# Straightening curved / warped wood



## DLJeffs (Jul 16, 2020)

Not sure if this is the right place to ask this question (and maybe it's been addressed before - if so someone please send me to the right place). I have some spalted maple thins (1/4 inch thick) boards, I think I got them from Mike. I didn't use them right away and now they got some curvature / warpage to them. Can that be straightened? Can I wet them and weight them down until they dry flat? Or at least flatter so I can use them as panels on a box or something?


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## DLJeffs (Jul 20, 2020)

Well, I decided to experiment. I misted the concave side of one of the boards, then put it outside in the sun with a 1" thick piece of melamine on top and a piece of railroad iron on top of that. Left it to dry, moved it onto the garage floor over night, and checked it this morning. It straightened some, maybe enough where I can use half of the board. The other half is still pretty warped. I might give it another shot today, soaking it a little more, and see if I can get any more of the curve out.

Reactions: Like 1 | Informative 1


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## Nature Man (Jul 21, 2020)

Sometimes hard to defy the nature of wood moving when it dries. Good that you were able to have partial success! Reminds me of a pressure treated 2x4 that I recently bought at Lowe's that was perfectly straight until I put it in the sun in preparation to fix my fence. Took me a couple days to get to it, and when I did, one end of the 2x4 had taken a hard turn! It was unusable! So I know your pain. Chuck


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## barry richardson (Jul 21, 2020)

Good luck Doug, I got some of the those thins too, I might just glue them to another board as veneers....


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## DLJeffs (Jul 21, 2020)

Thanks guys. I looked at that one I tried to flatten two days ago and it's now almost as bowl shaped as it was before I started. Must have dried out a little more in the garage. So maybe I was prematurely ejaculated and it simply went right back to the way it was. Oh well.


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## FLQuacker (Jul 21, 2020)

Mine were stickered and weighted...going on 1 1/2 yrs. They'll be killer tops on guitars eventually!

Reactions: Like 1


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## FranklinWorkshops (Jul 22, 2020)

I've flattened many boards over the years and what works best for me is to brush water on the side you want to straighten and place it wet side down on a concrete floor for 24 hours. No weights or anything else on it. Many times, the other side will be be cupped if you let it lay on the concrete too long. So it's a trial and error process. When it's flat, let it lean against a wall so that air will circulate around it uniformly until you're ready to use it. Be sure to finish it on both side using the same finishing materials. Only finishing one side of a board means that you want it to cup again.

Reactions: Informative 2


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## DLJeffs (Jul 22, 2020)

Thanks for chiming in Larry. A neighbor up the street is a retired finish carpenter and he said the same thing. He has wet down boards and gotten some straightening out of it. He had a couple 2X10 deck joists laid out like that a year ago because they warped after he got them home from the hardware store. But he also said sometimes it doesn't work so I guess it's dependent on the board, the grain, etc.


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## FLQuacker (Jul 22, 2020)

Problem with rewetting lies in the fact that the cell structures of the wood has broken down after initial drying....uniform "wetness" is impossible. As Mike has stated, highly figured and spalted thins have to be cared for tediously.


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