Jan Bianchi
11-26-2010, 4:19 PM
Everyone told me not to buy Madrone that hadn't been both air dried for a year and kiln dried, but I thought 15 years of drying in humidity controlled conditions would be ok. Not.
I glued up my table top in about 65% humidity. It developed a slight cup most of which was removed in sanding, but at the price of some slight checking. The cup relaxed after being stored back in 65% humidity under black visquine. I filled the small checking with epoxy and added one coat of finish, But then the temperature crashed to 18 degrees outside and the humidity to 35 degrees for several days. Cup worsened.
I'm thinking of bringing the table top upstairs where I can increase the humidity by keeping the tea kettle going a few days. I'm hoping that doing so will relax the cupping enough that I can add two cleats across the bottom to hold it flat but with expansion washers to allow for wood movement. Does anyone think if I do this slowly enough, that the cupping will relax enough so I can screw the cleats in and not make the checking worse? (I know I should have put the cleats on immediately, but I was waiting for expansion washers from Lee Valley which took 8 days to arrive after paying $8.50 for postage!)
Will this work? If not, any other suggestions other than starting over with veneer?
I glued up my table top in about 65% humidity. It developed a slight cup most of which was removed in sanding, but at the price of some slight checking. The cup relaxed after being stored back in 65% humidity under black visquine. I filled the small checking with epoxy and added one coat of finish, But then the temperature crashed to 18 degrees outside and the humidity to 35 degrees for several days. Cup worsened.
I'm thinking of bringing the table top upstairs where I can increase the humidity by keeping the tea kettle going a few days. I'm hoping that doing so will relax the cupping enough that I can add two cleats across the bottom to hold it flat but with expansion washers to allow for wood movement. Does anyone think if I do this slowly enough, that the cupping will relax enough so I can screw the cleats in and not make the checking worse? (I know I should have put the cleats on immediately, but I was waiting for expansion washers from Lee Valley which took 8 days to arrive after paying $8.50 for postage!)
Will this work? If not, any other suggestions other than starting over with veneer?