twisted / warped wood

[lhmayberry]

I have gotten some engilsh walnut that was not properly stacked while drying. It has a great color and grain, but I have had to cut most in strips about 2" wide to get some short pieces for small projects.I wanted to make a display cabinet for my wife but a little baffled with what to do. I have 3 18" x 8' x4/4" and hate to cut in strips to get anything out of them.
Any sugestions??????

Les

 

[DaveO]

Les, I moved your thread to General Woodworking, the How Do I forum is for site related questions.
I don't think that there is a good solution to your problem. You might be able to joint small sections into flat enough stock to be able to work, but that doesn't solve your issue with needing larger pieces.
How twisted /warped is the stock???
You could cut it into 3/4" square by 6" long pieces and sell it as pen blanks and hopefully make enough money to buy truer stock :lol: :lol:
Hopefully someone will have a board straightener along side their board stretcher that they might let you borrow :-D
Sorry I ain't much help......I'll :slap: myself.

Dave

 

[jeff...]

Do you have a steam bathroom big enough to get the boards in?

 

[lhmayberry]

Jeff ,wish I had a steamer that size. I had wondered if it were possible to return moisture to the wood and try to redry it would work. Some of the smaller boards flattend out good with the planer but others still wanted to curl around any knotty areas. Just to remove the curving I am wasting a lot of wood.
If I could come up with or make a contraption to steam the wood, any Idea as to how ???

Thanks Les

 

[jeff...]

How long is this lumber and do you have a pond?

 

[lhmayberry]

I dont have a pond . The longest peices are 8' .

 

[DaveO]

I think that Jeff... is trying to come up with a way to wet the wood. You could make a steam box out of plywood, lined with plastic. Steam the wood, and re-stack and sticker it properly to get it to dry flat again. That's an aweful lot of work, even for English Walnut 8-O

Dave

 

[jeff...]

How about a creek? do you have access to a creek?

 

[MikeH]

How about a creek? do you have access to a creek?

Les make sure you have a paddle if you have a creek nearby. You don't want to be up a creek without a paddle. :rolf: Man I'm on a roll. :rolf:

 

[AL Spicer]

Mike,

STOP! You're killing me.:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Al

 

[jeff...]

Les make sure you have a paddle if you have a creek nearby. You don't want to be up a creek without a paddle. :rolf: Man I'm on a roll. :rolf:

Do you have a boat or access to a boat?

 

[MikeH]

Do you have a boat or access to a boat?

:rotflm::rotflm::rotflm:

 

[lhmayberry]

I was thinking along the lines of a steambox, I have a creek, but we have had no rain to fill it. I don't even need a paddle for this one. For some reason down in this corner of alamance co. rain always goes around us down to Siler City, there must be a major thirst in the Chatham co. area

 

[sapwood]

. . . .I don't even need a paddle for this one. For some reason down in this corner of alamance co. rain always goes around us down to Siler City, there must be a major thirst in the Chatham co. area

:eusa_thin Liberty is in Randolph County . . . so you must be closer to Kimesville. Head over to the Kimesville Dam on Alamance Church Road. Should be enough water there :icon_thum

Roger

 

[cskipper]

This is probably silly, but could you get them wet enough leaning in the shower?

 

[Canuck]

Les,

I received the July issue of American Woodworker Magazine today and low and behold, there is an article (2 pages) on how to build your own "Simple Steam Box".

You can either check it out at your local bookstore or I can PM you the article.

May be an option for ya.........

Wayne

 

[jeff...]

How about a swimming pool, do you have a swimming pool?

 

[lhmayberry]

O.K. Jeff , I don't have a pool and yes I have access to a boat but,,,that still hasn't told me if it is worth while to try.How wet do I need them and will this help to flatten them to usable shape or damage the color of the wood?
Roger, this forum has me listed as Randolph Co. but really I'm in Alamance by justover a stones throw, but I know where you are talking about.

Les

 

[jeff...]

O.K. Jeff , I don't have a pool and yes I have access to a boat but,,,that still hasn't told me if it is worth while to try.How wet do I need them and will this help to flatten them to usable shape or damage the color of the wood?
Roger, this forum has me listed as Randolph Co. but really I'm in Alamance by justover a stones throw, but I know where you are talking about.

Les

Ok Ok... about the ONLY thing I can think of is get em good and wet, when I say good and wet I mean like submerge them in water for several days. I think the best kind of water would be pond / river or creek water, NO CHLORINE present to damage the color of the wally nut. Once the lumber is sopping wet to the core, stick em, like you would green wood about every 12 ~ 16 inches and GENTLY (so you don't split the boards) draw them flat with enough big C-Clamps to keep em flat till they dry again, I'm estimating it will take several months for 4/4. Tighten the C-Clamps every once to keep enough pressure on the boards so the will remain flat but not to much pressure so they can not move when they start to draw up again. If they can not move when they start to draw up, you'll end up splitting the lumber. Dry the boards like you would green lumber and check often with a MM, because I'm not sure what the max allowable safe moisture content loss per day on re-wet wood would be. In todays world of I have to have yesterday, remember, DON'T try and dry your lumber too fast or you'll cause the lumber to check and split and you'll have yourself a pile of junk instead of nice lumber.

Use at your own risk... I have no facts to base my idea on, only what I've learned about lumber, plus I stayed in a holiday inn express last night.

How about a horse troff, do you have a horse troff? :lol:

Thanks

 

[cpowell]

O.K. Jeff , I don't have a pool and yes I have access to a boat but,,,that still hasn't told me if it is worth while to try.How wet do I need them and will this help to flatten them to usable shape or damage the color of the wood?
Roger, this forum has me listed as Randolph Co. but really I'm in Alamance by justover a stones throw, but I know where you are talking about.

Les

Do you have any pics of the wood in question? I sticker wood in my shop without any restraining forces except for the weight of the wood stack itself and have had minimal bowing/cupping/twist. Could very well be just blind luck of course.

If the wood is very nice then maybe someone else would have a use for it without the need for such drastic measures. If you got a good deal on the stock then maybe your best bet is to turn it over and cut your losses. Just a thought.

Chuck