Thread: Cupped lamination

Probably not.... look at the angle of the end grain,... what’s it doing



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When you laminate a table, qwertyu, you have to laminate both the top and the bottom at the same time, otherwise one surface will absorb or release moisture more than the other and cause curviture.


Cheers

Graeme

It won't straighten by itself, but you can make it go back the other way by lightly spraying the concave side with some water and placing it with the wet side down on the bench/floor; this will put back some of the lost moisture in the dry side and help it go back where it was.

We used to do this at work with generally decent results, it probably won't fix it completely (you might get lucky) but it will help. On thick Am. Oak tops we'd leave it overnight (sometimes they did go too far the other way), in this weather that might be too long so maybe do it in the morning and check the progress every hour or so.

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

When you laminate a table, qwertyu, you have to laminate both the top and the bottom at the same time, otherwise one surface will absorb or release moisture more than the other and cause curviture.

Graeme has assumed that by "lamination" you mean you've put a veneer on one surface of the table, probably the work surface. Should this be so, then moistening the cupped side probably won't work unless you strip the veneer.

If, on the other hand, you simply meant "glued up from boards" then moistening the cupped, concave side as Elan suggests should go a long way to fixing it.

Hopefully you glued the boards so the directions of the end-grain alternate (ie. one curves up, the next curves down) as over time each board will have a tendency to cup slightly in the direction of the grain. Alternating this way means that each should cancels it's neighbours' tendencies to move out.

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

Graeme has assumed that by "lamination" you mean you've put a veneer on one surface of the table, probably the work surface. Should this be so, then moistening the cupped side probably won't work unless you strip the veneer.........

Thanks Skew

I did assume that.

Either way, Elan's method of straightening should work. Then either:

• Apply veneer to other surface, or
• Apply surface finishes to minimise future movement, and
• Pray that future movement is within acceptable limits. Wood lives!

Cheers

Graeme

Thanks guys, I sprayed water and flipped it over. Will let you know how it goes

left overnight and now it is straight!! I actually cant believe it worked!

It's always nice when it's a simple fix, innit?

Originally Posted by qwertyu

left overnight and now it is straight!! I actually cant believe it worked!

Nice qwertyu

But straightening is only half the fix.


Cheers

Graeme

We used to put cupped on the grass in the morning.
The Jew fixed it usually.
H.

Well that's an unfortunate typo if I ever saw one... :/

I assume you meant "dew"