Wood disc advice - free for all...

[Burnerman]

2mm is a fair chunk when planing across the grain! Do ensure that the machine is running before you attack.....never start it on the timber.
The wood will develop cracks as it dries - these are called shakes.
John

 

[dpm_dpmartin]

That helps. I had started with only the front of the planer on the surface, then set it going and moved across... but later on I was starting with it in the middle and maybe that's why they broke. So sad.

These discs have got the shakes badly, it seems. How do people get big discs of wood, then? Is there a special drying process that avoids this? Probably it's only available to wood factories or somesuch? Or do they just start off with a much bigger tree?

Timbah-humbug!

 

[Burnerman]

If the tree is a poplar - as I suspect but I really wouldn't know for sure - they move a vast quantity of water as they start to come into leaf.
Very slow drying may help the shake a bit, as could cutting at a time when the tree was more dormant.
All perfectly natural! I'm sure we'd like to see the result.
John

 

[Dave54]

Rings like this are difficult to season for indoor use without getting shakes. Ideally you would need to stand them off the floor under cover outside for a couple of years before taking inside to bring the moisture content down.
Last time I did something like this it was elm, and I used a planer to do them working from the outside into the centre to avoid braking out on the edge. As already said the blade needs to be running at full speed when it's in contact with the wood.
Good luck with it!

 

[dpm_dpmartin]

A couple of years..!

 

[Dave54]

I'm no expert at seasoning wood, but they reckon that rings for burning need to be seasoned for 12 months. It lets the sap dry out slowly, and hopefully some chance for the tensions in the wood that cause the splitting to settle.