My Oak is warped

[evmundo]

Hi folks
A kind friend of mine has gifted me a large oak board 3cm x 70cm x 120cm
It has sat outside in his back yard and has warped, now I know most people would not use it but I have very limited resource and money. I need to straiten it and would appreciate some advise.

I am planning on making a mobile kitchen worktop with it.

please help.

 

[Chems]

If you rip it down and make a butcher block style top it won't matter that its warped, also will be more durable than face grain.

 

[Joints]

you basically havent got a hope in straightening it out i am afraid.

3cm is not very thick so you could try cutting out your components sawn size from it and then putting a hell of a lot of weight on them to straighten out but if they are thin then it would be difficult. and even if they are warped by a little bit its very hard to change that.

wood moves how it wants to move and you cant really stop it unless you start steam bending it into shape and leaving it for a good amount of time in a different atmosphere with a lot of weight on.

Even then though I wouldn't use it for any long lengths of timber that need to be straight. You could rush build it and one day the whole thing has exploded into firewood in the kitchen.

George

 

[Joints]

The above post is much more helpful than mine!

You could cut it into small strips and glue together or like chems said, make end grain blocks and glue together. Depends how large the worktop needs to be as a 3cm thick board, once planed and squared of into little strips to then cut into blocks for a butchers block type top your looking at like 2-2.5cm blocks depending how much you lost when planing.

So for a 1m x 1m top thats 2500 little pieces of wood!

PS is my math right?!

 

[WellsWood]

First things first, how dry is it? When you say it's been outdoors, do you mean covered or just out in the open? Either way it is unlikely to be dry enough for furniture, and will certainly exhibit some further movement once brought indoors. This means drying the piece in a similar environment to that which it will be used for anything up to several months, otherwise your finished top may change shape quite dramatically as it aclimatises ruining any work you have put in flattening it.

If your measurements are right that one piece isn't going to yield a very big top. Even assuming you have no wastage (very unlikely) the best you're going to get is a top 210mm x 400mm x 30mm thick, 8" x 16" in old money - which seems a bit small to me.

If it is big enough, and once it's dry and settled, "straightening" it is going to need the use of a half decent plane to get one side of the board flat (well boards actually, as you'll want to cut them to the shortest practical length before flattening to cut down on waste) then flip them over and do the other side to get them to a uniform thickness before edge jointing them. If you let us know where you are, and ask nicely, you may find a local forum member with a planer/thicknesser who will do this for you - it's a few minutes work for someone with the right machinery. I'd be happy to help if you're near me.

Hope this helps.

 

[evmundo]

I had a feeling I was up against it, looks like I will be cutting it up to use it for something else.

Thanks

 

[SNight]

Cut out your components over size, and then plane up square. Any timber will always be cupped, bowed or twisted in some sort of way, and will need to be prepared before in can be of use.

 

[wizer]

watch this

http://thewoodwhisperer.com/episode-7-a ... ve-part-1/

and this

http://thewoodwhisperer.com/episode-7-a ... ve-part-2/

 

[big soft moose]

Hi folks
A kind friend of mine has gifted me a large oak board 3cm x 70cm x 120cm
It has sat outside in his back yard and has warped, now I know most people would not use it but I have very limited resource and money. I need to straiten it and would appreciate some advise.

I am planning on making a mobile kitchen worktop with it.

please help.

oak isnt great for butchers blocks etc anyway on account of the tannin - they are usually beech or sycamore

 

[wizer]

it'll be fine if you seal it with a thinned oil varnish blend like Arm R Seal as MarcSpag does.

 

[Chems]

Hi folks
A kind friend of mine has gifted me a large oak board 3cm x 70cm x 120cm
It has sat outside in his back yard and has warped, now I know most people would not use it but I have very limited resource and money. I need to straiten it and would appreciate some advise.

I am planning on making a mobile kitchen worktop with it.

please help.

oak isnt great for butchers blocks etc anyway on account of the tannin - they are usually beech or sycamore

Do you mean that the Tanin would come out at a later date over time and get in your food an stuff? Because when I was looking for Beech workbench top there were loads of kitchen worktops in Oak so I imagine if people are selling it it can't be all bad can it? If it was sealed properly would it still be a problem?

 

[big soft moose]

Hi folks
A kind friend of mine has gifted me a large oak board 3cm x 70cm x 120cm
It has sat outside in his back yard and has warped, now I know most people would not use it but I have very limited resource and money. I need to straiten it and would appreciate some advise.

I am planning on making a mobile kitchen worktop with it.

please help.

oak isnt great for butchers blocks etc anyway on account of the tannin - they are usually beech or sycamore

Do you mean that the Tanin would come out at a later date over time and get in your food an stuff? Because when I was looking for Beech workbench top there were loads of kitchen worktops in Oak so I imagine if people are selling it it can't be all bad can it? If it was sealed properly would it still be a problem?

thats what i meant - worktops arent a problem because they are sealed , but with a butchers block they are usually raw wood because you cut meat on them and the cutting will pierce the finish - usually they are just oiled to preserve the wood but otherwise not sealed

 

[Chems]

I'm with you.

I didn't really mean make a butchers block my bad use of term, I just meant turn it all so the faces are next to each other then glue it up. Like kitchen work tops, or our workbenches. Cut it into 18mm strips and glue it up. Won't matter that is warped, the clamps should pull it in an the glue should hold it hopefully.

So if you ripped it to 20mm strips, that would give you 35 strips, 35 strips of 30mm width would give you a top 1m wide and 1.2m long which would be 20mm deep, but probably thinner once you'd got it all flat. . . . . . . . I think thats right.

 

[ondablade]

I guess the basic is to get it dried to a moisture content suitable for where it'll be used (say 8% if going in a heated house) before machining it to final size - that way whatever you get out of it will stay stable. Bring it into the room for at least several months unless you can get it kilned by somebody..

 

[Digit]

Oak, sob sob!
Bumped into a friend of mine today and he was happy as Larry.
Some weeks ago he salvaged a load of old thick plain Oak floorboards from a building that was being demolished, FOC.
He had to hire a lorry to remove it all. He has just sold it for £16000!!!!!! Sob Sob!

Roy.

 

[special bone]

It depends in what way it's warped. If it's just got a bit of curve in it then you could plane it out to make a thinner board. If it's really badly curved, you could cut it down the centre of the curve, square it all up and then re-join it.

A picture would help .

 

[SNight]

Digit, Whats the problem! No one is saying they feel sorry for him, just giving him advice on how to get round the problem. Are you upset because no one has give you some warped oak boards?

 

[Digit]

Digit, Whats the problem!

No problem, I'm just a little envious of all that Oak my friend obtained and horrified that it was all destined to be burned apparently.

Roy.