trying to salvage cheap IKEA wood

[chylld]

well i found some wood that was too good to be true, it was some 1190 x 365 x 15 mm 'shelves' from IKEA. only cost $14 each, so i figured i'd buy a few. left them in their plastic wrapping for a few weeks while other parts of my project got attention and then unwrapped the wood today only to find that each panel had warped significantly the 4 panels in the picture below are each warped by about 1-2mm in the centre, i don't know the proper term for it but if you look in the second picture and how they're made of lots of small strips, think 'barrel' and you've got the right idea.

i'd like to be able to use this wood for my project so what do i need to do in order to salvage it? my only tools are a router and a jigsaw, my 'last resort' plan is to jigsaw it right down the middle, use the router to 'square' (as square as square can be) the edges and rejoin them. it'd still be warped and wavy though.

i thought about using a thicknesser, but since it's warped like that it's apparently unsafe to run through it without jointing one face flat first. and even if i had both tools, given that there's up to 2mm warp then my board will only be 15-4 = 11mm thickness!

another alternative is to just buy new wood - this ikea wood is kinda soft, almost balsa wood soft. given that it'll be used for the sides and top of a coffee table, am i better off getting particleboard and veneering it, or something harder? i don't mind having flat matte sides as long as the top has some sort of woodgrain.

any suggestions at all would be welcome!

[rodm]

I have a set up bench on wheels and have been caught by pushing it out of the shed and into the sun when I have finished panels laying on it. Result has been the sun dries the mositure from one face and cups the panels.
I have got around it by flipping the panels over and laying them on a damp towel. Might be worth a try but watch closly as the panels can easily move to the opposite cup or produce some unwanted variations.

If your construction has a frame or the sides are held in a rebate then with only a couple of mm cupping you should be able to flatten the panels during construction.

If the timber is a soft as you say then perhaps it is not the best choice for the top.

[boban]

From your photos, the panels look no worse that most the radiata pine you would buy. You should be able to work with it as it is. Given that its soft you will be able to force it back into shape. I guess a lot depends on what you want to use it for.

[Sir Stinkalot]

well i found some wood that was too good to be true, it was some 1190 x 365 x 15 mm 'shelves' from IKEA. only cost $14 each, so i figured i'd buy a few. left them in their plastic wrapping for a few weeks while other parts of my project got attention and then unwrapped the wood today only to find that each panel had warped significantly
any suggestions at all would be welcome!

How about returning them back to Ikea for some newies?

[AlexS]

I'd go with what RodM said. If they've been packed together they'veprobably dried a bit on the outside. What he suggests should do the job.

[Zed]

a lot of the ikea furniture is made from baltic pine - soft and pliable; as someone above says, force it into shape in grooves and it will be sweet. baltic is nice timber by the way, I dont mind it too much - easy to work and takes an edge... I rate it about par with oregon.

radiata on the other hand - I have trouble liking it for some reason... I cant get over the noxious weed that spreads along the nations highways. it sucks nitrogen out of the soil, grows 7 times faster than hardwoods, nothing grows under it and nothing in australia likes to eat it in the bush... sorta like a cane toad of the forest!

[kiwigeo]

radiata on the other hand - I have trouble liking it for some reason... I cant get over the noxious weed that spreads along the nations highways. it sucks nitrogen out of the soil, grows 7 times faster than hardwoods, nothing grows under it and nothing in australia likes to eat it in the bush... sorta like a cane toad of the forest!

Im with you Zed..I hate Pinus Crapiata. Ive just had 6 of the things felled on my council verge. The things were getting big and Council had no intention of getting rid of them so I ended up funding the operation myself. Wasnt worth milling the stuff so Ive ended up with mountains of firewood lying around the property.

[boban]

Im no lover of the crapiata, but just imagine what we would be using to frame houses otherwise, not to mention the cost. Like my house (circa 1940), the frames are all hardwood. Imagine working with that all day, no thanks.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Sorry to bust your bubble, but it's no good for firewood either. Kindling yes, firewood no. Unless you like stoking the fire every 5 minutes? [sigh]

[Exador]

Im with you Zed..I hate Pinus Crapiata.

Normally, I'd agree with you, but I've just taken 2 ENORMOUS radiatas for milling. Both of them are at least a metre in diameter and each gave me 3 x 5m logs, so they're worth the trouble. Besides, I need a stack of additional framing for racks and at 4 x 2 even greenish radiata will do the job. I might even dry some of it properly.

[chylld]

thanks for the replies guys!

i'll try rodm's suggestion, it makes sense and if i can 'unwarp' wood as easily as that then it's definitely worth a try! just one thing - which way up do i lay down the boards? cupping up on the sides or down on the sides?

from what i understand - when boards are laid flat on a solid surface, the moisture can't get in/out from the bottom but it can from the top / other exposed surfaces... so does that mean the top loses moisture to the atmosphere and so reduces in mass and contracts, causing it to cup upward on the sides?

also, is this the reason why boards should be stored vertically with enough air between each panel? (i never really understood that, i thought having them flat and stacked kept them, well... flat)

i intend to use the wood for the sides and top of a small solid coffee table, dimensions roughly 500(W) x 460(H) x 800(D). using wood on the side would have been nice for aesthetic reasons but the internals of my coffee table need to be millimetre-precise for mechanical reasons so yesterday i went out and bought some melamine from bunnings, which i think will be more stable (as long as i seal all the exposed edges) as well as much more durable. the ikea wood can always be used for something else and i think that'd be wise given it wouldn't last a week as a tabletop!

stinky: i don't think i'll return them, when i picked these panels from ikea i was specifically looking for the flattest ones already =\ they seem to have cupped on me while they were sitting idly in my home waiting to be cut! i doubt the other ones there would be better.

[Kev Y.]

I can not quite see the direction of the grain on each board. Are they narrow strips joined together to give you the wide boards? If so check how they are matched. Does the grain/growth rings run in the opposite direction to the one next to it?

You could always rip each board on the saw, and the re-join them and make sure the grain/growth rings are opposing each other and there-by help reduce the amount of cupping/bowing in the wider board.

[chylld]

i just looked, the growth rings are going in every single direction =\ i remember reading somewhere before that opposing growth ring orientation helps prevent distortion but these boards look really chaotic.

if i had a table saw i think i would have ripped and rejoined already... but it does seem like an awful amount of work.

[kiwigeo]

Sorry to bust your bubble, but it's no good for firewood either. Kindling yes, firewood no. Unless you like stoking the fire every 5 minutes? [sigh]

Yes it burns fast but then I get the additional heat from dashing backwards and forwards from the fire every 5 minutes. Am mixing it with a bit or redgum so its not too bad....at least I dont have to burn so much of that lovely red wood

[kiwigeo]

Im no lover of the crapiata, but just imagine what we would be using to frame houses otherwise, not to mention the cost. Like my house (circa 1940), the frames are all hardwood. Imagine working with that all day, no thanks.

Agreed Boban....my parents house back in NZ has Rimu framing in the walls and roof.

Cheers Martin