Raymond Fries
10-28-2008, 5:51 PM
I am making a Boken (Martial Arts Sword) for a Christmas gift. The rough-cut piece is on the left in the picture. The wood is hickory. It is 1" wide,
1 1/8" tall, and 40" long. The board warped in my garage :( before I got around to cutting it.
Ironically, the warp follows almost the exact path to shape the Boken that starts to bend about 18" back from the tip. At the tip, the warp is just less than 1/4". If I cut along the pencil line on the right, the shape will be symmetrical. Then, I would need to trim more away from both sides to get it to the finished size.
My question is whether to scrap it and buy a new board. I am concerned that if I cut the Boken from this piece, it might straighten out and then the warp will go the other way. Any thoughts on what it will do if I finish it and it goes in his house?
I have zero experience with how wood moves with moisture and just want to have a nice gift for my friend. Bokens are not supposed to be finished so maybe they need to be kept in an environmentally controlled place and not a garage.
Thanks for your suggestions...
1 1/8" tall, and 40" long. The board warped in my garage :( before I got around to cutting it.
Ironically, the warp follows almost the exact path to shape the Boken that starts to bend about 18" back from the tip. At the tip, the warp is just less than 1/4". If I cut along the pencil line on the right, the shape will be symmetrical. Then, I would need to trim more away from both sides to get it to the finished size.
My question is whether to scrap it and buy a new board. I am concerned that if I cut the Boken from this piece, it might straighten out and then the warp will go the other way. Any thoughts on what it will do if I finish it and it goes in his house?
I have zero experience with how wood moves with moisture and just want to have a nice gift for my friend. Bokens are not supposed to be finished so maybe they need to be kept in an environmentally controlled place and not a garage.
Thanks for your suggestions...