Longitudinal kerf cuts to straighten beam
Hi all, does anyone have experience with longitudinal kerfing to basically induce or replicate checking to reduce the tension and straighten a beam? I have an off-center pith 6x6 #1 Doug Fir beam that's 22 feet long, and it has a slight bow on one end that curves toward the outer radials. It's not huge, 1/2" max about 8-10 feet from one end, but it's the end I want at eye level...
The timber is going to be used as the center support column in the front of a prow design, so it carries one end of the 6x18 ridge beam, with windows and sliding glass doors on both sides, with 4x12 headers above the doors. I'm not sure if I'll be able to mechanically bend this back to being straight during installation given that it's more toward one end, and the end that will be adjacent to the doors, so no structural support there. Below I've included a diagram of the setup and a few photos.
The end of the beam has predictably bowed toward the outer radials as it has dried, so my thought is that if I disrupt the tension in those radials with some longitudinal kerfing (along the beam) on the sides you won't see--basically artificial checking--the beam will go back to being straight-ish (I can live with 1/4" bow). So I would take my circular saw, set it to roughly 20 degres and ~1-1/2" deep, and rip a line up the outside faces perpendicular to the radials in the grain, for about 10 feet where the bow is the most extreme. Given that it's going to be used as a post, this shouldn't affect it's load-bearing capacity tons since the kerf cuts are longitudinal...
There is some literature supporting this, but I'm looking for some more experience-based insights. Has anyone ever tried this? Crazy? Standard timber-framing procedure?
And here are a couple photos of the beam and the end-grain that is causing the problem.
