Re-sawing soft maple: cupping and bowing
I am in need of some advice.
On Friday, I purchased some 5/4 soft maple for drawers (half-inch). The lumber supplier keeps the material in an old WWII supply depot. Think acres, you literally drive around inside to pick up your wood. The point is it’s a clean, dry environment but not air-conditioned. Humidity on the Gulf Coast here is anywhere around 50% to 70%.
On Saturday, I cut one twelve foot board to approximate lengths and jointed one face and one edge. I then stickered it in my air-conditioned shop.
As an experiment, I re-sawed one length and planed one piece and then stickered all of it. By Sunday it had a small bow and small cup – not useable for drawers.
My questions are:
What caused the wood to cup and bow? Was it inherent tension or release of moisture?
How long should I allow for the wood to adjust before re-sawing and milling it?
Can I reasonably expect to get two half inch widths from 5/4 rough stock?
Should I re-saw it, sticker and let it adjust?
What else should I do?
I can return the lumber and exchange it for 3/4, but that would leave more waste.
Any guidance would be most appreciated.
Hastings
Replies
I used 5/4 hard maple for a set of drawers a few years ago. I like you figured that it would save material and cost by resawing rather than milling 4/4 down to 5/8 or 1/2 inch. It did work out for me, but it took considerable time on the bandsaw. I now just use 4/4 maple and plane it down. I found that by the time I resawed 1-3/16 material and finished planed both sides I barely had enough to get 1/2" drawers.
As to the cupping, my guess is that it is caused by moisture variations. When I resaw I like to sticker it a let it sit in the shop for a few days after before flattening and milling down. How long was the material in your shop before you resawed the wood. Typically it believe that it is recommended to let wood acclimate to your shop environment for two weeks before milling, not always practical.
Aaron
Hastings,
The wood will lose moisture in your air conditioned shop which probably has a lot lower humidity than a Gulf coast warehouse. You should sticker the wood in your shop for awhile, possibly as long as a few months, until it stops losing moisture to the air and the remaining moisture is evenly distributed through the boards.
You can cut the wood into rough widths and lengths if that makes it easier to handle, but hold off resawing until the wood has time to acclimate.
Being you have already resawn some of the stock, sticker the resawn pieces for a week or two, there is a fair chance that they'll flatten out. If that happens, it might be safe to resaw all of the stock and let it acclimate after resawing. It would take less time for the resawn pieces to settle down since the thinner wood will dry out faster. If the stuff you have already resawn doesn't flatten out then you should wait awhile before trying to resaw the rest of the wood.
That said, trying to resaw a 5/4 board to end up with two 1/2" thick pieces, is cutting it a bit close, depends on the wood and how close the mill kept to the 5/4 dimension.
John White, Shop Manager, Fine Woodworking Magazine
John, Aaron and TPFKA:Thank you for your responses. And you are all on the same page! Fortunately, I can return the lumber and get 4/4, which I will do.Regards,Hastings
I'd also recommend you mill the 4/4 in stages. Take a light cut off both sides and let it sit for a week, another light cut from both sides, let sit for a few days and then flatten and mill to finished thickness, all this after the stock has already thoroughly acclimated to your shop environment.
If you intend to build piston-fit drawers the stock must behave.Please read this disclaimer which is an integral part of my post: Do not copy, print, or use my posts without my express written consent. My posts are not based on fact. My posts are merely my written opinions, fiction, or satire none of which are based on fact unless I expressly state in writing that a statement is a fact by use of the word "fact." No one was intended to be harmed in the making of this post.
I wouldn't resaw stock for drawer parts. Accept the waste factor and buy 4/4 - find the flattest boards you can find at your dealer or even spec quartersawn.
Please read this disclaimer which is an integral part of my post: Do not copy, print, or use my posts without my express written consent. My posts are not based on fact. My posts are merely my written opinions, fiction, or satire none of which are based on fact unless I expressly state in writing that a statement is a fact by use of the word "fact." No one was intended to be harmed in the making of this post.
Hastings,
Out of curiousity where is this dealer? I also live on the Gulf Coast and my "local" hardwood dealer recently closed so I am looking for someone new to deal with. At least this dealer sounds like they have a good supply of wood to look through.
Ray in Panama City, FL
Wish:I get my lumber and plywood at McEwen at their Fort Whiting depot, just a stone's throw from I 10 in Mobile. Their prices are reasonable and they seem to supply most of the cabinet shops in the Mobile area.For example, they have a cabinet grade 3/4 ply for about $29.I got 500 bd ft of 12/4 cherry at $5.00 per bd ft. Not in Frenchy territory, but pretty good all the same.I would be happy to introduce you. I am not sure how "retail" they are so an intro might not hurt. E-mail me if you would have any interest.Regards,Hastings
Hastings, I have tried to e-mail you several times through the message system here. Not sure if it is your spam blocker or some other problem but I can't get one through. Could you plese try to contact me through the system? Maybe it will work, or if it doesn't let me know and I will just post on here some other way we can contact. I do appreciate the offer to contact them, I will need several hundred bd. ft. of Red Oak or something else soon and would like to try these folks.
Ray
Ray:It was the spam block.I just checked and I received your message. I have cleared the way and sent you an e-mail so we should be good to go.Hastings
Thanks, I'll be in touch!
Ray
Ray,Try Hogan Hardwoods on 98 in Santa Rosa Beach. Fabulous stock and they can get just about anything you desire. When I was there a man was handselecting 6-8 inch x 10ft bloodwood. They are great to work with and will deliver to your door if you need it. Call and ask for Jason from Arkansas.http://hoganhardwoods.com/Greg
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Hastings,Your lumber has a notable difference of moisture content between the outside and the inside. By resawing it you brake the balance that previously existed by having the two outside faces roughly at the same MC, now you have one face with a higher MC than the other, causing cupping.
My bet is that your lumber will flatten out relatively quickly.
If you buy 4/4 make sure you remove the same amount from each face otherwise you will have the same problem.
The advice of buying quartersawn is sound.C.
C:Thank you for your explanation. I have just returned from the lumber supplier with the 4/4.I used this to make drawers before and it milled up nicely, without any problems.Hopefully it will work out this time.Regards,Hastings
Cincinnati,
Drove by there this past weekend on the Way to Destin to take the family shopping (like a day in h*ll to me but that is another story) and noticed all the signs were down, no signs off life at all so don't know if they closed this one. I have been meaning to call and just haven't yet. My friend Al from our local woodturning club used to own the big custom woodworking shop in front of Hogan's but sold it to retire (again) about a year ago. I hope to see him Saturday at our meeting and will ask.
As a side note- My friend Al was getting a lot of calls for large wood columns for houses so he got together with a retired engineer and built a BIG lathe. When I say big I think it turned a max of 36" by up to 30'+ long. It was hydrualically powered using a spinning carbide cutter wheel and followed templetes. It was impressive to watch to say the least. Al also had a collection of apples he had turned from 26 different woods, one for each letter of the alphabet. Some were tough to find and had taken many years of wheelin'n'dealin to make it happen.
Thanks for the tip though, our local hardwoods dealer moved here after Katrina (Acadian Hardwoods) but moved back recently and turned the place into a gym so we have no where locally to buy anything but Southern Yellow Pine. I will follow up with Hogans and some of the other tips I have been sent. Some days I feel like a termite trying to find just the right wood :)
Ray
Woodwish, Acadian and Hogan are both alive and kickin' Bought from both in the last 2 wks. By the way, Acadian has been in Panama City for quite a few yrs. Wait a minute, I think I remember them(Acadian) saying something about moving to Chipley. EarlFurniture...the Art of a FurnitureMaker
I did talk with my friend Al that used to own the shop in front of Hogan's and did confirm that they are still there. They never have had a sign, the sign that I noticed was missing was his that he finally took down after retiring and the new tennants don't have a new sign up.
Acadian's building here is now a gym, or at least part of it is. The sign is still up at the entrance but when I called them no one answered. Haven't called back since this broken femur is keeping me out of the shop for a few more weeks. Will go searching a little harder in another month or so. Acadian has been here a few years but grew drastically after Katrina but the home office has reopened according to an article in our local paper a few months ago. There was no mention at that time of closing the local warehouse but it does not surprise me that they would move closer to I-10 just for transportation reasons.
Some wood just seems to have internal tension due to the drying process, I've had a few split 'explosively' on the bandsaw. Get's my heart going... But that's pretty dramatic, you're is probably due to moisture change.
If the wood has a high moisture content than you'll have to wait for it to acclimatize to your shop. If your shop has AC, that will probably take some time since you'd have really low humidity.
Regardless of what thickness of wood you get chances are you'll have to leave it to acclimate appropriately, or else you'll have the same problem.
I think getting 2 1/2" boards from 4/5 lumber is pushing it.
Even by letting 4/4 stock acclimate you still need to remove a substantial amount of stock from both sides to make a 1/2" drawer side.
Chances are that you may well end up with as much cup and twist as if you would have started with thicker stock and decided to resaw.
It all depends on how it was dried and more so how it was growing before it was cut.
Your best bet is to use quartersawn stock to try and minimize/decrease the amount of movement.
It helps to not buy stock which has an inherent cup or twist.
After all you are paying a premium.
J.P.
Hastings,
if you would just use MDF, you wouldn't have all this problem with cupping and warping. :-)
Have fun.
Mel
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel:Nice to hear from you.All you have to do is convince my wife of the wonderful aesthetic properties of MDF and all my problems are over.Regards,Hastings
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