Working w/ Live-Edge Slabs - How to prevent after-shock when flattening

[V4Slabs]

I just started working with live-edge slabs in my spare time. Recently, I flattened a 30" round piece of maple just to find the next day it had already cupped again in the middle. I don't have a climate controlled workshop and do my work in an open air garage located in North Carolina. I won't be able to have a climate controlled space for probably a couple years. Can anyone offer advice on how to prevent this aftershock if I don't have time to go from flattening to final finish in one day? Is there an intermediate step I can take to seal the wood until I have time to perform the next steps?

Thank you!

[drzaius]

Don't do any milling until it is thoroughly dried out. Get yourself a moisture meter. Then when it's ready to flatten, do it in stages. Take an equal amount of each side, let it sit for a couple of days, then repeat. When letting it rest, be sure to put stickers under it or stand it up vertically so the air can get to all sides.

[pkinneb]

2 hours ago, drzaius said:

Don't do any milling until it is thoroughly dried out. Get yourself a moisture meter. Then when it's ready to flatten, do it in stages. Take an equal amount of each side, let it sit for a couple of days, then repeat. When letting it rest, be sure to put stickers under it or stand it up vertically so the air can get to all sides.

Well that pretty much answers that...good luck. The humidity of NC will make this more of a challenge then some area's as well. Regardless drzaius is spot on with his advice above.

[V4Slabs]

 

4 hours ago, drzaius said:

Don't do any milling until it is thoroughly dried out. Get yourself a moisture meter. Then when it's ready to flatten, do it in stages. Take an equal amount of each side, let it sit for a couple of days, then repeat. When letting it rest, be sure to put stickers under it or stand it up vertically so the air can get to all sides.

Thank you for your advice! I took probably 0.5" off both sides in order to get to the low point, making the face flat. Is there a rule of thumb for how much to do at a time before letting it dry? I don't know the moisture content and will have to get a meter. Someone recommended doing a coat of teak oil over the wood as a way to close up the pores if I didn't have time to get to a finished product. 

If I flattened both sides as I mentioned above, sanded to finished smoothness, and applied my Monocoat finish, would there still be a risk of warping? Essentially, the closing up the pores advice, may not be a tried a true method?

Thanks!

[wtnhighlander]

Until the wood reaches equilibrium with the moisture of the atmospheric environment, there is a risk of wood movement, no matter what you do. The advice above is sound. Regarding how much to remove, think this way: the deeper you cut, the wetter the wood will be, and the more rapid that moisture will evaporate. Rapid, uneven evaporation is more likely to cause movement, hence the recommendation to take small bites from both sides, and let it rest between.