Flattening stock

[rash_powder]

Pretty much every ornament I have ever cut came out of a 1/4" thick board that had a cup or twist to it.  I try to be choosy and select straight and flat material, but its tough to find.  Sometimes I feel the boards move when broken down to manageable sizes also.  

Do you guys just deal with it or try to flatten one side with a drum sander/planer/jointer?  I have just been dealing with it as I don't have any other option; but have been seriously considering buying or building a drum sander.  

I also get some blade squeal from time to time, and I think its small gaps in the wood buzzing with the blade, so having one side nice and flat may help with that.  The squeal doesn't hurt anything, its just wicked annoying.  

What do you all do?

[dgman]

It’s important to understand what causes the warp or twist, and for the most part, its uneven moister absorption or drying. If you purchase thin boards, it is important to provide equal air movement around the board. If it is just a few boards, then just lean them against a wall or work bench to allow equal air movement. Do not lay them flat on any surface. This does not allow for equal air movement. The same applies if you resaw or plane your boards. You must provide for equal air circulation around the board. If it is a lot of boards, it is best to stack and sticker the boards. That is stacking the boards on top of each other with stickers or thin sticks in between each board to allow for equal air circulation around each board. Either way, you must allow for some time to allow the boards to equalize to the environment of your shop.

As for trying to take the cup out of a warped board, you might spray a little water on the cupped side of the board, then apply a little heat with a heat gun or hair dryer to the wetted surface. This trick works sometimes.

 I make and sell a lot of ornaments each year, so I stack cut all of my ornaments. Beacuse I have a full woodworking shop, I can mill all of my thin stock. I either plane or resaw my blanks to 3/16” thickness. I will usually stack three layers. If any of the boards have a cup in them, I’ll stack the cups  against each other, then clamp the stacks together along the length of the boards. This will flatten the stack. Then I apply hot glue along all edges of the stack. After the hot glue sets and removing the clamps, the stack will be reasonably flat enough to cut. 

These picture show a stack of boards I bought online before I got my band saw for resawing. I cut the stickers from 3/4” pine.

[OCtoolguy]

I did that on our dining table. Wife not happy.

[kmmcrafts]

Years ago I also struggled with this issue.. back then I didn't have my bandsaw, planer and many other helpful tools to work with so I switched from timber to cutting plywood.. Now before someone starts saying plywood warps too I'll say yes it can but it is way more stable than standard timber. Many will also say they don't like BBply as the grain is kind of just bland and also doesn't stain well.. I've been using all sorts of plywood from Cherry, Oak, and walnut etc. and I don't end up having to toss out too many because of voids etc.. and I've made 1000's of ornaments over the years.. I actually think I toss more bbply for the occasional football shaped interfering with the look of the ornament than I do with voids in the other plywood. I suppose it might be more issue with lots of fine details in a portrait type cutting but I've had very little issue with plywood. Especially plywood that is designed for use on lasers.. called project panels from Home Depot. That stuff has been good stuff for me but I haven't used a lot of it because some of them are not the same species on the back side.. so i just go to my local lumber supplier and buy full 4x8 sheets good on both sides.. There are good quality ply for laser use from other suppliers that is good on both sides.. bit pricey but better tossing out cupped boards.   

[BadBob]

16 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

project panels from Home Depot

I like them too. I have only tried the maple plywood panels. I have no local supplier, and Home Depot is a primary supplier. I get a discount and free shipping.





 

[BadBob]

I rarely encounter warped or cupped boards. Because most of what I make is small, using small pieces, these are easy to flatten by sanding.

I stack mine flat on wire shelving with no stickers.

[kmmcrafts]

25 minutes ago, BadBob said:

I like them too. I have only tried the maple plywood panels. I have no local supplier, and Home Depot is a primary supplier. I get a discount and free shipping.





 

I wish the pricing was closer to the BBply I get because I actually like cutting it better than the BBply. Cuts like butter on my laser too. I bought 3 packs of the 5/32" stuff one Maple, Birch, and Walnut. I wanted to get some of the Cherry but it's been out of stock every time I look.. at least for the 5/32" 

Probably price wise for running it on the laser would equal out because the lase tube only last so many hours and those hours diminish the higher power level you run it at.. I have to crank up the power more and a bit slower speed for BBply and quite a lot less power and faster speed for those project panels.  

[BadBob]

24 minutes ago, kmmcrafts said:

Probably price wise for running it on the laser would equal out because the lase tube only last so many hours and those hours diminish the higher power level you run it at.. I have to crank up the power more and a bit slower speed for BBply and quite a lot less power and faster speed for those project panels.  

You always need to run the numbers. I use a lot of poplar and would need to have it shipped to me or make a long road trip to get it. That would require me to buy a lot of wood per trip to make it worthwhile. I made a little spreadsheet and plugged in every source of poplar I could find. Surprise, the local big box stores were the lowest cost. Things that tipped the balance: Near zero waste and no additional shipping.

[kmmcrafts]

1 hour ago, BadBob said:

You always need to run the numbers. I use a lot of poplar and would need to have it shipped to me or make a long road trip to get it. That would require me to buy a lot of wood per trip to make it worthwhile. I made a little spreadsheet and plugged in every source of poplar I could find. Surprise, the local big box stores were the lowest cost. Things that tipped the balance: Near zero waste and no additional shipping.

Right, The BBply I get locally and get 10 60 x 60"  sheets at a time for about $200.. $200 in these project panels doesn't get me half of the amount of material. I have the lumber yard cut the sheets in half for easier handling but i still have to break them down to about sheet of paper size. Even have to break down the project panels for the laser as it's not big enough. Might be a different outcome as most hobby sized lasers like the glowforge etc. are the exact size of these project panels so in that case I just think I need a bigger laser,  .. To get a laser in that size is upwards of $2000 now days.. I could see where if i had one of these lasers I'd buy the project panels for convenience and less wear on saw blades etc to cut this stuff down.. I think this is why these project panels are pricey because the demand in the laser community for it.. most all the laser groups talk about using this stuff. Many of the laser users don't even have a shop, they just use a spare room and pipe the exhaust out a window. 

If I'd just go big though, I could just get a laser to put a 5 x 5 sheet of BBply in too.. that would be a $20,000 laser probably.. LOL 

Edited 22 hours ago by kmmcrafts

[Wichman]

This is heresy and I'll probably be boiled in oil,drawn and quartered, and the remains burned at the stake.

I recently had some of my air dryed elm warp a little too much for a project. I took the pieces, sized for the project, into the shower. I rinsed the boards down with hot water and allowed the steam of the shower to soften the wood. I stacked the boards by size on a cinder block and then stacked three blocks on top. I let them dry for a week and a half. So far so good. It's been several weeks, and no return of the warp.

Your results may vary.

[kmmcrafts]

1 hour ago, Wichman said:

This is heresy and I'll probably be boiled in oil,drawn and quartered, and the remains burned at the stake.

I recently had some of my air dryed elm warp a little too much for a project. I took the pieces, sized for the project, into the shower. I rinsed the boards down with hot water and allowed the steam of the shower to soften the wood. I stacked the boards by size on a cinder block and then stacked three blocks on top. I let them dry for a week and a half. So far so good. It's been several weeks, and no return of the warp.

Your results may vary.

I have heard of doing this... I think my brother once told me this. I'd love to use timber rather than ply but the amount of production with ornaments I do it's not very productive to spend weeks trying to get boards to do what you want / need them to do. 

I bought a bandsaw to resaw thicker boards down and plane them etc as I use them right away to prevent this but that is also a lot of time investment. I realize many of you are not selling etc. I'm just stating why plywood works best for my situation. 

Edited 52 minutes ago by kmmcrafts