A question about wood.....

[Laura]

I'm new here, and I have a question about wood. I use mostly 1/4" wood in my projects, and time and time again, I'm dealing with warped wood. I'm in the southwest, and I'm wondering if it's just the dry climate here? And when it warps, does anyone have any tips to flatten it out? Thanks for any info you all can give me.

[WayneMahler]

Welcome to the village. Nice to see you here. Most wood that is thin will "warp" a bit. You can try to moisten it and weigh it down opposite the way it bent with weights and time. A lot of this depends on the type of wood, your conditions and many other factors. More information is needed to help determine the answer you are looking.  The more info you provide the better the answers can be. 

[kmmcrafts]

One thing that can help in the future is to look for wood that the grain is close together or tight grained wood.. also.. a little more pricey but quarter sawn wood also holds it's flat shape fairly well..

All that said.. that whole warping issue is a big reason I typically just use plywood for my thin wood projects. but it's hard to really beat the beauty of solid wood.. while ply looks good on the face and back ( if you buy good two sides ) but the middle ( core ) isn't always the best looking. 

 

[SCROLLSAW703]

another thing could be how you're storing it. If you're buying it by the full sheet, try to keep it between a couple sheets of other plywood. The weight from one pushing it against the flat of the other will keep it from warping. Smaller pieces, too. 

[dgman]

Welcome to the Village Laura! Thin woods tend to warp because of uneven moisture absorption. You didn't say where you get your wood. If you get it from a local source, when you bring it home, don't lay it flat on your bench. Lean it so air can circulate all the way around the wood, or use sticker or dowels and stack the wood with weights on top till the wood acclimates to your shop. 

If you get you wood online, leave it wrapped in the packaging it came in to acclimate to your shop, then stack and sticker.

this will ensure your wood will sta flat.

good luck!

[JOE_M]

I'm in the SW too and I resaw a lot of my lumber to 1/4 or as thin as 1/16th. I found that many of the exotics are air dried and still a bit wet and will move a bit, especially this time of year. So if I need 1/4, i saw to 5/16 and let it sit for a few days before running it through the sander or planer. On the other hand, I have some air dried walnut that has been sitting in my lumber rack for at least 5 years and if I saw off a 1/8th slice it stays flat - I guess it finally reached a moisture level it was comfortable with.

I bought some plywood from O'cooch a few months ago and they had instructions for dealing with warpage of thin woods:

http://www.ocoochhardwoods.com/care_of_thin_wood.php

 

 

Edited May 29, 2017 by JOE_M

[amazingkevin]

On 5/28/2017 at 5:45 PM, Laura said:

I'm new here, and I have a question about wood. I use mostly 1/4" wood in my projects, and time and time again, I'm dealing with warped wood. I'm in the southwest, and I'm wondering if it's just the dry climate here? And when it warps, does anyone have any tips to flatten it out? Thanks for any info you all can give me.

hopefully you can glue to a thicker backer to fix the problem

[RangerJay]

I do a couple things to dry to deal with warping:

• as already mentioned - try to get quarter sawn wood.
• only purchase as much as you can use at a time - or stack whatever you can't use - then weigh it down to encourage it to stay flat.
• if warping does begin then you can try introducing moisture to the cupped side (a damped dish cloth or towel rung out as dry as you can get it works well) - and as soon as it flattens out (the wood will respond quickly) remove the moisture source and then weight it for a couple days to allow the wood to stabilize .
• if I can I try to avoid 1/4 wood for larger projects - will usually opt for a minimum of 3/8 and most often 1/2 or 5/8.
• regardless of thickness I seal all sides of the wood during the cutting with both painters tape and clear packaging tape (many of my projects will be on the scrollsaw for up to a month or more).
• I will also weigh the wood down on a flat surface between cutting periods (my tool box is ideal for providing a hefty weight).
• once cut - I will apply a sealing finish to the back of the project as well as the front to try to minimize moisture exchange.  

I should add that I do not purchase thin wood - I always purchase stock that is 2 or 3 inches thick and rough cut - then plane and resaw as needed for each project. Once resawn and prepared I will immediately tape, apply the pattern, then weight the piece down till completed and finished.  I have done this regularly for several years now - not to say I have never had cupping - but - with one exception - it has always been minimal and very manageable - the one exception was when I didn't follow my own rules .....

Hope this is of some help.

 

Jay

Edited May 30, 2017 by RangerJay

[redwine]

I too live in the SW and I have to order all of my wood, thick or thin, as I do not own a bandsaw but do have a planer that I use for cedar and pine, takes to long with hard woods and to much waste. As soon as I receive the order it is immediately stacked and stickered and weighted down for at least 2 weeks. This will usually leave it flat till it is all used. In saying this I ran into a piece of 1/4" maple a month or so ago that  cupped after the 2 weeks so I went through the wet procedure on the bowed side and it flattened out great but as it dried, with weight on it, it bowed the opposite way and I did the wet procedure  again, it bowed back the other way and now it was splitting down the middle. I ended up doing this 3 times! It finally dried out to about 3/8" bow and I cut it into 3 pieces about 2&1/2" wide and 2 of them are flat, the 3rd one still has the bow. Some real gremlins in that piece of wood!

Erv

 

[heppnerguy]

On 5/28/2017 at 7:12 PM, JOE_M said:

I'm in the SW too and I resaw a lot of my lumber to 1/4 or as thin as 1/16th. I found that many of the exotics are air dried and still a bit wet and will move a bit, especially this time of year. So if I need 1/4, i saw to 5/16 and let it sit for a few days before running it through the sander or planer. On the other hand, I have some air dried walnut that has been sitting in my lumber rack for at least 5 years and if I saw off a 1/8th slice it stays flat - I guess it finally reached a moisture level it was comfortable with.

I bought some plywood from O'cooch a few months ago and they had instructions for dealing with warpage of thin woods:

http://www.ocoochhardwoods.com/care_of_thin_wood.php

 

 

Thanks Joe.. I saved your care f thin wood to my scrollsaw 'instructional, file for future use

Dick

heppnerguy

[crupiea]

On 5/28/2017 at 6:36 PM, dgman said:

I dont worry about it warping too much,  once you cut it there will be enough relief to pretty much take out the warp. 

 

 

[Sparkey]

Welcome to the village Laura. You got a lot of good advice.