wood warping

[Kevin Torf]

I am building a backgammon board and using wood inlays forthe long diamonds in the base board. I am using a maple board with exotic woodas inlays. The problem I am having is after I glue the inlays the board warpsonce it dry's. I started trying to work with thicker wood 1/2 and then gluingthe inlay which is 1/16 thick. Once dry, I then planned it down to a 1/4. Thishelped but the board still warps. I am using wood glue. The wood temperature isstable. The thinner the wood I use the more it warps. I am laser engraving the maple base board 1/16 to insert the inlays.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Philipp Jaindl]

I'm not certain but it sounds similar to trying to veneer only one side of a board, if you do that the veneer is gonna start to "pull" and warp the board, hence the need to veneer the underside to counteract that force.
It could be something similar is happening here.

[Kevin Torf]

Thanks

After reading a few web sites it sounds as if the wood glue is making the inlays and base board moist and when it dry's as you suggested it is causing the wood to shrink on the one side. If I don't want to veneer the other side are there other options. Could I use a different glue? Treat the wood? Any ideas.

[Philipp Jaindl]

I dont know of any way to counteract except of having a same strenght inlay/veneer on the underside to counteract it. I guess you could try something like epoxy though i dunno if it actually changes anything.

One thing to keep in mind if you do Veneer top and bottom you want to keep the board on edge while drying otherwise its gonna warp again, the air needs to be able to get to both faces equally.

[Nick Decker]

I'm guessing the inlay/gluing on one side would make it worse, but I doubt 1/4" maple will stay flat anyway. It doesn't for me.

[John TenEyck]

Try epoxy. It contains no water so it has the best chance of working.

But I think the better solution is to make your the playing surface all from veneer pieces, not as inlays. You would make diamonds using both your maple and exotic wood. Veneer tape those into a panel and then glue that entire panel onto a substrate, preferably MDF or Baltic birch plywood. At the same time, glue another layer of veneer to the other side.

John

[Kevin Torf]

Thanks for the advice and suggestion. I will start again and give it another try.

Kevin Torf

[Bill McNiel]

Try epoxy. It contains no water so it has the best chance of working.

But I think the better solution is to make your the playing surface all from veneer pieces, not as inlays. You would make diamonds using both your maple and exotic wood. Veneer tape those into a panel and then glue that entire panel onto a substrate, preferably MDF or Baltic birch plywood. At the same time, glue another layer of veneer to the other side.

John

Plus One! exactly the approach I have and will continue use in similar situations.

[Lee Schierer]

Thanks for the advice and suggestion. I will start again and give it another try.

Kevin Torf

Have you checked the moisture level of the wood you are using? When you removed 1/4" of material from the back side your wood was almost sure to warp. You exposed wood that was 1/4" deep on one side this is normally bad practice as you should try to remove equal amounts from each face. Maple is a fairly slow drying wood so you should let it acclimate at least 2 weeks in your shop for every inch of thickness if you purchased air dried wood that was stored in a non-conditioned building. Remember, the inside of the board will take the longest time to equalize, so if you suddenly remove the outer portion, the inside is still at a different moisture content that the face you just removed. I have milled kiln dried maple that was 6-7% mc down to 1/4" and have had no issues with warping, by first resawing a 3/4" board in half lengthwise, then removing just enough from the face that was cut to clean up the saw marks and then reduce the other face to final thickness.