Warped Tiger Maple

[Gary Hupp]

I live in South Carolina, so we can't get tiger maple around here. I am going to build a clock and wanted to use this wood for this project. I bought 10 board feet of 4/4 from a company in PA. I got two boards 4" wide by 4" and two boards 12" wide by 4 feet. The wood looks great but the wide boards are warped by 3/32nds. Is this normal? I ordered S4S and thought it should be better than this. If this is normal, how to straighten it properly. I paid about 10 dollars per board foot delivered, so I don't want to mess it up.

[robertfsmith]

It is possible that the boards absorbed some moisture between the time they were surfaced and when you got them. Check the moisture content. If this is the case, then when they dry they may return to flat. Or they may not have been completely dryed when they were surfaced. If this is the case the only thing you can do is joint a flat face and plane the opposite side to parrel, or contact the seller and request an exchange or refund.

The wider the board the greater the chance of warping, in any species.

I would check the moisture first, if its higher than 10%, wait for it to dry again, and see how it looks. If not, you gotta contact the seller.

[John Renzetti]

Hi Gary, Who did you order from? There's about 3 dealers near me and they are all pretty good. I deal with Hearne Hardwoods mostly, but there is also Good Hope and Groff and Groff.
When you say warped, do you mean cupped or is it twisted or cupped. from end to end. A 12" wide board will cup some on edge depending on how it was cut. Just let the board sit in your shop for a few days and see what it does. How is the stripe. For $10/bf is should be very pronounced. I recently bought some real nice 4/4 TM from Hearne for $6bf. One way to check the stripe or figure prior to surfacing is the spray a little achohol on the surface.
Take care,
John

[Gary Hupp]

I got it from Groff and Groff. The figure is great. I have taken the wood and put it in the house now, so we will see if it straightens out. The stripe is very pronounced.