WoodWorkers Guild of America » General Discussion

1. 

   Member Comment
   

   Member Comment
   Joined: Apr '10
   Posts: 171

   Oct. 30, 08 - 05:51PM

   Hello all, I've seemed to have messed up. I've been replacing my kitchen (plywood) doors with red oak doors just like the one that George makes in his DVD.. I've made five doors in the last few days, unfortunately three of them have warped almost a half inch. I discovered this today after removing the clamps. I machined the styles and rails and they were flat and square... The problem seems to have been caused by my clamping technique. Is there any hope of salvaging these?. Cecil

   Submitted: Cecil54

   # Posted 2 years ago
2. 

   Editor
   

   Editor
   Joined: Apr '10
   Posts: 81

   Oct. 30, 08 - 09:48PM

   Cecil

   Maybe this is one of those rites of passage that woodworkers HAVE to go through. I've had the same problem, and I know lots of other woodworkers who have also.

   Technically, if you clamp a warp or twist into the door, you'll probably have to replace it. However, I've had some luck overcoming the warp. Try this...lay the door on a flat bench. Two corners will probably touch, and two won't. Now you know which corners are bent downward.

   Put 3/4-in. thick blocks under the two corners bent down, and weight or clamp the other two corners to flex them down also. Basically you're trying to overcompensate and pull the upturned corners past flat so that when you release the pressure and they bounce back, they'll be close to flat. No science to this, so you should experiment with one door before working on more.

   The horse is out of the barn, but you can catch the short door clamping video in the Video department of this site, for future reference.

   Good luck.

   George Vondriska, Editor

   # Posted 2 years ago

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