Thread: Twists in timber

I haven’t tried this, but might work?

Furniture Making Technique -- Warped Wood Fix - YouTube

Originally Posted by dave_c

I have a 2200 length about 22mm thick of sassafras that has a twist, if i clamp 3 corners down i end up with about 20mm twist. I'd like to keep it as thick as possible. Thought about wrapping it in wet paper then clamping it and letting the whole lot dry, but i could be on the wrong track! What would some options be to remove the twist?
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Do you intend to use it as a single peice?

I remember someone used to say, "the best tool to remove twist / cup / bow / etc... is a saw".

Halfing the timber will reduce the twist in each peice

Originally Posted by taz01

Halfing the timber will reduce the twist in each peice

But it will also spoil that beautiful pattern in the wood.

Originally Posted by jack620

I haven’t tried this, but might work?

Furniture Making Technique -- Warped Wood Fix - YouTube

I don't see this working because he's trying to glue sticks cross grain. Never seen work before.

If it was cupped you could just break it's back with a few saw cuts on the back...


But a twist is a bit of a different beast. You have to be prepared to lose the board, but you could try putting saw cuts in the back and reducing the stress of wrestling it into shape. My guess is a saw cut every 25mm about halfway or more into the board.

Originally Posted by The Spin Doctor

Never seen work before.

Have you ever seen it tried before?

The splines running across the grain would move at a different rate to the board, but how much that would affect the flatness of the board is debatable. Seems like an option for a board that can’t be ripped into narrower strips because it is highly figured. And obviously, you’ll never want the side with all the cuts to be visible.

Originally Posted by jack620

Have you ever seen it tried before?

The splines running across the grain would move at a different rate to the board, but how much that would affect the flatness of the board is debatable. Seems like an option for a board that can’t be ripped into narrower strips because it is highly figured. And obviously, you’ll never want the side with all the cuts to be visible.

I wouldn't try it. When you try to glue sticks like that cross grain you introduce a huge amount of stress that the glue can't handle when the board expands and contracts. Half a mm of movement might not look like a lot of movement but it's huge when the stick doesn't give at all - the glue will pop eventually.

The lengthwise saw cuts are what are going to wrestle the board into submission, not the sticks.

Originally Posted by taz01

Do you intend to use it as a single peice?

I remember someone used to say, "the best tool to remove twist / cup / bow / etc... is a saw".

Halfing the timber will reduce the twist in each peice

yes hoping to use it all its for a queen bed head so i can come down to about 1600 and i have another bit to joint on to get the width. i guess i can come down to 19mm or so. I've seen people use "c" channel on walnut slab tables to stop twist maybe i could pull it into line that way?

Originally Posted by dave_c

What would some options be to remove the twist?

Build a Plywood box to hold the board with a door at one end and steam it for an hour or two .
Pull it out and clamp it to a frame of some sort to pull it straight that over compensates the twist by 10% possibly ?
Leave it a month or more to dry out thoroughly .

Ive never seen it done for treating warped boards . I don't see why it wouldn't work though.

Another way that I'm sure would work . I saw some guy building a large canoe or boat doing something like this for his bent timbers. His timbers were probably wet but dry wood has moisture in it still and this works.
You would need an outdoor area and a pair of strong metal bars or logs fixed down. Either into the ground or connected to a building . And a large fire with a horizontal bar each side. Or logs .

Build a fire and heat your board right up resting it on the Bars or logs and flipping it over to get it hot . The moisture in the wood will heat up and allow it to be bent or twisted. Take it to your fixed bars or logs and with the help of a clamping a stick to it for leverage do what needs to be done .

Ive shaped wood this way . Much smaller than your board.
Get a heat gun and try it on a small dry long off cut of wood and you see what happens .

I have tried to un-twist a small piece of Meranti by sandwiching between straight boards. Clamped and glued with Titebond 3, and edged. It was a smallish play board for the Grandchildren.

Failed miserably and twisted the whole board all from the one twisted piece. Ran it over a jointer and through a thicknesser several times to no avail. Learnt my lesson.

Good luck.

Hi Dave,
yeah sassafras is a bit of a b%gg#r like that, it does tend to twist, I’ve had the same problem. With a piece that size, looks hard to remove the twist. Such a lovely single piece, if I wanted to make a bed head out of it I might try and adjust the design to incorporate the twist rather than trying to fix it. So it would be a floating type Bedhead, you could shape the uprights behind to compensate (for example, but I have no idea what your design looks like of course!). Maybe not the best solution depending on your tolerance for slightly out of square furniture, just an option to consider!
anyway best of luck sorting it out.