Warped Wood

[Roach1948]

Everytime I come back from the boat I am now taking some varnishing work back to London in order to expedite the interior's slow progress.

This time I took a lovely bit of seasoned solid mahogany that will be a sideboard. Shock-horror this morning when I see the whole thing has warped upwards! Must the central heating....

Anybody any suggestions on how to de-warp large bits of wood. This parcticular but was horribly expensive so really hoping I don't need to replace.

 

[burgundyben]

I've been doing some work on the house, I have a left over bit of floor board I have been screwing to the wall as a batten for getting my tiles level, left it stood next to the radiator, came back form a week skiing and its like a banana!

This is the one case where I think mdf wins!

 

[Peterduck]

It sounds to me as though the piece of mahogany has absorbed moisture while living on the boat, possibly lost some of this moisture when at home in a warm, dry place. If it was lying down, so that one side is exposed to the warmth while the other wasn't, try turning it over to dry the convex side. Alternatively, try wetting the concave side to see if that will straighten it. Inspect the grain, to see if the piece has warped as a result of timber's natural tendency to try to straighten the grain. As it is seasoned, this should be minimised, but can still happen. If all these afil, the 'Heavy artillery' is called for, This means either steaming or boiling the piece, and clamping it down to a flat surface. You are effectively steam-bending a piece, but in this case, you are doing it to make it straight again.
Peter.

 

[Roach1948]

The warping has taken place along the grain, in other words, there is a pronuonced U along the grain. Shame as its lovely Honduran flame mahog for my drinks sideboard. Have now placed it as you say, convex side down, under my matress in the hope that my frame will straighten it again.

 

[Chrissie]

I find covering the shrunken or dried out side with a damp towel, and laying it on the floor, with heavy objects on top to gradually flatten it out works. Once my wood is flat again, I find a coating of varnish each side keeps it flat. I am refitting a boat and have all my wood in the house, so have lots of experience of warped wood!

 

[Roach1948]

Placing under my bed between matress and slats has worked a treat after 4 days! Flat as a pancake again and grateful for that as I was getting a bit fed of the "lumps" and back-ache!