[Woodworkers] Christmas present help needed!!

Sun Dec 17 12:50:38 PST 2017

Clint (and all),

   I checked the boards with a Wagner moisture meter. They all range from
11% to 13%. My first reaction was – wow, Clint is right, way too high. But
then I went around the shop and checked some cherry boards I’ve had
stickered for months (project diverted due to Christmas J) and they are at
11%, as is my bench, as is a plywood box I’ve had for years, etc. So does
this mean my shop stays at 11%? I guess since I don’t run heat or air
continuously? I should meter the house. Do I need to bring moisture down in
shop? But getting off topic (though a good one), does this say moisture is
the issue or hard to conclude? Do I bring the moisture meter to HD (for
cedar) and if so, what is acceptable %? 11% as is shop? Lower? 

  Sorry if it looks like I’m freaking out – it’s only because I am L

Chuck

From: Woodworkers [mailto:woodworkers-bounces at lists.sawdusters.org] On
Behalf Of Clint Warren via Woodworkers
Sent: Sunday, December 17, 2017 2:13 PM
To: A place where woodworkers talk about woodworking
Cc: Clint Warren
Subject: Re: [Woodworkers] Christmas present help needed!!

So 2x4’s would be 17-19% (but maybe much higher). Do you know what MC wood
in your shop naturally gets to? Maybe boards were case hardened (don’t think
this is really the right term). Outside really dry and center wetter. Every
time you plane and let it sit the warping scenario is reproduced as it dries
out unevenly?  Maybe have the boards sit in the shop for much longer before
first milling. Just spit balling, not sure.

A thought. You mentioned rustic. Any chance cedar would work? HD has cedar
¾” cedar boards. I’ve used them on some rustic projects (picture frame, bird
feeders) and they seemed to be very dry.

clint

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From: Woodworkers <woodworkers-bounces at lists.sawdusters.org> on behalf of
Chuck Steger via Woodworkers <woodworkers at lists.sawdusters.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 17, 2017 12:13:06 PM
To: A place where woodworkers talk about woodworking
Cc: Chuck Steger
Subject: [Woodworkers] Christmas present help needed!! 

A little long but please read as I need help!

I’m making a photo board for my granddaughter (believe it or not they are
actually printing pictures and the Polaroid is making a comeback). She likes
rustic so I was going to make it out of pine (knots and all) and put a barn
wood finish on it. Since it was going to be rustic, I figured I could skip a
milling step and purchase 1x4 boards at Lowe’s. Most were badly warped but I
found 3 - 10’ boards that were relatively straight. I thought that since
they acclimated in the store, they should be good to go. Plus I was going to
chop up into 2’ lengths so I could manage the warp. I set them aside in my
climate controlled shop and went to finish the concrete truck for my
grandson. When I went to retrieve the boards, they had warped badly. I knew
better but I used them thinking I could force them straight at glue up. When
I went to clamp them up, my heart-of-hearts knew it wasn’t going to work
because they were warping at glue up. I had gone this far so I glued up,
clamped down to a flat work bench and hoped for the best. Sure enough, when
I removed the clamps, the panel was badly warped (unfortunately, I was not
surprised).

I realized I should have done what I planned to do in the first place and go
get 2x4’s so I could mill the warp out. I got pretty straight 2x4’s and
chopped into 2’ sections and ,milled down to 1 ¼”. I stickered on my bench
and let acclimate to shop for a day. Encouraging because as you looked at
the stickered stack, they did not appear to be warping at all. So next day I
milled down to just under 7/8” and stickered again overnight. Again stack
looked good so I milled to final thickness of ¾’. As I was gluing up, I was
very encouraged as the glue up was flat. No need to clamp to bench (I did
anyway) but was very encouraged. Yesterday morning I unclamped and held my
breath but, hooray, a flat panel. I sanded panel to remove glue marks and
set aside to practice texturing sample boards for the barn wood finish
(still nice and flat). This morning, I went into the shop and the panel was
warped!! As I write this, I clamped the board flat to my bench and started
to bring the temperature up in my shop. If I’m not working on anything, when
I leave the shop for the night, I hold temp to 50 degrees but if I’m working
on something, I hold temp to 61. Why 61? Because I bring up temp in 3 degree
increments to get to 70. Why 3 degrees? I don’t know, I just do.

So I have questions: What happened? Is it the temperature fluctuations (and
does 9 degrees really make a difference in warping)? But most importantly,
what do I do now? I have less than a week to finish. I could do again with
new 2x4’s but I’m not comfortable I wouldn’t have the same issue. As I send
this I’m going back out to unclamp from the bench but I don’t expect it to
stay flat.

Chuck

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