warped boards

[Guess who]

I have a slight gloat, but will keep it to just telling that I had given [free] a whole pile of rough lumber; oak, cherry, walnut.

Looking for minimal waste. Some boards, just a few, are warped [twisted]. Is there a way to untwist? I know warped can be straightened with water on one side and heat on the other ["Furniture doctor".] I can't see putting a warped, twisted board through a thickness planer since it will want to wobble.

Some, like the oak have a bit of black water stain. I'm assuming that can be removed with oxalic acid? How about black dry mold?

Thanks.

[Todd Fatheree]

IMO, the best way to deal with a warped board is a) cut it into small enough pieces that you can minimize the amount of warp within a section to have something you can work with or b) use it as firewood. The reason it is warped in the first place is because due to stresses locked into the board, the naturally sought that shape. Anything like putting water on it is only going to (maybe) temporarily solve the problem. If you can get the pieces small enough so they can be planed and still end up with something thick enough to use, what I do is use a carrier board through my planer and use hot-melt glue to stabilize the board as it goes through. Once one side is flat, I take it off the carrier and plane the other side.

todd

[Guess who]

Good advice. Thanks, I'll try that.

Hot-melt is strong enough to hold again any mechanical twisting through the planer? Or do you need shims to make stable on at least three points? Anyhow, it sounds like a good approach with tweaks. Thanks again.

[bridger]

you suck.

basically no. what you'll need to do to use them is cut them to lengths that you can plane flat without losing too much thickness.

yeah, right.....

start with a scrub plane, or possibly one of them electrical hand planes. take off only enough that it doesn't wobble anymore. then run it through the thicknesser.

oxalic, muriatic, chlorine bleach... try them... (no mixing!)

a lot of it may go away with planing.

[Stephen M]

I see this alot in the rough oak that I have purchased. It's pretty shallow. It will go away with planing.

-Steve

[Guess who]

Thanks to all! I'll take and apply all advice. Plane first to see what's left. Oxalic etc if needed, small pieces first to see what happens. ...

[Phisherman]

[Merle]

Yes, I got this tip a few months ago (maybe from Todd!) and it works great. I have a sled of 13x36 MDF that I glue the "high" corners to and take straight to the planer. The board is now stable on four points (two wood, and two glue). A few passes later, I pop the corner dobs of glue off with an old chisel and then do the other side. I use two spots of glue about the size of a nickel for a board up to 20" long, plus one in the middle for longer boards.

This method has changed my life. I had a nice piece of figured cherry, and was able to salvage the twisted last 2 feet to be able to carry the grain around the top and side of a cabinet.

m

[Guess who]

I know this should be another topic, but what the hey, it's about hot glue. I use it to do the back of frames [mirror, or picture.] Not the wood, but the brown paper cover. Lay a line of glue around [near] the inner edge of the back. Let it dry. The paper is pre-cut to size. Put one corner on the set glue and touch with your hot flatiron. Stretch a bit to the next corner and tack that down also using the iron. Complete the other corners. Now run the iron lightly across the paper edge to melt the glue and adhere the paper to the back.