How to keep lumber from warping?

[anthonyb]

So I just recently decided to take up furniture building. Nothing fancy, just trying to build some custom sized tables for my house, maybe a bed frame or cabinets eventually.

How do I keep wood from warping? I recently bought some lumber from the generic big box store that was relatively straight/flat when I got it, but it sat for a couple of weeks and now it's starting to cup and twist, enough that I probably can't use it for a table top. And I don't have a planer to mill it flat again.

I've read a little about wood grain and moisture - do I need to find oven dried wood for these projects?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MTI]

For solid woods, it's all about controlling heat and humidity. As an organic product, the material gives off and absorbs moisture constantly. Storing it at a consistent temp and humidity level, preferably what your furniture will experience, would be ideal. Laying it flat on shelves off the floor will save room.

[cmac2012]

Kiln dried lumber would be good.

Warping and bowing can be the result of one side being more exposed to evaporation than the other. Will sometimes reverse sometimes not.

But often enough it just changes as it dries w/o much rhyme or reason.

Not sure what's available in Sacramento, but McBeath's Hardwoods has a few stores in the Bay Area, the closest to you in Berkeley, just off I-80. Major eye candy for woodworkers.

[sunedog]

Don't store it in the sun.
Cover it with a tarp if you have to leave it outside.
Stack it neatly. The weight of the upper planks keep the lower planks straighter.
Choose kiln dried if available.
If you're going to store it for a long period, sticker it so all four sides of each plank are exposed to the same conditions (primarily temperature and humidity). "Stickers are small pieces of wood (usually about 3/4” x 11/2”) that are used to add space between sawn planks, which increases ventilation and aids in a more uniform drying process. Sticker spacing varies depending on the species and thickness of the lumber being dried; a conservative spacing scheme would be every 12”, though usually 16” or 24” spacing can be safely used on thicker pieces."

Here's a good article:
Drying Wood at Home | The Wood Database

[BAVBMW]

While not a master furniture craftsman by any stretch, it is my understanding that removing the dilithium crystals should pretty much put a stop to any instances of warping.

MV

[MTI]

You have to accept that anytime a guy gets wood, it does naturally tend to bend one way or the other.

[t walgamuth]

Kiln dried wood stored in flat stacks will stay straight for a long time. Especially if it is hardwood. Pressure treated wood is about impossible to keep straight unless it is installed in a structure which restrains its movement. This is because of its high moisture content.

[anthonyb]

Hey thanks everyone for the tips. Right now I am storing it in a finished (but not temp controlled) garage. I'm thinking maybe I should stack it on the floor and weight it down to help control the movement.

If it's already warped, would it help to lightly mist it and try to weight it down to try to flatten it? Or am I just asking for trouble later on.

We have a couple of hardwood distributors/lumberyards here in Sac. They have some cool wood species - I'm thinking I will try to get some nice lumber/planks for a dining room table after I have practiced a bit on the cheap stuff for some smaller pieces.

[TopKnot]

Seems like a pretty ambitious undertaking for a budding furniture maker.

Unless there is not going to too much concern about the fit, finish and appearance of the furniture, no?

There are many, many specialized techniques used by furniture and cabinet makers to end up with useful, durable, and attractive pieces. It might be an advantage to start with some smaller projects were someone could learn the basic techniques and tools of joinery required to assemble multiple pieces of wood into functional furniture to be proud of.

It would be very easy to mangle a pile of costly material.

Something like the PBS New Yankee Workshop can give you an idea about what might be involved in such projects. Norm uses thousands of dollars of machinery and tools so it's probably not practical to jump into it like he does though.

One of my own favorites is the Woodwrights Shop with Roy Underhill, once you get past the kitschyness of the video production, the basics of simple and solid wood fabrication are pretty well illustrated and explained. And although he uses some of the most basic tools he does show how you can get some respectable pieces in the end.

[MTI]

I used to subscribe to Fine Woodworking . . . mangled a lot of nice wood and veneer back then.

[Skid Row Joe]

Dry atmosphere !

[barry12345]

Good dry hardwood you essentially do not get at the average lumberyard. Plus if they had the stuff you will not like the retail price.

I buy from two sources as I build hardwood kitchen cabinets etc from time to time. I located a small firm that turns out hardwood profile moldings and ran hardwood to produce hardwood floors at one time. Another place is where they crank out custom cabinet doors at a substantial rate. I almost never have any issues with their hardwood.

You need a really good table saw. Mine for this is pretty sophisticated as I have to match or exceed commercial appearance with quality builds. The special fences and factory jigs etc put well over a thousand dollars on top of the saw table to produce consistency.

You can live without some of this stuff but it does help speed things up a little. I always wanted to build furniture for myself but never found the time except for a few pieces.

You might be better off buying used tables and refinishing them. Also there is little real alternative to using spray equipment. You almost have to use catalized laquer finishes today. They are very tough and never get sticky etc.

[cmac2012]

Anthony, what kind of wood did you get? If it was Home Depot, there's a big range. Fir, pine, redwood, maple, birch, uhhh, poplar though that stuff is usually painted.

A good hardwoods store will probably have a low grade of almost mahogany for a halfway decent price. I say almost because there are a few species that look like mahogany but don't carry the name. Also some inexpensive African or Asian mahogany can be had. It's technically a hardwood but it's much softer than birch or maple but still suitable for a lot of furniture.

But much of what can be called lumber from Home Depot is not going to be suitable for furniture.

[anthonyb]

Originally Posted by cmac2012

Anthony, what kind of wood did you get? If it was Home Depot, there's a big range. Fir, pine, redwood, maple, birch, uhhh, poplar though that stuff is usually painted.

A good hardwoods store will probably have a low grade of almost mahogany for a halfway decent price. I say almost because there are a few species that look like mahogany but don't carry the name. Also some inexpensive African or Asian mahogany can be had. It's technically a hardwood but it's much softer than birch or maple but still suitable for a lot of furniture.

But much of what can be called lumber from Home Depot is not going to be suitable for furniture.

It's mostly poplar from Lowe's, as well as one of those commercial lodgepole pine pieces (1x12x72) after one of the big poplar planks I was going to use for a console table top warped. I'm guessing the commercial piece will hold up a little better, it is basically a bunch of 1" strips glued together and was probably planed at the factory before it was sealed in plastic wrap.

The backstory behind all this is that my wife and I recently moved from a very small house into a larger house and (long story short got hit with a lot of unanticipated big expenses right after we entered escrow) didn't have much money left over for furnishing our new house. Especially after looking at the cost for some of the nicer 8-10 person dining tables, I figured "hey why don't I just learn how to build us some furniture." I've since done a bunch of reading and figured out that woodworking is a complicated thing and also a little bit dangerous if you are not careful, but to be honest we aren't looking to make something perfect. I think the idea of having pieces with flaws and character that we made is more appealing than buying something nicer but commercial from a retail outlet. (assuming, of course, that it isn't a total disaster)

I initially was just going to make a dining table, but now I'm going to start by trying to make a console table, then a coffee table, and then the dining table. And if that works out then maybe something more elaborate (like a new bed frame or cabinets). But we'll see how far I can get.

[anthonyb]

Originally Posted by TopKnot

It would be very easy to mangle a pile of costly material.

Yeah, I visited a lumberyard and saw what some of the bigger planks of walnut were going for and scaled back my initial ambitions quite a bit.

Something like the PBS New Yankee Workshop can give you an idea about what might be involved in such projects. Norm uses thousands of dollars of machinery and tools so it's probably not practical to jump into it like he does though.

One of my own favorites is the Woodwrights Shop with Roy Underhill, once you get past the kitschyness of the video production, the basics of simple and solid wood fabrication are pretty well illustrated and explained. And although he uses some of the most basic tools he does show how you can get some respectable pieces in the end.

There are a bunch of good tutorials on YouTube - it's actually pretty amazing what you can learn on YT these days. I'm fortunate to be able to borrow a bunch of stuff from friends and co-workers who used to be into DIY wood working and construction. So far I've accumulated a portable table, miter and circular saw and a palm sander. And a bunch of clamps. I also picked up a pocket hole jig online, which I read at least is a lot easier than other methods of joining wood.