Projects warping

[Terry Starch]

I built a few chessboards and they are warping. Anyone know why? I make small keepsake boxes and the lids are warping on them also.

[scott vroom]

Pictures and some additional description would be useful.

[Jim Andrew]

If you are using air dried lumber, or something you bought at a lumberyard, it probably needed to acclimate in your shop for a few weeks before using. Have had the same thing happen to me, usually it will straighten out after it dries.

[mike mcilroy]

Another possibility,are they finished the same top and bottom?. If they are not finished at all the exposed side will dry faster. If they are finished with more coats on one side that will also cause an imbalance in movement.

[Danny Hamsley]

The warp is happening because your wood is not as dry as the equilibrium environment that the wood is in. The wood is losing moisture and still continuing to shrink. This is causing the warp.

[John Coloccia]

Talk to Dave Decristoforo about chess boards if you really want an education. I'm not sure this was his intention, but he convinced me that solid wood chess boards are simply an inferior design and should be avoided. He's a member here, though I haven't seen him around in a while. Perhaps if you send him a PM, he'll respond. He's a nice guy and has always been willing to share what he knows.

[Jeff Duncan]

The warp is happening because your wood is not as dry as the equilibrium environment that the wood is in. The wood is losing moisture and still continuing to shrink. This is causing the warp.

Or the wood is/was drier. Wood movement happens when wood gains or loses moisture. Warp often can be caused by one side of the wood gaining or losing more/faster than the other. Example…apply finish to only one side of a piece of wood, such as a wood top, and the piece will usually warp in a short time, sometime overnight. Not knowing what part of the wood the OP is in, we don't know if it's a dry, or a humid, climate;)

good luck,
JeffD

[Lee Schierer]

If your box lids or chess boards are a board glued to the sides as shown in the attached sketch, they will almost certainly warp. The reason is the top of the panel can contract, but the bottom cannot move because it is attached to the frame. You need to make the sides with grooves and the edges of the lid with rabbets that fit in those grooves so the lid panel can float inside the frame307494. As the panel expands and contracts with seasonal moisture changes it will be able to move within the frame and will stay flat as it changes dimensions. Putting equal amounts of finish on both sides of a lid also helps prevent warping.

[Don Jarvie]

Are you using rough lumbers and milling it or wood already milled? I use rough lumber so I joint and plane a bit at a time and let it set up over a few days.

[Howard Acheson]

Did you build solid wood chessboards or did you use veneer? Pictures would also be a big help. In the mean time, here is some info about building these items.

There is a little engineering that needs to be considered when building an end grain butcher block or cutting board. First, choose wood where the growth rings (viewed from the end) run as close to 90 degrees or parallel to one edge. Remember, the expansion/contraction is about double along the annular rings verses perpendicular to the rings. You've got to keep the grain running in the same direction as you glue up your strips. In other words, don't glue a flatsawn edge to a quartersawn edge.

Next, the way butcher blocks are made is to glue up strips of wood like you were making a laminated type cutting board. These laminated panels are then run through a planer to flatten them and bring them to equal thickness. Then the panel is crosscut into strips of blocks equal to the thickness that you want the butcher block to be. These block strips are then glued together again keeping the grain running in the same directions.

Not paying attention to the grain orientation will lead to the block cracking and/or joints being pulled apart.

A ANSI type II or ANSI Type I (Titebond III) adhesive will work just fine however, you need to be sure you do everything right to get good adhesion. Wood glues are non-toxic when cured. Your glue faces should be flat and freshly cut. It they were cut more than a few days earlier, freshen them up with about three swipes with 320 sandpaper and block to keep the faces flat.