teeth of your cutting tools such as saws. Workable timber products will enable you to create your woodcraft kits with great ease and speed.

Toughness

A sturdy wood craft kit will protect your puzzles and games by cushioning them from vibrations and sudden shocks that can make them break. The interlocking of grains on your wood determines the toughness of your wood and its structure.

Durability

It's good to own a wood craft kit that can hold your game and puzzle pieces for a long time without getting them damaged. High-quality timber that is durable should be capable of resisting damage from biological agents, chemical components, and physical forces. If your wood isn't durable enough, then it's also possible to get its durability improved through some surface finishing that leaves a coat.

Wood Defects

High-quality timber should be free from any defects, whether natural or artificial. Wood knots, burls, shakes, and any other type of wood defects can make your timber and wood crafts weak and vulnerable to damage. The wood should also be free from fungal problems such as wet or dry rot. Such fungal problems weaken your woodcraft, and they can lead to easy damage to your woodcraft kits.

Appearance

Good wood that is freshly cut should be shiny. The shiny nature of wood is often a result of the resinous matter in timber. You should avoid using timber with stains or fungal problems such as sap stain, blue stain, and rots. Such issues can damage the appearance of your wood and the wood craft kits that you can make out of it.

Color

Dark-colored timber is often more reliable than light-colored wood. If you're seeking for more strength in your wooden products, then it's better to go for dark-colored wood. But if you prefer to get light-colored wood craft kits that you can stain, then it's good to go for light-colored wood.

Summary

The quality of wood determines the strength of your wood craft kit and its ability to protect your puzzle and game pieces. Apart from protecting the parts, the wood should also have a good appearance and color to be presentable when gifting or displaying your wood craft kit.