Thread: Help with wood warping !!!!

Originally Posted by Duke_Nukem

Was it the mahogany warping so fast on me, or is it the woodworker that did not pay attention to waht he was doing ....

I'd say the timber is still slightly green. Even well cured timber will warp over time, but the greener it is the quicker (and the more) it will warp because you've increased the surface area that it can lose moisture from. ie. it's drying out much more rapidly than when it was all in one piece!

is mahogany notorious for warping ! ???

Notorious? Not in particular. But all wood will warp to some degree or another.

Should i glue the strips as soon as possible after i cut them, or let them rest, joint-plane and repeat teh cycles till there is no more visible warping ????

If the wood is well dried, you can glue straight away and get away with it 99% of the time. If it's green, the odds increase that it will start splitting because it's not free to move and relieve the stresses.

For a good job, you're better of putting it aside and waiting...

What is your advice to overcome this ????

I'd do what your other friend suggested: cut the strips and leave them for a few weeks. I don't see any real advantage to squaring them up in the first place: I'd just rough-saw them to about 10% oversize and leave the thicknessing/jointing until they've stopped moving. Why make work for yourself?

A rule of thumb is that for every inch of radial thickness allow a year to dry. This is for freshly felled timber, of course, and is for air-drying but it can still be used as a guide.

So, for your strips (which are about 1" across in the minimum dimension) they'd still take 6 months to stop moving if they were fresh from the tree. Let's say they were 75% dry... that still leaves another 6 weeks before they'll stop. 90% dry? Still a two or three weeks.

Unless you have a moisture metre you won't really know what % they're at... so it's safest to leave them aside for at least a month. Or, as your friend said, until they've stopped moving.

(And even then, they'll move again when the weather/humidity changes significantly. Oh, the joys of woodworking! )

Here is a the handle i made of the piece of mahogany...maybe you will tell me that my mahogany variety is a chap nast one...i dont know about woods !!!!!

Looks alright to me. What'd you finish with? A PolyU?

Hi Skew,

thanks for the info.... i have a "more complete" picture now !!!

The handle i carved with wood rasps, and the angle-grinder with sandpaper discs.... savesd me lots of time..wish i discovered it earlier !!!!

theni sandpaper to remove the filing blemishes and the finish is Teak oil !!!
i just brush or apply it with a sponge some teak oil on it..let it soak up..then moer oil till the wood absorbs it !!!!

in the photos though you can see teh product after the first coat of teak oil which has not been absorbed and thats why it looks shiny

...

one more question please !

i am unaware of how much % moist the wood is.... if i take it to someone with a kiln...what should i do...

cut the lamintes (with 20% oversize extra)and kiln the laminates, or kiln the whole block of wood, and tehn cut my laminates still cutting them oversized to forsee any warping after they are cut !!! ????

Thanks,

George

That sounds like a sensible approach for something that'll be intermittently submerged. I'd be worried about a PolyU as one scratch and you'd end up with serious waterlogging.

I'm sorry, but I can't help you with the kiln drying... I'm a wood-turner so source a lot of my timbers from "garden waste" and air-dry them myself.

I'm not even sure if it's economically feasible to kiln-dry on a small scale - it's not like the kiln is the same as a potter's kiln or similar. I doubt it, but I'm only making an educated guess.

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

I'm not even sure if it's economically feasible to kiln-dry on a small scale - it's not like the kiln is the same as a potter's kiln or similar. I doubt it, but I'm only making an educated guess.

the guy who owns a kiln is a friend of a friend..so no charge there, or at least a reasonable charge ...i hope

thanks

George

That's a nice looking handle. When I saw the pics, before reading the post, I thought it was some sort of abstract carving of a head.

Nice job

I'll get out of your way now.

I'd imagine it'd be best to do it before cutting up, so it's of about the same dimensions as whatever other timber he's throwing it in with. Howecer, as I said before, I'm only guessing.

Easily solved though: ask this friend of a friend. It's his kiln so he should know.

Ive made a few spear guns in the past, So here goes;
First af all your blank needs to be perfectly quarter sawn from its extreme (140mm) ,And that means a 140x80 board would be perfectly cut on the radial. Its like a base ball bat- The modulas of elastricity is best on the tangential edge, The sweet spot.
If you are going to laminate it(providing it is the right cut) I would not worry about re planing ect, Just seal the end grain and get it clamped togeather.
Dont just use teak oil, I would give it an epoxy finish, Oil is not water proof so sand it back.
The wood you are using is light and looks good, ive got a tellycaster guitar that Gilet made for me and looks simular.
For accuracy, I would concentrate on the spear lining(Shaft or "barrel"), The bridel, The gage of spear, The rubber used.