# Bowed (?) 8/4 Honduran Mahogany (Fix it?)



## Brian L (Mar 7, 2014)

Hi

I bought this 8/4 8 ft. long 12" wide piece of Honduran Mahogany to make a countertop out of. 

After jointing and planing it, it looked good and of course, after setting it up high in the living room to dry, it now has a 15/16" bow (cup?) as shown in the attached pictures. This is some thick stuff so I'm not sure the best way to get this thing flat again without taking off tons of material which, I don't want to do.

Any ideas? 

Thanks

Brian


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

When you lay a board on a flat surface you need to put sticks under it so air can get under it. This may still fix it but expect it to take a long time. What happens is moisture in the air gets to one side of the board and makes that side swell up. It's kinda like wetting one side of a kitchen sponge. At this point just turn the board over and keep an eye on it. If that side swells up it may flatten. When it becomes flat then put sticks under it to maybe prevent it from bowing again. 

When you make something out of it be sure to put a finish on both sides so you don't have more of the same problem.


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

A 1 inch bow over 8 feet is a pretty gentle bow, that should flew out pretty easy. If this is being used as a counter top, in imagine that screwing it down to whatevers holding it up (a cabinet or similar, im assuming) would do a good job of straightening it out


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

epicfail48 said:


> A 1 inch bow over 8 feet is a pretty gentle bow, that should flew out pretty easy. If this is being used as a counter top, in imagine that screwing it down to whatevers holding it up (a cabinet or similar, im assuming) would do a good job of straightening it out


Agree.

George


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