"Mike Marlow" wrote in message
...
Jack wrote:

High Quality is straight and not twisted. These HD crap are
already surfaced on four sides. How can you clean them up if they are
twisted like pretzels.


They are not twisted, they don't need cleaned up. Very good stuff.

Maybe it's a regional thing, but the red oak, maple, and poplar I've
examined in the store, when in a pinch to finish a project, hasn't been very
good given the premimum prices. Cupped and crocked to various degrees and
some twisted. Short of taking it down a 1/16-1/8" in thickness to straighten
it out it wouldn't be useable for furniture... trim/casing where you are
nailing it down yes, furniture no. It might have been "perfect" leaving the
mill but after experiencing the environment it isn't.


All the ply I got from HD twisted
like a pretzel. How stable is a piece of ply that has a huge bow in
it... Pretty stable. I can't get it flat again.


I think I would check into my shop wood storage practices if I were you.
It seems everything you buy twists up like a pretzel. How is it that this
wood does not twist up in their stores, but it does once you get it home?
The stores are not terribly climate controlled so whatever you see on the
floor is pretty much what you will have when you get it home. Pretzels?

I find that you have to let the moisture equalize on both sides of the
sheets for a few days before they come close to straight and flat. Even in
the store the top sheet or two is often not flat due to the moisture
difference across sides. The last couple sheets of cabinet grade ply I
grabbed at HD took about a week to settle down in my "winter dry" shop.
Before they settled down it would have been very difficult to work with as
the sheets wouldn't lay flat on the table saw, shaper, or any other surface.
The source doesn't seem to matter, it's more an issue of pulling sheets from
standard shipping units that trap moisture and gases on one hand and keep
moisture out on the other.

John