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View Full Version : Overnight moisture migration - poplar cabinet door stiles



Tom Herrick
01-18-2018, 10:40 AM
I goofed. Having finished milling rails and stiles for cabinet doors out of poplar, I stacked the pieces for each door on top of one another overnight. They were stacked on an open grid. In the morning I found that the rails had bowed ~1/16" per foot, apparently losing moisture on the top of the upper piece and the bottom of the lower piece. I've unstacked them and all of the parts have air movement all around, but after three days, they've kept the same bowed attitude.

Any suggestions on how to go about straightening out the situation? I've read articles about using steam irons and such, but it seems pretty unpredictable...

P.S. I had first roughly sized the lumber after purchase and stacked it stickered for two weeks before the final milling.

George Bokros
01-18-2018, 10:42 AM
Did you have them stickered? Sounds like you did not. Did the stiles bow also?

Tom Herrick
01-18-2018, 10:50 AM
I had first roughly sized the lumber after purchase and stacked it stickered for two weeks before the final milling. After the final milling I stacked two rails and two stiles on a metal grid allowing air from below, but I didn't sticker these short stacks and I should have.
Trying to find a process for equalizing moisture that will result in flat parts again...

Mel Fulks
01-18-2018, 1:46 PM
If they are thick enough ,you might get some straightening from removing a 1/16th from the crowned (convex ) side. Once both sides are dressed I always remove wood ONLY on the convex side. If material is perfectly straight remove wood equally from both sides. Sometimes you see a board that moves some with every planing.

Tom Herrick
01-18-2018, 2:22 PM
If they are thick enough ,you might get some straightening from removing a 1/16th from the crowned (convex ) side. Once both sides are dressed I always remove wood ONLY on the convex side. If material is perfectly straight remove wood equally from both sides. Sometimes you see a board that moves some with every planing.

All the parts had been finally milled to size. I really don't have anywhere to go except to remake the parts or to find a way to coax these into straightness again. All the lumber had reached a common moisture reading before milling based on the results of using a Wagner pinless meter. I'm pretty well convinced that the goof was my stacking all four parts of each door on top of one another in a heated shop without providing equal air movement around them.

I may try re-stacking them all, stickered this time, and weighted to keep them flat and straight and see what happens. I'm not keen on applying moisture or heat as I have no experience with those "techniques".

Mel Fulks
01-18-2018, 2:46 PM
Instead of stacking them ,I would stand them up on edges. It's possible that aclimating with air on all sides with make some improvement . Some make a judgement that a slightly bowed stile will be fine with the concave side toward the cabinet.

Tom Herrick
01-18-2018, 3:29 PM
That's where they've been, on their sides/edges for the last three days with a pretty good steady blast of air from a big shop fan, and no change. Perhaps I'm too impatient. My project timeline might not be in sync with the realities of wood movement...

Mel Fulks
01-18-2018, 4:20 PM
I think you have given them enough time. You might not see any more change ,but if it's cold in the shop I would move them to heated room and position them with concave side down. If you don't see improvement in 24 hours ,I'm guessing the "fix is in".

Tom Herrick
01-18-2018, 6:20 PM
Thanks, Mel. I'll give that a shot. I keep the shop at a minimum temp. of 55° and crank it up to 65° during the workday. We'll see how it goes. Kind of expensive woodstove kindling...

Tom Herrick
01-23-2018, 6:01 PM
Stickering and weighting with moving air for three days helped somewhat, but they're done. It's only around 3/32 out of dead flat on the 51" stile, so I'll let the center hinge, stops and a magnetic closer do the rest. Thanks, everyone, for chiming in.

ernest dubois
03-08-2018, 4:07 AM
Maybe you have the right diagnosis and uneven air circulation is the culprit to your woes, though I know poplar as reliably stable once it's seasoned. Another possibility is that in sawing your planks you have released internal stresses and the pieces have given in to the reaction wood.

andy bessette
03-08-2018, 1:37 PM
Start over with kiln dried wood.

ernest dubois
03-09-2018, 3:29 AM
If you like working styrofoam,
Start over with kiln dried wood.