Straightening wood

[Cazoules]

Hi,
I am fairly new to woodwork, and am preparing wood for a small bookshelf. I bought some lengths of chestnut form my local sawmill, (dried) and after storing flat for a few weeks, I've discovered that there is a fair bend over the length of the boards (3 metres).
I need to edge joint the wood with glue and biscuits, and would like some advice on how to straighten the timber.

Jim

 

[wcndave]

You need a planer and a thicknesser (or a combination machine), and some practice, and probably safety equipment, and ideally dust extraction, and to know how to do it... that's going to cost you time and money I am afraid.

If you don't want to do that, then I suggest you could take them to a local carpenter to process for you.

Also, when you do the above, you cut the boards to rough length first, which will reduce the bends. However for edge jointing, you need them near perfect.

You can also do it with hand planes, however I think the learning curve, time and skills to do that is beyond all but the most dedicated hand tool woodworkers.

Here's a video that talks about doing it by hand by the well regarded Paul Sellers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl5Srx-Ru_U

 

[Cazoules]

Hi Dave,
Thanks for the reply.
I have a planer thicknesser, and am familiar with the machine.
However, if I run the pieces through the planer, I will need to take off quite a lot to straighten the pieces.
Is it possible to edge joint thinner strips, clamped down, with alternate pieces, to achieve a fairly straight board which can be then run through the planer and thicknesser.

Jim

 

[transatlantic]

If the pieces are long enough such that it's not practical to plane them i.e you'd take too much off or the bend is more severe than the thickness of the wood, then you could probably just clamp the bend out when you come to glue up (assuming the planks aren't too thick).

I think the rule of thumb is if you can clamp straight by hand, then gluing out a bend is ok.

Cutting them up into small pieces and planing those is certainly an option but possibly a lot of work. There is also a minor aesthetic concern, although I doubt most people would care.

 

[wcndave]

If you turn the pieces in alternating directions, then you will get the forces opposing and this can work. Probably works best with thicker pieces though. Ie if you have a lot of twist, cut them thinner, if you have a lot of bow, cut them wider. I had some oak recently and I didn't get it exactly flat and it came out ok, however that was 3cm and each piece was 1-2m long and 10cm wide, so quite chunky.

 

[custard]

...preparing wood for a small bookshelf..bend over the length of the boards (3 metres)

3 metres would be quite a big bookshelf! If you cross cut the 3 metre board into just a bit over the lengths you actually need, then the amount of bend will reduce correspondingly. If you started to plane from that position then you won't have to remove quite as much material to end up with flat and true components.

Chestnut is a lovely timber by the way, deserves to be used far more often!

Good luck!

 

[Jacob]

Yep always cut close to length, width, depth, (+6mm) before planing anything.

 

[Harbo]

What size of bookcase are you making - you said small?
The shorter lengths from your 3m boards may not show much curve?
There's a programme somewhere called the sagulator? The bend could be cancelled out by the weight of the books?

Rod

 

[wwade]

I'm building a bookcase too. I'm also new to woodworking. My wood was also bowed but not too bad. I joined the sides using dowels. There is small gap which I will fill and then sand. Woodworking is a learning curve, but each piece I make I get better.

 

[custard]

each piece I make I get better.

With that attitude you'll do very well as a furniture maker!

=D>

 

[Cazoules]

Hi,
A big thanks to all who posted advice.
Cutting the planks into lengths just longer than I require, and turning the pieces in alternating directions to equalise the forces before glueing sounds like good advice.
First time I've used the site and am really impressed the responses

 

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[memzey]

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