Slight Bow in QS Oak for Pekovich Hanging Cabinet
jimhelminski
| Posted in General Discussion on
I’m building Mike Pekovich’s Hanging Cabinet from the video series. After resawing and planning 8/4 QS white oak, slightly thicker than the dimensions for the case sides I noticed my book matched case sides developed a slight bow the length of both boards. I can take some of the bow out with hand planing and final dimensioning the wood. Hopefully this is not firewood.
Question:
Is their a way to flatten the bow?
Can I continue the build and have the joinery pull the remaining bow out?
What would Mike Pekovich do?
Jim
Replies
No, the only way to flatten us to joint and resurface.
Hopefully you won’t loose too much thickness.
How did you store the wood after re-sawing?
with stickers on my bench. When the board was 8/4 I had it perfectly flat and square, once I resawed it bowed.
This happens a lot when redrawing thick stock. About half the time it will happen to me. It's just internal stresses in the wood that are released after resawing. Air dried lumber is supposed to be much better. But for me, my choices for hardwoods are such that I have no choice in how their lumber was dried.
JohnC2 is correct. Bows and twists are indicative of internal stress. Cupping is very common with resawing, cause is moisture imbalance between inside and outside surfaces.
Once flat, the question always is “will it stay flat?” Sounds like you’ve got some thickness, but chasing a tension bow can be frustrating.
Don’t forget to check with winding sticks. If there is significant twist, you might need to start with another board.
I just finished building a version of this and had a similar problem. I took out much of the bow and flattened but it wasn't perfect. I was concerned, like you, that I'd have to start over. The joinery didn't pull it in, to answer your question, and thus fitting the door became a real pain. It's possible but a lot of trouble.
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