So I have built a nice dining table top from some white oak slabs that were milled from a tree on my property 2 years ago now. I jointed and planed all the boards to size and everything glued up pretty well. I had one slab left over so I jointed and planed it with the idea of making some trim pieces for another project. I ripped 2″ wide pieces from the nearly 12″ wide board and they bowed almost 3″ in a 9 ft length. What the heck? Why would they do that? Can anything be done to prevent this?
Appreciate any help/comments
Replies
It could be a number of things:
1. Inherent stresses in the wood were released when the wood was cut, causing the bow.
2. Occasionally if I rip thick boards and my blade is a bit dull, there can be friction and I have gotten some boards that warp with the heat generated by the blade.
Not much you can to to prevent the stresses in the wood from presenting themselves, but if they are intended to be trip pieces and you will use finish nails then that should keep the wood in place flush with the wall and floor/ceiling. Hope this helps.
Wood takes 1 year per inch thickness to air dry and stabilize. You don’t say original slab thickness but ripping down the last slab shows it was not dry. Uneven moisture loss cause movement.
2 years drying and 8% moisture. 1-3/4" slab thickness. This last slab was the widest of the 5 slabs and the center cut being plain sawn. So the grain was as if it were quarter sawn or perpendicular to the board faces. All other boards were less perpendicular naturally and cut wider.
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