SeanWalker Posted April 16, 2012 Report Share Posted April 16, 2012 So last weekend I went out to the garage to continue building some end tables and the wood is fine. Come today, the wood is warped pretty bad. It requires too taking off too much to be able to use for my 3/4 parts. What can cause it to change like that? The wood was purchased from a sawmill and was kiln dried.It got pretty warm out today compared to last weekend, could that have anything to do with it? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted April 16, 2012 Report Share Posted April 16, 2012 Maybe when it got warm it also got humid? You don't say what part of the world you are at, so it's hard to tell what "pretty warm" might mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanWalker Posted April 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2012 I'm in Kentucky and it did get humid today. It was only 83 but it was below freezing a few mornings this week. Any chance they will flatten out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted April 16, 2012 Report Share Posted April 16, 2012 I'm not an expert, but if humidity warped 'em, I guess drying them out could flatten them. I'd sticker them with a lot of weight, and if you can put them somewhere dry (like with an air conditioner or dehumidifier). But I hope someone with more experience will chime in. It seems odd that one day of high humidity could warp them that badly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suiciedchild Posted April 16, 2012 Report Share Posted April 16, 2012 Could this be a case of " case hardening"? , I would still do the same , sticker them with some weight on top :/ hopefully they flatten out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted April 16, 2012 Report Share Posted April 16, 2012 So last weekend I went out to the garage to continue building some end tables and the wood is fine. Come today, the wood is warped pretty bad. It requires too taking off too much to be able to use for my 3/4 parts. What can cause it to change like that? The wood was purchased from a sawmill and was kiln dried.It got pretty warm out today compared to last weekend, could that have anything to do with it? Thanks Moisture left the board on one side. Was it just sitting on your bench or the floor? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanWalker Posted April 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2012 I had them leaning against the wall vertically Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted April 17, 2012 Report Share Posted April 17, 2012 I had them leaning against the wall vertically Id start taking a mc meter to that mill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanWalker Posted April 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2012 I took a moister counter to a few boards and they are 5 to 8% which isn't bad. I'm stumped and kind of mad that this much wood is kind of worthless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derwood Posted April 18, 2012 Report Share Posted April 18, 2012 The vertical did not help. I am not perfect by any means, just saying though. I always keep em on the floor, with weight, not iron, on them. You can use iron, just put it on something to make the iron not touch the wood. But I also air dry in my shop. I have a cross current thought the windows along with a dehumidifier and I latex paint the ends. Have not had a problem ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted April 18, 2012 Report Share Posted April 18, 2012 I took a moister counter to a few boards and they are 5 to 8% which isn't bad. I'm stumped and kind of mad that this much wood is kind of worthless. Something is off. Boards warp when moisture leaves the board or it enters one face very rapidly. Reliving happens right off the saw. To check moisture you need to cut a board then check before milling. Those pin meters dont check the center of the wood. The surface may have been dry. But after you machined you exposed wet wood. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanWalker Posted April 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 So after chatting with the saw mill where I purchased the wood, they are saying that it's where i'm storing the wood that is causing the twisting. I'm keeping it in my un-heated and un-cooled garage. It's insulated but not heated or cooled. He said that with the temps lowering at night and rising during the day, causes the wood to twist. How does everyone else store their wood? Inside the house? That's not an option for me and I don't have a way to heat/cool my garage while i'm at work. One thing that was brought to my attention is the way i stack the wood. I stand it up and lean it against the wall and without any support in the middle of the boards. The bottom of the boards are about 6 - 8 inches away from the bottom of the wall because my garage has a ledge at the bottom. I'm guessing that has something to do with it. I'm going back this weekend to buy more wood since i'm in the middle of a project. I guess i will lay the wood down and sticker(?) them. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanWalker Posted April 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 Oh, I cut a board in half and checked the moisture... It was right around 5.5 - 6.0 % which seems really good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 So after chatting with the saw mill where I purchased the wood, they are saying that it's where i'm storing the wood that is causing the twisting. I'm keeping it in my un-heated and un-cooled garage. It's insulated but not heated or cooled. He said that with the temps lowering at night and rising during the day, causes the wood to twist. How does everyone else store their wood? Inside the house? That's not an option for me and I don't have a way to heat/cool my garage while i'm at work. One thing that was brought to my attention is the way i stack the wood. I stand it up and lean it against the wall and without any support in the middle of the boards. The bottom of the boards are about 6 - 8 inches away from the bottom of the wall because my garage has a ledge at the bottom. I'm guessing that has something to do with it. I'm going back this weekend to buy more wood since i'm in the middle of a project. I guess i will lay the wood down and sticker(?) them. Thanks! Never had an issue with an unheated shop. The only time there is an issue is when you have rapid temp shift like if you fired up a furnace in a cold shop. No mill or lumber supplier I use heats their warehouse space. Id check your moisture meter and make sure it is using the proper species calibration. The specific gravity of different species of lumber changes the MC. If you for example bought the lumber at 10% and took it home and milled it, let it sit and came back to warped lumber and its now at 8% well that would explain the issue. You need to check the lumber at the mill or as soon as you get it home not after you have had it at home for awhile. The rapid change from the mill to your place would explain the issue. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanWalker Posted April 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 The environment at the mill is totally different than mine. He has his wood in a barn outside that is not heated or cooled. My garage door stays closed pretty much all day and I might open it a little in the afternoon when I get home from work. How can I help the wood adjust to the different environment? I will check the meter again tonight to see if it has a different setting for cherry wood. Thanks again for the input! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 Take the wood home and just stack it on your racks or leave leaning against the wall for a week or so before trying to work it. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanWalker Posted April 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 I did that on my last batch. I let it sit in the garage 2 weeks before working with it. The wood i bought JUST came out of the kiln. Matter of fact, he pulled it around on a fork lift as I was pulling up. The good thing about it is the guy is a really good person and has been trying to help me and is actually going to give me a discount on wood i'm buying tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suiciedchild Posted April 24, 2012 Report Share Posted April 24, 2012 With the materials your not useing , you can still save for other stuff, I'd mill off both sides so they both have fresh faces on them and let them sit for a couple weeks and see how they look then,thinner stock is always good for drawer sides n fronts and boxes. Cabinet sides and the such Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pwalter5110 Posted April 25, 2012 Report Share Posted April 25, 2012 I don't have the exact link and Im not even exactly sure if it will help you, but I saw in a video Paul marcel did on halfinchshy.com about his boards twisting. He would wet the boards and tent them, but I believe he you could add weight on top of the wood and hopefully it could straighten the wood back on. maybe??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Henley Posted April 25, 2012 Report Share Posted April 25, 2012 Could you wet them, sticker then, then let them air dry? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMarcel Posted April 25, 2012 Report Share Posted April 25, 2012 Ah, my ears were burning (I think it's this hot-spell in AZ)... The wetting and tenting works well if you just resawed boards to get them back into equilibrium quickly without them going nuts on you. I do it with everything I resaw out here and no longer have the problem of the stuff twisting all crazy from the resulting imbalance. If they are already twisted, it's a different scenario. But I once had a 6'x12" piece of 8/4 Walnut I resawed in two; this was before working through this wet n tent described above. It twisted in crazy ways. I put it on a shelf. Two years later, I put both sides on the driveway and adapted an idea from steam-bending: soften the lignan. So I doused the top side with 3 liters of boiling water and covered it with plastic. Once another 3 liters were boiling, I flipped the board and doused the other side. Rewrapped in plastic. Repeat that for each side (each side got doused twice). I clamped it down against the twist (I had it in a couple directions so that wasn't trivial); idea was to slide the lignan beyond where it should go (over-bending in steam-bending). Left it to dry under the plastic for a couple days so the lignan I hoped to move would setup again. The heat and high humidity under the plastic helped equalize the moisture (of an already equalized board.. 2 years remember) and let things settle where they were clamped. I didn't lose much of that board in flattening it afterward. That's what I did to that board and it worked. I've adapted that idea many times to problems and greatly reduced the original problem (I had a dealer with nice stuff, but sometimes a lost of case-hardened stuff). Every board and every species is different so YMMV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Screamer777 Posted April 25, 2012 Report Share Posted April 25, 2012 Maybe this is a case of reaction wood. Maybe the tree did not stand vertically, and angled at a slope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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