Unwarping a door

[Christopher Nelson]

I have an old wardrobe cabinet that I want to refurbish. The biggest obstacle is that one door is warped 3/4" over 5 1/2' and won't close fully. It's the right door and the top, left corner doesn't meet the cabinet. I tried putting a turnbuckle inside to draw the opposite corners together but the wire wasn't strong enough and broke. I can get stronger wire but I now wonder if this is the best plan. The door is wood, approximately 20"w x 66"h with two 1/4" (plywood?) panels set into a 1x3 frame. Any suggestions on getting it to be flat again?

[Phisherman]

An interesting fix to a warped wooden door is to place it flat onto the lawn in the sun. Orient it like placing a bowl upside down. The wood fibers against the grass will swell. It should take an hour or two.

[Christopher Nelson]

Thanks but I think I have two problems. The warp is diagonal so there isn't really an inside and outside of the curve and the door is finished (paint on one side, varnish on the other).

[Ken]

A few suggestions:

1.) Ask over in rec.woodworking 2.) I'm thinking that normally warped boards don't unwarp, that's just how that particular board wants to go. If you do manage to flatten by wetting/drying/tensioning, etc. The door will eventually go back to it's "normal" warped state. 3.) If the wardrobe is valuable enough to be worth the trouble, you could attempt to take apart all the joints in the door. If it's mortise and tenon joints, you can adjust the mortises and/or tenons to get the door flatter buy planing, chiseling, and shimming, and then reassemble. 4.) This may not work in your case since it's 3/4" you're talking about (which is kind of a lot), but the hinges could be repositioned such that the diagonal corner of the door sits out 3/4" from the frame, which could bring the other corner back flush. 5.) Do a combination of 3 & 4. 6.) If it really is an old wardrobe, just appreciate the character of a warped door. ;-)

Ken