Hi,
Is there any way to straighten bowed lumber? By bowed I mean the board
curves off to the left or right as you sight down its length. I have a
large amount of 5/4 by 4 inch cedar trim boards for the house I am building.
Most of these have become so badly bowed as to be unusable.
I thought about attaching a straight-edge and machining them straight on the
table saw, but I think they'd end up only being maybe two inches wide at the
most.
Thanks for any help!
-Tony-
Tony Jester wrote:
> Hi,
> Is there any way to straighten bowed lumber? By bowed I mean the board
> curves off to the left or right as you sight down its length.
IIUC the board would sit more or less flat on the floor. If that is
the case the bending is called 'crook'. Bow is in the other plane
so that the board would rock or be arched when on the floor.
> I have a
> large amount of 5/4 by 4 inch cedar trim boards for the house I am building.
> Most of these have become so badly bowed as to be unusable.
>
> I thought about attaching a straight-edge and machining them straight on the
> table saw, but I think they'd end up only being maybe two inches wide at the
> most.
>
Yes, but that is probably what you'll have to do.
If you cut them into short lengths then joint them you'll get more
board feet of usable lumber--but all short pieces. Should be OK
if you're building bird houses or mailboxes or some such.
You can also google the thread on cooking salmon on cedar planks...
--
FF
Toller wrote:
> ...
>
> I did that once; wet the board and recurved it for a couple days to let it
> dry. It took out about half the curve, but a few days later it was back
> where it started.
>
> It turned out to be a bad news/good news joke.
> The bad news it that it didn't go back to it's original shape until after I
> used it.
> The good news is that the curve turned out to be a nice design note; now I
> claim to have done it on purpose.
There you go. Use it for the trim over an arched doorway.
--
FF
Tony Jester wrote:
> Hi,
> Is there any way to straighten bowed lumber? By bowed I mean the board
> curves off to the left or right as you sight down its length.
I've never actually tried this, so maybe some of the other guys should
comment on whether or not it makes sense.
What about ripping right down the middle, then edge-gluing the curved
surfaces together? It might be a bit of fiddly work getting the two
curves to line up, but it seems like a pair of templates and a router
should work for that.
That way you'd end up with a full-length board--although the grain would
be a bit odd.
Chris
Tony Jester wrote:
> Hi,
> Is there any way to straighten bowed lumber? By bowed I mean the board
> curves off to the left or right as you sight down its length. I have a
> large amount of 5/4 by 4 inch cedar trim boards for the house I am building.
> Most of these have become so badly bowed as to be unusable.
>
> I thought about attaching a straight-edge and machining them straight on the
> table saw, but I think they'd end up only being maybe two inches wide at the
> most.
Cut them into 4 ft lentgths, (or whatever lengths you need) then do
this. Less waste that way!
--Steve
>
> Thanks for any help!
>
> -Tony-
>
>
"Roger Bigras" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Tony Jester wrote:
>> Hi,
>> Is there any way to straighten bowed lumber? By bowed I mean the board
>> curves off to the left or right as you sight down its length. I have a
>> large amount of 5/4 by 4 inch cedar trim boards for the house I am
>> building.
>> Most of these have become so badly bowed as to be unusable.
>>
>> I thought about attaching a straight-edge and machining them straight on
>> the
>> table saw, but I think they'd end up only being maybe two inches wide at
>> the
>> most.
>>
>> Thanks for any help!
>>
>> -Tony-
>>
>>
> I'm no expert, but if you can wet wood to bend it, why not wet it to
> straiten it?
>
> I'd try to make a jig to hold the pieces firmly that allows the pieces to
> be straiten by applying counter pressure to the bend area, keep a
> sprinkler going on the wood, after several hours you'd be able to
> determine if it actually works.????
I did that once; wet the board and recurved it for a couple days to let it
dry. It took out about half the curve, but a few days later it was back
where it started.
It turned out to be a bad news/good news joke.
The bad news it that it didn't go back to it's original shape until after I
used it.
The good news is that the curve turned out to be a nice design note; now I
claim to have done it on purpose.
In article <[email protected]>, Chris Friesen
<[email protected]> wrote:
> Tony Jester wrote:
> > Hi,
> > Is there any way to straighten bowed lumber? By bowed I mean the board
> > curves off to the left or right as you sight down its length.
>
> I've never actually tried this, so maybe some of the other guys should
> comment on whether or not it makes sense.
>
> What about ripping right down the middle, then edge-gluing the curved
> surfaces together? snip
What might work would be to use one half for the template, have them
spaced just a bit closer together than the size of pattern bit you
have, then raise one up so the bearing runs against it and the bit cuts
the lower one to match.
--
http://sawdustmaking.com
Frank Campbell wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>, Chris Friesen
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>What about ripping right down the middle, then edge-gluing the curved
>>surfaces together? snip
> What might work would be to use one half for the template, have them
> spaced just a bit closer together than the size of pattern bit you
> have, then raise one up so the bearing runs against it and the bit cuts
> the lower one to match.
That's a brilliant idea. Since most people don't have a circular plane
it would probably be easiest to smooth the convex curve and then use it
for the template.
Chris
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> IIUC the board would sit more or less flat on the floor. If that is
> the case the bending is called 'crook'.
OK, crook. Funny I never knew that. Must be where crooked comes from :-)
What about placing two board side-by-side on pipe clamps with the crook in
opposite directions and gluing with polyurethane glue? Will it hold?
-Tony-
"Fly-by-Night CC" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In article <z7X3g.11836$%[email protected]>,
> If they're long enough, you could halve them
> and then machine them straight - you'll have more width that way, but
> shorter lengths to work with.
I don't quite understand what you mean. Could you explain? They are long
lengths - 16-20 feet. Thanks!
-Tony-
"Mike Marlow" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
>
> Not really a good idea Tony. You have no idea - and no control over which
> of the two is exerting more force in the curve, so rather quickly you
could
> find yourself with a crooked laminate. As well, while glued joints are
> strong you really don't want to introduce stresses like that into a glue
up.
> You'd be far better off to rip a straight edge on each of the two pieces
and
> glue that edge up. After that you could rip the whole thing again to true
> up the two outer edges.
Yea, that's what I figured. Thanks for saving me the experiment.
-Tony-
"Tony Jester" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:z7X3g.11836$%[email protected]...
> Hi,
> Is there any way to straighten bowed lumber? By bowed I mean the board
> curves off to the left or right as you sight down its length. I have a
> large amount of 5/4 by 4 inch cedar trim boards for the house I am
> building.
> Most of these have become so badly bowed as to be unusable.
>
> I thought about attaching a straight-edge and machining them straight on
> the
> table saw, but I think they'd end up only being maybe two inches wide at
> the
> most.
If this is exterior trim and the lengths are long I'd be inclined to nail it
in place while bending it into place... Cedar is relatively soft and easy to
straighten out while nailing up... I'm assuming of course you aren't talking
about wood so crocked that the ends touch!
John
Tony Jester wrote:
> Hi,
> Is there any way to straighten bowed lumber? By bowed I mean the board
> curves off to the left or right as you sight down its length. I have a
> large amount of 5/4 by 4 inch cedar trim boards for the house I am building.
> Most of these have become so badly bowed as to be unusable.
>
> I thought about attaching a straight-edge and machining them straight on the
> table saw, but I think they'd end up only being maybe two inches wide at the
> most.
>
> Thanks for any help!
>
> -Tony-
>
>
I'm no expert, but if you can wet wood to bend it, why not wet it to
straiten it?
I'd try to make a jig to hold the pieces firmly that allows the pieces
to be straiten by applying counter pressure to the bend area, keep a
sprinkler going on the wood, after several hours you'd be able to
determine if it actually works.????
"Tony Jester" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > IIUC the board would sit more or less flat on the floor. If that is
> > the case the bending is called 'crook'.
>
> OK, crook. Funny I never knew that. Must be where crooked comes from :-)
>
> What about placing two board side-by-side on pipe clamps with the crook in
> opposite directions and gluing with polyurethane glue? Will it hold?
>
Not really a good idea Tony. You have no idea - and no control over which
of the two is exerting more force in the curve, so rather quickly you could
find yourself with a crooked laminate. As well, while glued joints are
strong you really don't want to introduce stresses like that into a glue up.
You'd be far better off to rip a straight edge on each of the two pieces and
glue that edge up. After that you could rip the whole thing again to true
up the two outer edges.
--
-Mike-
[email protected]
Toller wrote:
> "Roger Bigras" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>>Tony Jester wrote:
>>
>>>Hi,
>>>Is there any way to straighten bowed lumber? By bowed I mean the board
>>>curves off to the left or right as you sight down its length. I have a
>>>large amount of 5/4 by 4 inch cedar trim boards for the house I am
>>>building.
>>>Most of these have become so badly bowed as to be unusable.
>>>
>>>I thought about attaching a straight-edge and machining them straight on
>>>the
>>>table saw, but I think they'd end up only being maybe two inches wide at
>>>the
>>>most.
>>>
>>>Thanks for any help!
>>>
>>>-Tony-
>>>
>>>
>>
>>I'm no expert, but if you can wet wood to bend it, why not wet it to
>>straiten it?
>>
>>I'd try to make a jig to hold the pieces firmly that allows the pieces to
>>be straiten by applying counter pressure to the bend area, keep a
>>sprinkler going on the wood, after several hours you'd be able to
>>determine if it actually works.????
>
>
> I did that once; wet the board and recurved it for a couple days to let it
> dry. It took out about half the curve, but a few days later it was back
> where it started.
>
> It turned out to be a bad news/good news joke.
> The bad news it that it didn't go back to it's original shape until after I
> used it.
> The good news is that the curve turned out to be a nice design note; now I
> claim to have done it on purpose.
>
>
Thanks for the good info.
In article <z7X3g.11836$%[email protected]>,
"Tony Jester" <[email protected]> wrote:
> Is there any way to straighten bowed lumber? By bowed I mean the board
> curves off to the left or right as you sight down its length. I have a
> large amount of 5/4 by 4 inch cedar trim boards for the house I am building.
> Most of these have become so badly bowed as to be unusable.
>
> I thought about attaching a straight-edge and machining them straight on the
> table saw, but I think they'd end up only being maybe two inches wide at the
> most.
Not much can be done to straighten it other than muscling it into place
and holding with fasteners. If they're long enough, you could halve them
and then machine them straight - you'll have more width that way, but
shorter lengths to work with.
--
Owen Lowe
The Fly-by-Night Copper Company
__________
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
Corporate States of America and to the
Republicans for which it stands, one nation,
under debt, easily divisible, with liberty
and justice for oil."
- Wiley Miller, Non Sequitur, 1/24/05
In article <[email protected]>,
"Tony Jester" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> I don't quite understand what you mean. Could you explain? They are long
> lengths - 16-20 feet. Thanks!
What Steve and Fredfighter said.
--
Owen Lowe
The Fly-by-Night Copper Company
__________
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
Corporate States of America and to the
Republicans for which it stands, one nation,
under debt, easily divisible, with liberty
and justice for oil."
- Wiley Miller, Non Sequitur, 1/24/05