Replies

1. 
   user-148830 | Jul 24, 2007 06:26pm | #1

   Norman,
   Yeah it's not uncommon to get this kind of movement. The reason is simple too, if the moisture content inside the board is different than the outside of the stick you'll get movement away from the wet side. In the Pacific Northwest, where I live, this kind of cupping away from the middle happens a lot when you resaw. The board is sitting in the warehouse, you know the one with the concrete floor sucking up hundreds of gallons of water every day, and the boards inside has been dried to 8% MC but the outside is at 10%. You resaw it and it bows. A 1/4" is a lot of bowing admittedly but it does depend upon your length too. I usually figure on losing an eighth of an inch.

   As to fixes, well you have some limitations. You can flatten the boards by hand. This slower method allows you to take off material exactly where you need.

   Running wider boards through a narrow jointer will produce rabbet cuts essentially 6" wide. This leaves a 2" strip to hand plane off. That's a little bit less work. Be sure you're using push sticks for this kind of flattening. You can also run boards through the planer on a holding jig with wedges under your stock preventing the piece from cupping as it runs through the feed rolls. Get one face close and then flip to get the other side.

   The last thing however is to remember that when building solid cabinets losing 1/16" or even 1/8" of thickness is not always such a bad thing. You can use the same joinery and get virtually the same strength. Plus you have a lighter piece both structurally and visually. [I'm looking for the lemonade here.]

   I hope this helps. Gary

2. 
   woodrae | Jul 26, 2007 01:56am | #2

   OK, I have to butt in my nosey nose here and point out that Norman says the boards bowed across their lengths, and not their widths (which is typical of many resawn boards).

   If this is the case, Norman, and you're going to edge-glue to two planks together, then I would forgo any flattening and glue 'em up on a flat surface, easing the boards into flat with each other as you apply the clamps from the center out. The dried glue joint itself should hold your boards flat.

   Jes' sayin'...

   —Andy Rae

1. 
   MBerger | Jul 26, 2007 05:23pm | #3

   Andy: I thought of this same idea when I was preparing an answer to the question in another post but I was concerned that not dealing with the bow would later cause the entire panel to bow. Do you disagree?

   That said, if you do glue it up as is, the assembled carcase might be enough to keep the panels flat?

   Matt

1. 
   woodrae | Jul 26, 2007 08:13pm | #4

   "...the assembled carcase might be enough to keep the panels flat?"That's the key here. As long as the panels are housed or joined in some fashion, the finished joinery should keep the bookmatched panel flat as a pancake, minus the butter or syrup.In the meantime, Norman, you might want to stow the glued-up panel on a flat surface, and weight it with weights (big handplanes work great) until you can cut all the joints and assemble the panel into its respective components.—Andy