Taking twist out of a board

[Jim Colombo]

After planing, one of my poplar boards developed a twist. Is there a way to get the twist out?

Jim

[Brian Holcombe]

Joint first and plane again.

Was the wood brought into a setting which would cause it to lose moisture?

[Jim Colombo]

I can't joint again because I'm down to final thickness. It had been raining here just before I did the planing but the other 5 boards a perfectly flat and they were all done at the same time.

Jim

[Brian Holcombe]

Probably best to get a new board and start over on that last one. There is no way to straighten it otherwise.

[Matt Day]

Sounds like firewood. Lesson learned.

Make sure your lumber is dry. Rough joint/plane, sticker for a few days, re-joint and plane to final thickness taking equal passes from each side.

[Doug Hepler]

Jim,

Yes, I agree with earlier responses that another board might be the easiest and most direct solution. Was the board kiln dried? Also consider:

(1) If you will be cutting smaller pieces from the board you may be able to reduce/work around the twist.
(2) Change in moisture content is the most obvious explanation of deformation, as others have noted. However, twist from changes in MC is a new one for me. If you are willing to try (desperate), put the board out in the sunlight. This usually works for more regular deformities like cupping but I don't know whether it would cure a twist.

Doug

[johnny means]

After planing, one of my poplar boards developed a twist. Is there a way to get the twist out?

Jim To clarify, no.

[John Blazy]

Not sure why noone has addressed this, but its a high probability that the board had a twist in it prior to planing, but you didn't notice it. Let this just be a reminder to inspect prior to planing. If you don't have a wide bed jointer (like I never had but got by for 30 years without), you take the twist out of the thick rough board by handplaning the two high corners if its slight, and power planing them if you need to take a lot off. Then run the planed face down when going though planer. If you want to avoid the work of hand planing, you made sled in plywood full size, place twisted board on it, then shim the floating corners with hotmelt then run through planer, then remove from sled and run planed surface down to parallel the surfaces

[Brian Holcombe]

Post #1, first sentence covered it.

[glenn bradley]

No one ever likes the answer to this question but, that doesn't change it. Wood moves. +1 on Brian's post.

[Andrew Seemann]

Depending on the grain pattern, growth ring spacing, and stored tension, wood can twist, cup, bow, split, check, and do all kinds of unhelpful things with (and without) changes in moisture content after milling.

Sometimes you get lucky and everything mills up good, and sometimes you get a board or two that just wants to be a difficult. Selecting your stock well, properly acclimatizing, correctly milling, and all the other things you are supposed to do can help, but every once in a while you get wood that is just determined to be an airplane propeller or hockey stick. It happens to all of us. Sometimes there is something to be learned from it, and sometimes it is just bad luck.