Is this cut board's warp too much to expect from a hardwood lumber store?

[Lloyd James]

I purchased a 4/4 x 7.5" x 8 ft. long board of light color bloodwood. The lumber store planned one side of the board and I planned the opp. side down to 7/8 thick. The wood piece in question was cut to 3 1/4 wide x 30" long. When I have one corner weighted down the
opposite corner is almost 1/4" off the table.
I stored the precut board in my basement standing on end for about a month in my basement. The temperature is in the 50's during the winter, and our basement is pretty dry in the winter months.

I started making art canvas frames out of exotic wood and have made 4 frames out of a much darker type of bloodwood and afrormosia wood.
I did not have to have these boards jointed and I even resawed the 8/4 bloodwood board. (wish I had a larger band saw than 14" for that)

If you would like to see afrormosia wood, you can use thewoodexplorer.com http://www.thewoodexplorer.com/
My afrormosia was closer to the 2nd pic, but alot more wavy. I made my daughters painting 7/8" thk. x 3 3/4" wide frame.
It took most of a 8" board, and the painting was quite small. :eek:

[Sam Murdoch]

Absolutely not unusual for plain sawn lumber to take that much shape - would be more of a surprise to me if you found it not to be twisted. Concrete floor in your basement maybe under an uninsulated wood floor and no vapor barrier either? Standing on end your board would have sucked up every bit of moisture it could have. No matter, a better technique would have been to leave the board unplaned and laying flat until you were ready to use it. Then joint a face to flat and finish to thickness with the thickness planer starting with the jointed face down until both surfaces were flat. Finally keep planing alternating each face with each pass until you reached the desired thickness. For 7/8" stock I always start with 5/4 stock. I always expect to need to joint flat.

[Howard Acheson]

If you are going to lay it flat, you would want to sticker it so air can get equally to both sides. If you lay it flat on top of another flat surface, you cut off the air to the bottom surface and this will actually promote warping.

Sam is correct, you don't want to leave any lumber against a concrete floor unless there is a vapor barrier between the concrete and the ground. Concrete wicks moisture right through it.

[Van Huskey]

Not unusual at all, it is the nature of wood. It doesn't always happen but it does happen.

[Lloyd James]

Thanks Sam for your good advice about the effects of cement, and the best procedure in finishing a board. I better make rack to hold the boards horizontal
with 3 or 4 supports.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi LLoyd, you indicated that the lumber supplier planed one side of the board, and you planed the other.

Does this mean that it wasn't jointed first?

Regards, Rod.

[Lloyd James]

Yes, it was not jointed first. I didn't have this trouble with my previous 8/4 bloodwood bd that I resawed into halves and the 4/4 aformosia board.
I do not have a jointer yet, since I can't decide if I should wait to buy a 8", 10" combo, or a 6" jointer. I know I shouldn't wait so long to decide.
A 6" jointer would work for most of my frames I plan to make. I design and make toys using oak, walnut, and exotics. l get more parts out of a wider board.

[Caleb Larru]

Lloyd, when you cut the board down closer to the piece you need, I would give it a day or so so the tension has time to do it's thing. I have had boards like that have been cut into smaller pieces and sometimes releasing the tension takes them back closer to flat.

[Neil Brooks]

I have to side with the others who've said -- sadly -- this is a pretty acceptable range of warp, for skip-planed lumber, and that stickering it is pretty crucial.

LOTS of variables with this "wood" stuff that we all enjoy. Part of the fun. Most of the cursing ;)

I long ago decided not to spend the $$ on "S4S" (Surfaced on 4 Sides) lumber, from my (very good) local lumber yard. I just had to machine it, myself, anyway.

And ... since I tend to re-saw a fair % of what I buy ... all bets are off ;)

[Neil Brooks]

Lloyd, when you cut the board down closer to the piece you need, I would give it a day or so so the tension has time to do it's thing. I have had boards like that have been cut into smaller pieces and sometimes releasing the tension takes them back closer to flat.

Or ... farther from it :p

[Todd Bin]

You could try a trick that I learned from the "Halfinchshy" guy. He will take the lumber and wet it then place it under a plastic tent to sit for a couple of days. That way the wood can absorb moisture where it wants to and should return to the origianl flat-ish state. I have not tried this with a severly twisted board. You could then joint and plane it.

[Rod Sheridan]

Yes Lloyd without a jointer you're left with a hand plane or crooked lumber..............Rod.