Thanks for all of the advice. Very helpful. I'll give the boards a
few months indoors and then mill them down. The really badly cupped
ones I'll split into 6" planks and then edge glue if I need the extra
width.

BTW, I should have said that I have an old set of nicked planer blades
that I have been saving for just this kind of job (at least for the
first few passes). It sometimes pays to never throw anything away.

Lars




On 2005-03-13 11:55:48 -0600, Lars S said:

I recently acquired over a dozen 42"x12"x1-3/4" white oak stair treads
from a rennovation site of a 100-year-old greystone. This would be a
gloat, except I already spent a day getting them from the construciton
site, pulling nails, and cleaning them off. And, the biggest problem,
most of them are significantly cupped from being exposed to a few onths
of rain and melting snow. The cupping is about 1/2" to 3/4" across the
12" width of most of the treads.

Here's my question. If I sticker the treads for a while (how long?)
will the cupping reverse over time? If not, I can easily plane off
1/2" of material and make some very nice, flat 1-1/2" boards (I'm
thinking two side tables and a matching coffee table), but I don't want
the planks to reverse-cup once I've made a nice table top. I'm a bit
impatient, so I would prefer not to wait a year to use the wood.