can you straighten cull lumber?

mountaineer · September 13, 2009, 08:18:04 AM

can you straighten lumber that has different problems like cups, bows, whips etc. are there any tricks to making a board straight again? thx

thx mountaineer

woodhick · September 13, 2009, 08:32:10 AM

Not trying to sound like a smart butt here but the only way I have found is to make shorter boards that will straight edge out of them.

Den Socling · September 13, 2009, 09:35:59 AM

Once you take all the water out of the openings in the cell walls of the wood and then you take the water from within the cell walls, the wood sets hard and you can't change the shape.

When the wood is headed to bending for furniture, they stop drying before all of the water is out of the cell walls.

So, to answer your question, nope. :(

tyb525 · September 13, 2009, 11:34:36 AM

Yes with a jointer and planer, but you will always end up with a narrower/shorter board than what you started with, depending on the amount of bow, crook, etc.

Gary_C · September 14, 2009, 12:36:49 AM

Sometimes you can correct uneven drying or moisture defects by rewetting the dryer side and then drying side uniformly. Like if you leave the board lying flat on concrete with no air circulation on the bottom and it cups upwards as the bottom gains moisture. Sometimes you can correct that by wetting the top side and then drying both sides uniformly with good air flow top and bottom. And sometimes you can't.

Meadows Miller · September 14, 2009, 05:17:22 AM

Gday

A simple method use on heavy building sections in pine is to make up a trough out of timber about 8" to 12" deep and as wide as you need usually for me its about 3' to 4' wide and about a foot longer than the timber you need to put in it ;) line it with heavy black plastic and put about an inc of water in the bottom then some 3X3" timbers every 2' Along the length then put your timbers in and stick it out if theres afew rows and pull the remainig black plastic back over the top weight it down then you have a simple Reco chamber ;) ;D 8) leave it a week or two to take up moisture and equalize then build with it or redry it ;)
Hope this helps Mate

Regards Chris

woodmills1 · September 14, 2009, 07:16:20 PM

I call it making good wood out of bad and do it 3 or 4 times a year. It is always way smaller than the boards I started with, though it helps to have an order for like half inch or closet lining when you do it.