Flattening Twisted Doors?

[alex grams]

I made a few doors from 3/4 rail/stile with 1/4" panels. But one of the doors has about a 1/4 twist that raises one corner. This would be fine on a hidden face frame piece, but with inset doors, looks horrible (at least to me.

Any suggestions on flattening them to remove the twist? I left it under a stack of wood over night to get rid of it, and that MAY have helped get it down about 1/8" lower. Should i wet the joints with some water, then maybe set it to twist back the other way about 1/4" and sit it over night?

Other ideas?

[Alan Schwabacher]

Charles Neil has a short video on the topic here:
http://videos.charlesneilwoodworking.com/doortwist.flv

(If that link does not work, just go to his website and navigate from there.)

[alex grams]

Alan, you are my new best friend. I made some doors with some Koa veneer and jack miters, and REALLY didn't want to have to do anything over that may cause me to lose a LOT of work.

I had wedged them in reverse like he suggested, but only minor damping. I will try it again with some hot water and thoroughly soak them.

I will post results.

[David DeCristoforo]

"...I will try it again..."

Be prepared. Might work... might not... But you have nothing to lose by trying.

[alex grams]

The first time i only locally moistened the joints near the flex.

I am certainly interested to see how this goes. I will most likely leave them in traction for several hours at a minimum, at least long enough for everything to fully dry out (and in Houston humidity, that can take a while).

[alex grams]

Follow up:

I wettened the doors and overtwisted them back about 1/2-3/4", and let them sit in traction overnight. One came out perfect, and the other overshot about 1/8", so I am doing it a little again to balance it out.

Good results, and a good trick.