Glued up a walnut panel and the whole thing bowed on me

I was in my garage shop last night, clamping up a 24 inch wide panel for a cabinet door. Came back this morning and it had a serious cup, maybe a quarter inch out of flat. I ended up cutting it into three strips on the table saw, flipping the middle piece, and regluing it. That pulled it back straight, but it cost me a day. Anyone have a better fix for when wood just decides to move like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

troyreed23d ago

Woah wait, you cut a 24 inch panel into three strips and flipped the middle one? lmao that's wild. I gotta hand it to you though, that's pretty creative. Never would have thought of that myself, I would've just thrown the whole thing in the trash and started over. But holy crap, risking that glue line on a cabinet door seems intense.

dylan_bell1mo ago

That's wood telling you its plans changed overnight. It happens with everything, not just lumber, where you think you've got a solid plan locked down. Then you wake up and have to spend the whole day fixing the warp.

matthewkim1mo ago

Ugh, that's the worst. I saw a tip once about using cauls across the glue-up to fight that, like clamping straight boards on top and bottom. Might be worth a shot next time.