I have a piece of 1/8″ hardboard that has an S curve along one edge and won’t lay flat like I need it to. I tried laying it on a flat surface and throwing weight on top of it for a couple of days and there doesn’t seem to be any change in its shape.
How can I flatten hardboard ?
Thanks
Replies
How can I flatten a 1/8"
How can I flatten a 1/8" piece of hardboard?
I won't even ask why you are using hardboard.
I suppose you could take it to a metal working facility and ask them to put an immense amount of pressure on it, and compress it down to a flat 1/16".
Or you could just glue it to a piece of very flat MDF.
You could think about applying moisture to the appropriate places and sides to see if you could unwarp it. This might be a lot of fun if you have a few six packs.
You could buy another piece of hardboard which is flat.
You could use a piece of good quality plywood instead.
You might use a nice piece of cardboard.
OK, I am out of ideas. Maybe someone else has some good ones.
Have fun.
Mel
Bob,
1/8" hardboard is so
Bob,
1/8" hardboard is so flimsy that to keep it flat, (even if it were flat to begin with) you'll need to reinforce it somehow. If it is a bottom, it ought to be attached around its perimeter to a frame, in a groove, or to ledger strips. If it can be reinforced under its bottom with a couple strips or battens, so much the better.
Hope this helps; not knowing the exact application you intend, it's hard to be more specific with suggestions.
Ray
Thanks for all the ideas.
I've had an awkward stack of scrap wood piled on and under the hardboard to try to bend each part of the curve in the opposite direction since yesterday. The curve does seem less significant now then it did, or I've fooled myself into thinking so. I'm going to leave it like this for another day or two and see what happens.
I left out a description of the project, because it seem that when asking questions on messages boards people are usually easily distracted by the details and often never answer my real question.
I just built a workbench as what I consider to be my first real woodworking project. I edged the sides of the bench top with boards an 1/8" proud of the top surface. The plan was to drop a piece of hardboard in there to act as a replaceable cover, and I also liked the idea of being able to flip it between the nice smooth side and the textured side with a lot of grip.
Of course inside my brain the hardboard laid on top of the bench real nice and flat...
Replace it with a flat piece you hand pck Bob.. Hardboard is cheap. I just cut a QSWO board 12' long... average 7" wide into 12" strips to use down the road on something small pieces as it had a lot of internal stress in it which rendered it basically useless on a twin bed I am working on. Did I consider using it on the project as that relates to throwing over $30 into a scrap bin? Absolutely not!
Again.. hardboard is cheap... simply replace it to eliminate a potential problem you will likely create by hoping the problem will go away! Once hardboard cups or twist.. it stays cupped or twiisted and that is reality.. accept reality!
Good luck...
Sarge,
I am reminded of Wallace Nutting (author of Furniture Treasury, the book of antique furniture) writing about a non-existant furniture form. He tells the story of a country preacher officiating at a funeral, saying of the children of a deceased old maid, "If such there be, we have not seen them."
So it is with a flat sheet of hardboard. haha
Ray
Double stick tape?
Bob , To expect an 1/8" to
Bob , To expect an 1/8" to just lay there as it gets worked on may be unrealistic . If you really need this top perhaps re edge to accomodate say a 1/2" , heck a sharp blow from a chisel could easily blow through an 1/8" .Make it with enough integrity for the job at hand .
regards , dusty
Tempered Hardboard
Are you using the tempered variety of hardboard? I have found it much more stable than the un-tempered. In fact, I use it on my own bench in the same manner that you are describing. It always stayed pretty flat for me where I used to live... a rather dry aired environment. Now that I've move to the PNW I may be in for a shock. We'll see. So far my bench is still in storage awaiting construction of a new shop.
The durability of 1/8" tempered hardboard has never been an issue for me.
Clothes steamer ?
Well at least that was what I was going to suggest until I read Sarg's reply which makes the most sense. I have not much experience with hard board. To hold it flat and still be able to flip it over I would go with a couple of counter sunk screws and a drill driver before double back tape.
roc,
"Twould be awful hard
roc,
"Twould be awful hard to countersink a screw deep enough in 1/8 hardboard, to make me feel good about that edge you and Abe spent 4 hrs sharpening.
Ray
Double sided carpet tape would work Ray if.... he has a "relativley" flat piece of hardboard. But... he stated he has S curves on the sides which sounds pretty terminal to me! :>) I definitely can get hardboard local without S curves on the sides which would work with gravity or definitely work with double sided carpet tape udner it. In the case of S curves I would chunk it and get a piece that is "relatively flat" from the git go. Why test solutions to revive the "dead" for days when for $10 there is an immediate cure and you can be up and working in a heart-beat? haha....
Have a good day Ray...
?
There may be casualties. I have worked on benches at work, non-woodworking, with such tops with counter sunk screws. Seem to go well bellow surface and still have purchase. Drywall(ish) screws not full on counter sink head.
Bugle head. Yah that's the ticket. Bugle head screws.
> a couple of counter sunk screws<
I just had to try out that horizontal line command button. What power !
Well anyway I bet old BObE could learn to avoid hitting two or three strategically placed screws. Tape off the danger area with some yellow hazard zone warning tape or painted dashed lines.
OK, OK just kidding
Heck I don't know. Trying to work with what we got here. For mechanicin' work benches I like steel top. For woodworking, as you all have heard too often around here, I like solid two inches or more purple heart wood.
BObE and I have not sharpened a blade together but I like to think that the two of us working together, after a suitable period of training and preparation, should be able to get the four hour time down to . . . oh . . . in the three hour forty five minute range. I would think. Conservatively speaking. Yes I think high threes.
: )
Well Sapwood.. I thought Bob was referrring to tempered hard-board which is what I made the comment I could get it flat local. I have never seen standard hardboard used on a bench top. I have seen no problems personally for those that have used the tempered... certainly no S curves on the edges. If Bob was referring to standard he would better served IMO by raising the edge 1/2" and dropping 1/2" MDF in the slot as it is within .004 of being flat and gravity will hold it down.
Oh well.... it's all in the interpretation I suppose! haha...
Water did the trick. I used a spray bottle to spray down the textured side of the piece of 1/8” tempered hardboard around the bent area. Then I sopped up as much excess water as I could with a paper towel. After that I laid the hardboard in the recess on the bench wet side up, and threw some weight on top of it using some scraps to distribute the weight as evenly as I could. Inside of a few hours it was dry and flat as could be.
Nice !
I learned some thing. Thanks for the post.
? rules are rules
Aaah guys . . . ? . . . he said he wants to be able to flip the top to use the textured side at times. That means nix on the tape. Unless I misread the rules.
|: )
As far as 1/8 verses 1/4 I assume he has a plywood top with the hardboard over it to prevent splinters under the finger nails. Ask me how I know this splinters thing. If just hard board spanning two bys or what have you he will have a trampoline in any case. Saggy, bouncy. Yuck
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