I am building an earring case for my wife out of Koa, and I’ve run into a problem that I need some advice on fixing. The case is about 20″ x 20″ x 4″ deep, with doors that open from the center sort of like french doors. The door construction is frame-and-panel-ish, as you can see from the face-on photo of one of the doors that’s attached.

I live in Denver, and the Koa came from Hawaii. The door panels were resawed from 8/4 Koa, allowed to equilibrate for a few days, rough dimensioned with jointer and planer, let sit for a few more days, and then drum sanded to final dimensions, about 19 x 9 x 1/2″. All these operations went fine, and I went to work on the case frame.

Unfortunately, as I started my dry fit, I found that both panels had twisted a bit. One just a little, but one by more than a quarter inch. If you look at the second attached photo you’ll see what I mean.

I was hoping that the frame would square up the panel, but it’s simply not strong enough to overcome the twist, even with all miters perfectly square when clamped tightly in a band clamp.

Does anybody have any suggestions on how I can remove (or at least minimize) the twist in the panel? As you know, Koa is outrageously expensive, and I’d really like to save this project if I can.

Thanks for any advice!