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Mike Turner
09-20-2006, 6:51 PM
I am in the midst of building kitchen cabinets... (frameless european style)...
My problem is as follows: For my lower cabinets I have made 4 solid oak drawer faces... 36" wide x 12" high...these are not one piece of solid oak but 2 pieces of oak 8" & 4" biscuited together on the long sides. These drawer faces (fronts) were screwed to the appropriate drawer boxes... then put in my carport (because I have no room elsewhere) Dry but subject to humidity... it has rained for the past couple of days...
Needless to say, my drawer faces have cupped on the 12" height..(ie. the center of the 12" height is about 3/16" higher than the top & bottom edges when laying on a flat surface.
I put 4 coats of w/b poly on the outside faces and only 2 coats on the inside faces of the drawer fronts.
Now to correct this:??? bring the drawer faces inside where it is warmer and drier is the obvious first step...
#2... can I clamp them together with the cupped sides next to one another..(ie. speeding up the process) or should i just leave them on a flat surface with no weight and wait for them to come back to flat.
If i clamp them, i would clamp with the inside faces out so that they would be open to the warmer/drier air.
After having read all the posts on wood movement/expansion, you'd think I could have done it right the first time...
Once flat, I will apply another couple of coats of poly to the inside of the drawer faces...
Thanks for any input...
Mike

Ian Abraham
09-20-2006, 8:03 PM
bring the drawer faces inside where it is warmer and drier is the obvious first step...


That.. and a bit of time may be all thats required.
If it was just humidity that warped the panel, then loosing that moisture should let it move back to approx where it was before. The varnish will just slow the moisture transfer.

Cheers

Ian

Chris McDowell
09-20-2006, 8:34 PM
Mike, at twelve inches wide and solid wood you may always have a little tendency to cup. On drawers that big if I am using real wood I prefer to go frame and panel. A little more work, but it takes care of the wood movement problems associated with drawer fronts that large. Good luck.

Chris