Gurus I need help with some boards

[Wild Dingo]

Fellas I need some direction on flattening some boards Im going to use for a bar {sorry not a boat yet but this is a chrissy pressy that needs to be built so in the spirit of that...}

Sizes are:
Front panels: 6 x 92cm L {or 36in} x 50cm W {or 19 3/4in} x 4cm T {or 1 1/2in}
The top is 1 peice: 1850cm L {or 6ft 3/4in} x 53cm W {or 21in} x 4cm T {1 1/2in}

Hardwood Tuart {of course gotta get rid of it she reckons :rolleyes: }

The front panels have a slight cupping that I could get straight by some major planing and sanding for the next week or two and the top I will do that was as its only minor

Can anyone give me some insight into leveling these boards without having to source someone with a major thicknesser which will cost an arm and a leg to get them to run over them? Or having to plane plane sand sand sand ad nauseum... someones gotta have some ingenious method of getting boards like this flat and level right?

Thanks

[Hughman]

How many clamps ya got Shane? :D

1-1/2 inch stock will require some persuasion, and I'm guessing Tuart is stout stuff. This technique works for wide pine, which cups with every passing weather change, so I'd "breadboard" those panels. This is adding a straight hardwood piece glued and splined into the edges to prevent mischief.

straighten the cupped panel using whatever combination of clamps and battens that can be brought to bear. Saw a spline cut on the tablesaw into the endgrain (This means holding the clamped piece vertical over the blade: be careful), and match this with a stout chunk of, say, 1-1/2" x 3" or more, glue, spline, and clamp to the panel. By this time, you will have used all of your clamps and will have to borrow some from all your friends.

Use a long jointer to clean up the mess, and if it's sharp enough, you won't have to sand.

[Bruce Hooke]

I've got less faith in breadboard ends than Hughman... :D I'd be concerned about the Tuart basically overpowering the breadboard ends.

One technique I used in this situation was to mount a router on a couple of long, stiff boards -- a bit longer than your boards are wide -- and then clamp your boards (without flexing them) between a couple of long straight boards that stick up a little above each side of the board you are trying to flatten. Then you can put a wide flat-bottom router bit in the router and run it back and forth across the board (with the boards attached to the router riding on the long boards next to tuart board) and get the major humps out. Some final fine-tuning with a hand plane or a sander will probably still be called for but it should be fairly minor.

One other note: those are some pretty big boards; if any of them contains the pith (center of the tree) or even cuts very close to it, then you will be better off ripping out that section and gluing the two halves back together. Otherwise you are pretty much certain to have ongoing warping and cracking problems.

[imported_Steven Bauer]

First you should try the easy way. It might work. Lay the cupped board outside on the lawn in the sun, convex side up. Keep an eye on it. The hot sun on one side and the cool, damp lawn on the other side and she might just flatten out. Once flat, clamp some boards to her sandwich style or fasten her in place to keep the cup from coming back. Let us know how it works out.

Steven

[Jack Heinlen]

Hm. Know anyone with a decent set of power tools, a jointer, a planer, a table saw? A couple hours of this and that, including, possibly, ripping the cupped boards for later regluing is what I'm thinking.

Without a clearer picture of how you're going to put them together it's impossible to know. What I suggest could also be done with hand tools(a circular saw would be nice). Hard to say.

[Wild Dingo]

Okay thanks fellas
Will go with Bruces idea re the router to start with if need be I will cut them down to 6in boards maybe 8 depending on how the slabs look... hopefully I can leave them at their width as its the asthetic Im after as much as anything but Im pretty easy with it so if it doesnt work cut and try again a different way.

Jack Im going to run boards across the back {inside of bar} top bottom and middle large bolts through the boards can then be used as shelf supports while the front boards remain as cut from the tree... well that was the theory anyways but as I say if I have to I will change it and cut the boards back to more manageable widths... mmmm may well be easier that way I guess buscuits or spline then can be used without any dramas

No worries will try Bruces way first... and Steven the weathers turned to crap here just now about to thunderstorm so the sun is hiding somewhere :rolleyes: still nice and humid which is cool :cool:

[skuthorp]

Hi Dingo How's it goin'? If you cant build a boat a bar is an honourable alternative! Can't offer much advice but Steven, a lawn might be fair distance from where Shane is beyond the black stump!!
Next question is stocking said bar, how about some suggestions - like a good jamaican rum or even Bundy!
:cool: :cool:

[Wild Dingo]

Gidday Jeff... Im doin pretty damned good actually am back home since the trip fell down the ****e shoot and by gar its good to be back!

The bar is for Yaz's Daniel who drinks worse than the proverbial fish! Mind you I think everyone out there drinks worse than a fish... even converted me back to the amber liquid :eek: enjoyed myself immensely I did! but no worries Im back off it again... was fun for awhile but I still dont enjoy it that much that Id drink everyday an occasional imbabtion is fine says she just stay sober! :D

Theyve already started their collection with several bottles of vintage Port and some fine wines theyve gathered together in the last year... as soon as I told them I was makin it he promptly went down and bought a bar fridge! :rolleyes:

And people wonder why I call him Danny legless ;)

[BillyBudd]

Cannot help but butt in. Dingo, when I was in Q'land I was interested in a wood that seemed like it might be good for woodworking if not boatbuilding: camphorwood. There was this restaurant way up in the outback (that's maybe Atherton?) and they had camphorwood, set as strakes, for interior siding. I'm told it grows like a weed but never saw anyone else use it so it must have terrible drawbacks like rot and cupping and whatever else?

BTW, approach to cupped boards here is a) do the sun up / moisture under thing first, then b) using a power planer/heavy grit sander and a framing square as a check on the work, take it on down to something that you can live with, then c) sand to a fine (well, finer) finish. Otherwise, d) cut up into smaller piece, plane, glue back. Some folks like curved, bumpy, knotty, live edged wood for bars -- it helps their sense of equilibrium.

[Dave Carnell]

Try the sun treatment, but use ethylene glycol or propylene glycol auto antifreeze to wet the wood. After it flattens, there is a good chance it will stay that way in normal service. If it were going into a boat, I'd use ethylene glycol to also get rot resistance. For a bar, propylene glycol introduces less toxic hazard from ingestion by pets or children.