Unbending wood?

[Bewildered]

I have had 8" wide 6/4 viraro in my basement for about 6 months. Friday I jointed, planed, and cut a piece into three 1.25x2.5x34 pieces. Saturday I went to roundover the edges and found one of the three was bent about a quarter inch. I clamped it to a big hunk of oak, and bent it a quarter in the other direction. I was hoping it would take the bend out, but when I took the clamps off today, it went right back to how it was before.

Would it help any if I put some steam on it while it was rebent, or maybe a heat gun?

I don't have anymore wood of the right color and size, and jointing it will leave it way too small, so I would really like to salvage this. Thanks.

[Leuf]

A piece of wood that bows 1/4" over 34" is firewood IMO. Can you glue up 3/4" and 1/2" boards to get the thickness? Depends how prominent that edge will be.

-Leuf

[Bewildered]

I wet it, bent it backwards, and dried it with a heat gun. It came out straight, but a few hours later was bent again. I wet it, bent it backwards, and kept it wet for a day. After drying it came out straight and stayed straight. Success!

Viraro is a beautiful wood, but it is much softer than I would have thought, considering how heavy it is.

[Upscale]

If I understand the wood bending seminar properly that I took at Lee Valley Tools a few months back, wood can be compressed but not expanded without cracking and once compressed, it can't be expanded to original size. So no, you're not going to be able to take the bend out.