# Pine stock warping after planing / sawing



## Slade (Sep 20, 2012)

I am building a worktable in the Houston area on the cheap. 

Sorted & selected (11) SYP 2x6x8 & (2) Douglas Fir 4x4x8. 

Ran the stock through a thickness planer & tablesaw. 

Material looked pretty straight, flat & uniform.

The next day, after sitting in my garage overnight, stock was twisted.

I know that if I had used hardwood, as I have done before, I would have had much less distortion, but I don't have the $ now.

I've abandoned my design to use pockethole joinery for the apron & decided to through-bolt into the legs instead, as the 2x6 was so twisted that when making the apron, the stock is very hard to clamp up & keep straight. I think I'll get better results through-bolting sub-assemblies to the legs.

Hope this is clear, but I am still open to suggestions as to a better way to salvage this material & project. 

Attempted to attach a pic of a similar table...


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## Pirate (Jul 23, 2009)

Let it dry a while and plane it again. Be sure to plane the same amount off each side.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

I think if you are having trouble with the wood I wouldn't use if for anything important. I would replace the wood from a different source.


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## Midlandbob (Sep 5, 2011)

Construction lumber can be a high as 9- 15% moisture saturation. It is best to bring it into the house or where it will end up for several weeks or months to let it dry to inside conditions. A moisture meter is very valuable.
To save --You could cut it into 3 inch or ( 2 1/4 in) before drying and rejointing and planing it and gluing it up to make your project. 
Even kiln dried wood left in outside storage will go up o 9-12. % in a few weeks so most bring wood inside for a while before planning o use it. Your time and work is valuable so try to buy the best possible material for furniture building. If you must or chose to use construction wood, check the end to see that the growth rings have at least a 10 inch radius. They cut wood for houses from some very small trees so cupping, venting and twisting is common. Framers like to get it nailed down quick and not sit in the sun.


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## DaveTTC (May 25, 2012)

Midlandbob said:


> Construction lumber can be a high as 9- 15% moisture saturation. It is best to bring it into the house or where it will end up for several weeks or months to let it dry to inside conditions. A moisture meter is very valuable.
> To save --You could cut it into 3 inch or ( 2 1/4 in) before drying and rejointing and planing it and gluing it up to make your project.
> Even kiln dried wood left in outside storage will go up o 9-12. % in a few weeks so most bring wood inside for a while before planning o use it. Your time and work is valuable so try to buy the best possible material for furniture building. If you must or chose to use construction wood, check the end to see that the growth rings have at least a 10 inch radius. They cut wood for houses from some very small trees so cupping, venting and twisting is common. Framers like to get it nailed down quick and not sit in the sun.


+1

Dave The Turning Cowboy


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## scsmith42 (Jan 24, 2011)

Midlandbob said:


> Construction lumber can be a high as 9- 15% moisture saturation. .


Actually, it is typically 16% - 18%, and comes out of the kiln that way.

You need to be extra careful to remove an equal amount from each side of the boar, otherwise the difference in MC% from side to side will cause them to pretzel on you.


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## GoIrish (Jan 29, 2012)

I am in Houston and have made couple of pieces of furniture from Southern yellow pine. It is important to dig through the pile and look for strait grain. On trick I used that helped was to buy 2x12 or 2x10 that were sawn near the middle of the tree so I could rip them in half and end up with 4"-6" wide material that was effectively quarter sawn so there was much less movement. 

Like others have said bring it in and let it equilibrate with your shop. First project look me a couple of months and I left 1/4 of an in of thickness so I could joint and plane to final thickness after movement of the first dimensioning. I never had and issues including a few 1/2 thick panels. Second project I made in a weekend and both 3/4" panels moved 1/4" to 1/2". The table top was glued and pocket screwed together and still moved so much it pulled lose from the base with a rear projection TV sitting on top of it. If I had waited before I assembled the top each board would have cupped and could have been planed to the final thickness without problem.


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## Slade (Sep 20, 2012)

Great advise! 
I guess I need to be in less of a hurry to "Git 'er done!", 
be more selective about the grain & ring size, 
and plan for precautionary drying time.


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