First of all congrats on the treads--I wish I had such a find. The
cupping probably won't reverse over time if stickered. However,
here's a trick that may work:

On a hot sunny day place the cupped boards on the grass on a hot sunny
day. Place the boards in the orientation of "n" rather than "u."
The warm moisture from the grass will expand the wood fibers and tend
to make the boards less cupped. A moist heating pad might work just
as well, although it would take longer to do so many boards.

I learned this method from my father who used it to flatten warped
doors. It looked like crazy thing to do then left me amazed how well
it worked.

You can plane the boards instead, although you will have thinner
boards. If your boads are damp, you will need to dry them and become
stable before working on them.


On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 11:55:48 -0600, Lars S
wrote:

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.