I bought a flatpack chest of drawers from Ikea, but stupidly left it in the packaging for two weeks while doing other jobs.
When I got round to assembling it, having assembled the carcass and drawers, it was time to put the top panel in place. Unfortunately, this has bowed quite significantly along the length. Whether this is because I had stood the package on its side and not flat, I don't know. But it's bowed and I'm not going to the palaver of putting everything back in the box to return to Ikea.
So the question is, how can I flatten this bowed top panel, which is solid pine with an 'antique' finish? I have actually already achieved a fair bit of flattening in just 24 hours by laying the board, 'hump' side upward, on the carpet and putting some weights on it. But isn't steam used for bending plywood? Perhaps I could apply steam, then replace the weights? Will the bowing disappear completely?
MM