My wife has been carving 2 16x32" panels made from 7/8" cherry that was
air dried to 5% residual moisture in my basement. After 2 years of
work the panels have developed ~1/2" of twist along their length. These
panels were originally to be floating panels in door frames for a large
cabinet. Can they be fixed? I assured her that the panels were flat
when they were glued up.(I did the gluing ;-}) Is there a way to avoid
this in the future?

On Mar 3, 9:01 am, eyeclinic wrote:
My wife has been carving 2 16x32" panels made from 7/8" cherry that was
air dried to 5% residual moisture in my basement. After 2 years of
work the panels have developed ~1/2" of twist along their length. These
panels were originally to be floating panels in door frames for a large
cabinet. Can they be fixed? I assured her that the panels were flat
when they were glued up.(I did the gluing ;-}) Is there a way to avoid
this in the future?

Sometimes wood is harder on the surface that it is inside
(case hardening) so that removing material from one face
releases internal stresses warping the board.

So if the panel really was dried to stability and is still at the
same moisture content now as then, maybe this was case-
hardening.

It may be possible to straighten it by moistening the wood and
clamping it flat, then letting it dry again while clamped. My
parents did that to straight out exposed ceiling beams that
warped from plastering between them.

It may also help to remove some wood from the back of the
panels, especially where it is thickest or convex on the
back.

It would be a good idea to talk with a few other carvers too.

--

FF

Bill Judt has a very good article on gluing panels for just this purpose.
Try woodcarver.com.....I think that is his web site. If not, then google his
name.