Preventing Wood Warping for the Poor Guy

[Never Enough Money]

I did a search in rec.woodworking for "warping" and a million results came up. I read a couple of dozen and didn't find what I was looking for so I'll post yet another question on "warping" and my apologoes if it's been covered before....

I have no kiln. I have no joiner. I have no planer. All things I'd love to have but there's a little bank account issue.

So I have my wood supllier join and plane my wood at the time of purchase. The trouble is that my projects take so long (because I'm slow), that the wood tends to warp while the project is in progress.

So I was wondering if finishing the wood BEFORE assembly would be a good idea -- to keep moisture out?

[Never Enough Money]

Actually, I might be an idiot, well inexperienced. I just started wood wooking and I've really only built two things. I built a built-in bench with eight drawers in my garage and a stand-alone bench with four cabinets, five drawers and two vises. Now I'm ready for my first piece "for the house." I want to build en entertainment center. Don't know what kind of wood yet -- probably maple or oak carcass with birch veneered plywood for the cabinet panels and drawer faces.

I currently store my wood in my garage. BTW, I live in Colorado where it's general very dry.

Oh yea, you asked dimensions. For my entertainment center, I think the main vertical members will be about 5 feet. The horizontal members front to back about 2. the horizontal member side to side about 5 feet. The cabinet door framing about 3 feet by 2.5 feet.

[George M. Kazaka]

If you are leaving large amounts of time between working sessions stack all you wood together evenly and put some weights on it or clamp it all together .

[Preston Andreas]

You are asking for an impossible answer. Wood will always move when subjected to changing conditions. Moving from a kiln to your shop is a changing condition. Moving from your supplier to your shop is a changing condition. Moving from your shop to the final location is a changing condition. I buy from a local supplier that has a good reputation. The lumber is usually 8 - 10% moisture content. I take it to my shop and if possible (some deadlines don't permit), I sticker it and let it sit for a few days to a week. I then rough mill it to within an 1/8" of the final dimension. Again, I sticker it and let it sit for a few days. When it comes time to put the project together, I mill to final thickness and assemble within the least amount of time. This gives you the best chance for a straight square assembly. Also, if a piece of stock wants to move, it has to move after assembly and fight against the rest of the project. Once it is assembled each piece of the whole project has a hard time moving because the other pieces tend to hold it in line. If after assembly, it behaves for a day or two in the shop, it probably will behave for the customer.

I do this for a living, and I charge a price that allows me to let the stock sit and acclimate. It makes for an easier project to complete and it helps eliminate problems after delivery.

[Bill Rittner]

This is exactly what is needed for straight, square assemblies. When you buy your stock rough take it home and cut it to rough length and width and properly stack it. Then take a few pieces at a time to be milled to final size and bring them to your shop and assemble them ASAP.

-- Bill Rittner R & B ENTERPRISES

[e-mail]

"Don't take this life too seriously.......nobody gets out alive" (Unknown)

[Never Enough Money]

Preston that sounds impressive. However, I don't have all the equipment you do and right now I just care about the best thing I can do with what I've got. So my question was, if I finish my wood first, will that solve most of the warping problem?"

I don't have a joiner or planer. When the wood gets to my home I can basically use a table saw, router, drill, and sander. That's all.