Hello Group,
A few months ago, FWW had plans for a cherry cabinet that hangs on a
wall. Some of you may have seen it. It looks like a project that a newb
such as me might be able to tackle, so I started wrapping my head
around how I'd go about it.
The planks are 2/4 cherry and I called my local wood supplier
(www.wood-source.com) to see if I could get the pieces in the widths I
wanted. This is not a big piece, so the amounts of wood are small.
The reply I got back was that they'll mill it for me(I don't have the
machinery to do that) from their stock 4/4, but insisted on a deposit
up front because in the past they've found that planing wood down to
that thickness has left their customers very unhappy due to cupping of
the wood after milling.
What they said about cupping made sense to me, and I was appreciative
that they gave me the warning. I"ve not gone ahead and ordered it yet,
and have been wondering what I'm going to do about the issue. I can
re-design the piece to 3/4, but I'm worried that the new thickness will
make the piece too clunky.
I can go back to wood-source, pay the deposit, and have them mill it to
the sizes specified in the plans.
I can have them mill pine to that spec., make the piece as a demo, and
see what happens, but now I'm into a diff. species of wood, and frankly
I'd rather build something out of a wood I've not tried before. I
expect they'll say the same about pine being milled down to that
thickness too.
What do the rest of you think?
Tanus
On 4 Mar 2006 06:50:15 -0800, "Tanus" <[email protected]> wrote:
>I can have them mill pine to that spec., make the piece as a demo, and
>see what happens, but now I'm into a diff. species of wood, and frankly
>I'd rather build something out of a wood I've not tried before. I
>expect they'll say the same about pine being milled down to that
>thickness too.
Skip the pine in favor of poplar for "exploration" work. Poplar is
still cheap, but it's working properties are more "hardwoodish" and
much better than pine.
Lumber providers don't typically face joint wood, but simply thickness
plane both sides. Millwork shops often will, for an additional fee.
Since the wood is already trying to cup at 4/4, proper jointing goes a
long way to eliminate cupping.
One way to control cupping during milling is try to remove similar
amounts of wood from both sides, and to stop at an intermediate step,
letting the wood "rest" for a few days, before final milling.
Personally, I might just go for it and mind the annular rings during
construction. The rule of thumb is that the rings will try to
straighten, so plan the boards so that cupping will be less
noticeable.
"Tanus" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hello Group,
>
> A few months ago, FWW had plans for a cherry cabinet that hangs on a
> wall. Some of you may have seen it. It looks like a project that a newb
> such as me might be able to tackle, so I started wrapping my head
> around how I'd go about it.
>
> The planks are 2/4 cherry and I called my local wood supplier
> (www.wood-source.com) to see if I could get the pieces in the widths I
> wanted. This is not a big piece, so the amounts of wood are small.
>
> The reply I got back was that they'll mill it for me(I don't have the
> machinery to do that) from their stock 4/4, but insisted on a deposit
> up front because in the past they've found that planing wood down to
> that thickness has left their customers very unhappy due to cupping of
> the wood after milling.
>
Any milled wood can cup however it is more prone to happen if not milled
equally from both sides. Milling only one side reveals a surface that is
unequal in moisture content to the other unmilled side. This often causes
cupping.
"Tanus" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hello Group,
>
> A few months ago, FWW had plans for a cherry cabinet that hangs on a
> wall. Some of you may have seen it. It looks like a project that a newb
> such as me might be able to tackle, so I started wrapping my head
> around how I'd go about it.
>
> The planks are 2/4 cherry and I called my local wood supplier
> (www.wood-source.com) to see if I could get the pieces in the widths I
> wanted. This is not a big piece, so the amounts of wood are small.
>
> The reply I got back was that they'll mill it for me(I don't have the
> machinery to do that) from their stock 4/4, but insisted on a deposit
> up front because in the past they've found that planing wood down to
> that thickness has left their customers very unhappy due to cupping of
> the wood after milling.
If they remove material from both sides as they thin the stock that will
help even out the moisture and help minimize the cupping. Another
consideration here is that the cabinet is fairly small and with the stock
1/2" thick some cupping shouldn't be too bad to deal with even if you hand
cut your dovetails.
If you get some cupping you can clamp a straight board to the stock while
laying out and cutting the dovetails--sort of like on page 47 where they
show routing away the waste but I'd place it with the grain 90 degrees to
the stock. Once glued up the dovetail joinery on the corners and shelf will
hold it in shape...
John
"Tanus" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> I can
> re-design the piece to 3/4, but I'm worried that the new thickness will
> make the piece too clunky.
> I can have them mill pine to that spec., make the piece as a demo, and
> see what happens, but now I'm into a diff. species of wood, and frankly
> I'd rather build something out of a wood I've not tried before. I
> expect they'll say the same about pine being milled down to that
> thickness too.
Try building the ice out of 3/4" pine to see if it does look too clunky.
I've had some thin woods cup on me, so it is a concern.