Wood seriously in wind.

[Andy Kev.]

Good Morning All,

yesterday I had a look at some American poplar which I've had stacked in my workshop for about six weeks and was shocked to see how much wind it has developed. I put this down to it having come from the shed of a timber yard in January into a relatively warm workshop i.e. it's probably drying out too quickly. The pieces are about 4' long and were destined to be used to build a book case. The high corners are now a good 1/4" clear of the flat surface I laid them on. To flatten them would obviously mean losing a lot of thickness in the final pieces.

As it happens I can use one or two 3' pieces at about 1/2" thick for another project but that will not use it all up. In order to retain maximum thickness my first thought is to half the wood in its length and then again rip it to half its width so a piece 4' by 6" would yield four pieces each of 2' by 3" while being able to be planed to a useable thickness. However, this would result in boards looking for a use which seems a bit cart before horse to me although uses would inevitably be found.

Would it make more sense to lop off the ends where the wind is at its most dramatic thus salvaging something useable from the middle which would at least be full width?

What do you do when confronted with wood like this?

 

[custard]

You're not the first woodworker to be confronted with this challenge, unfortunately it's a really common problem.

By far the best solution is more care and effort when picking your boards in the first place, timber yards are full of rubbish boards and they all end up with someone, it's a sad fact of life that the small scale or hobbyist woodworker is bottom of the food chain so that's the most likely destination.

However, even with the best scrutiny you'll still get some boards like this. Shorter lengths and/or narrower widths both help. It's true that sometimes the wind can be confined to a short section, but if you sight down the edge of a board there's an optical illusion that makes you think the wind is always at the far end. Flip the board around and check from the other end, if you get the same result then the wind is more evenly distributed than you first thought.

In a lot of case construction you can sometimes live with a little bit of wind, it's not ideal but the case itself will tend to pull the boards back into true. Check to see if you can correct the wind with moderate hand pressure, obviously thinner boards help. Whatever happens you mustn't use boards that are in wind for drawer sides or door frames, save your best boards for critical components like these.

You'll never cure a board like this, but occasionally the wind is a temporary problem due to the way you stored the boards. Put them in stick and leave them for few weeks to dry some more, that may help, it's unlikely but at this stage there's nothing to lose.

Good luck!

 

[Andy Kev.]

Thanks for the tip about waiting a while.

For what it's worth, the problem is not at the timber yard. The lads there let me choose my own boards and they are in fact very helpful. I think this was just a case of bad luck.

 

[Jacob]

....
As it happens I can use one or two 3' pieces at about 1/2" thick for another project but that will not use it all up. In order to retain maximum thickness my first thought is to half the wood in its length and then again rip it to half its width so a piece 4' by 6" would yield four pieces each of 2' by 3" while being able to be planed to a useable thickness. However, this would result in boards looking for a use which seems a bit cart before horse to me although uses would inevitably be found.

Would it make more sense to lop off the ends where the wind is at its most dramatic thus salvaging something useable from the middle which would at least be full width?

What do you do when confronted with wood like this?

Better yards don't let you choose - otherwise you may be searching through a heap from which the best stuff is long gone.

But whatever you do don't start sawing it up until you have a design and a cutting list. Then you cut to the list choosing straighter stuff for the longer lengths and vice versa. And don't plane anything until it has been sawn to component size (plus margin for error).