How to straighten warped wood

[dannyual767]

I've got a Dumas kit with a lot of warped wood. I know that it would be best to replace this wood but thats going to add more cost so I'd like to work with what I've got.

In the past, I've tried to soak the wood in water and then press it between two flat pieces of whatever thinking that as the wood dried, it would dry out straight. Well, it never really worked out that well and my die cut parts would still have a warp in them .

Does anyone have a good suggestion (besides replacing the wood!) that I could try to help straighten these many warped die cut parts? Thanks

 

[Ed.R]

I made a Dunas Eagle Sport 40 and replaced alot of the mahogany with birch ply . Not sure what your building but if you are building the Eagle I might be able to help . I keeped all the mahogany parts .

Ed

 

[steve wood]

I've got a Dumas kit with a lot of warped wood. I know that it would be best to replace this wood but thats going to add more cost so I'd like to work with what I've got.
In the past, I've tried to soak the wood in water and then press it between two flat pieces of whatever thinking that as the wood dried, it would dry out straight. Well, it never really worked out that well and my die cut parts would still have a warp in them .

Does anyone have a good suggestion (besides replacing the wood!) that I could try to help straighten these many warped die cut parts? Thanks

you should be able to wet it real good with warm water and then weight it down real good till it drys out. make sure you wait for it to dry long enough, at least 8 hours

 

[dannyual767]

I've got a Miller American 1/8 scale and a Dumas Star 45 sailboat. The Miller has a ton of parts that are warped and the sailboat has just a few. I'm not ready to build yet so I thought that I could at least get the wood parts in better shape before I start construction.

posted by Steve,

you should be able to wet it real good with warm water and then weight it down real good till it drys out. make sure you wait for it to dry long enough, at least 8 hours

This is what I did in the past and I wasn't too successful. I guess I could try it again and see what happens. It can't hurt.

Anyone have any other suggestion?

 

[TomMoorehouse]

dont use water but use vinegar i was told once. it wont swell the wood like water...

myself.... on my dumas hawk years back i simply used the wood as a template on my router to make the parts.....

 

[gil sonsino]

Building is a time consuming process and use warped wood is a waste of time depending on how warped it is so I agree with Tom.

Gill

 

[Joe_Knesek]

I use a steam iron to straighten wood. Place a damp cloth over the wood & then just the cloth until it is dry. This limits the amount of water being absorbed into the wood. It will also remove any dents in the wood.

 

[dannyual767]

posted by Tom,

dont use water but use vinegar i was told once. it wont swell the wood like water...

Anyone have any experience using vinegar???? As far as soaking wood in water goes; even if it does swell, shouldn't it shrink back down to it's original size as it dries?

 

[dannyual767]

posted by Joe,

I use a steam iron to straighten wood. Place a damp cloth over the wood & then just the cloth until it is dry. This limits the amount of water being absorbed into the wood. It will also remove any dents in the wood.

This sounds like something that I'll try. It can't hurt and maybe it'll work better than soaking in water.