I have had 8" wide 6/4 viraro in my basement for about 6 months.
Friday I jointed, planed, and cut a piece into three 1.25x2.5x34 pieces.
Saturday I went to roundover the edges and found one of the three was bent
about a quarter inch.
I clamped it to a big hunk of oak, and bent it a quarter in the other
direction.
I was hoping it would take the bend out, but when I took the clamps off
today, it went right back to how it was before.

Would it help any if I put some steam on it while it was rebent, or maybe a
heat gun?

I don't have anymore wood of the right color and size, and jointing it will
leave it way too small, so I would really like to salvage this. Thanks.

On Sun, 07 Jan 2007 20:29:47 GMT, "Bewildered"
wrote:

I have had 8" wide 6/4 viraro in my basement for about 6 months.
Friday I jointed, planed, and cut a piece into three 1.25x2.5x34 pieces.
Saturday I went to roundover the edges and found one of the three was bent
about a quarter inch.
I clamped it to a big hunk of oak, and bent it a quarter in the other
direction.
I was hoping it would take the bend out, but when I took the clamps off
today, it went right back to how it was before.

Would it help any if I put some steam on it while it was rebent, or maybe a
heat gun?

I don't have anymore wood of the right color and size, and jointing it will
leave it way too small, so I would really like to salvage this. Thanks.

A piece of wood that bows 1/4" over 34" is firewood IMO. Can you glue
up 3/4" and 1/2" boards to get the thickness? Depends how prominent
that edge will be.


-Leuf

"Bewildered" wrote in message
...
I have had 8" wide 6/4 viraro in my basement for about 6 months.
Friday I jointed, planed, and cut a piece into three 1.25x2.5x34 pieces.
Saturday I went to roundover the edges and found one of the three was bent
about a quarter inch.
I clamped it to a big hunk of oak, and bent it a quarter in the other
direction.
I was hoping it would take the bend out, but when I took the clamps off
today, it went right back to how it was before.

Would it help any if I put some steam on it while it was rebent, or maybe
a heat gun?

I wet it, bent it backwards, and dried it with a heat gun. It came out
straight, but a few hours later was bent again.
I wet it, bent it backwards, and kept it wet for a day. After drying it
came out straight and stayed straight. Success!

Viraro is a beautiful wood, but it is much softer than I would have thought,
considering how heavy it is.

"Bewildered" wrote in message
I was hoping it would take the bend out, but when I took the clamps off
today, it went right back to how it was before.

If I understand the wood bending seminar properly that I took at Lee Valley
Tools a few months back, wood can be compressed but not expanded without
cracking and once compressed, it can't be expanded to original size. So no,
you're not going to be able to take the bend out.