# HELP!! wood with bowing (convex) on both faces



## flikitysplit (Aug 5, 2012)

How would I best fix this problem while retaining maximum thickness? Thanks for your advice


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Is this a "trick" question?*

Do you mean cupped on the face when you look st the end?
How can both faces, the wide part of the board, be bowed simultaneously?

Do you have an S curve in the length of the board?


Which of these best describes your issue'


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## flikitysplit (Aug 5, 2012)

*probably just didn't explain well enough*

Not a trick question! It is bowed along the length, so none of the pictures describe the issue. 

I don't have a handy picture so I'll try to do it like this...

If you are looking at the board not from the top, not from the end, but the whole side, this is how it looks:

----=======-----

so the two ends are thinner than the middle. It was cause by one side already being like this, and bad jointing skills (it's been a while) to make the other side be a pain in my rear.

I am guessing I have some hand planing in my future?


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*OK I get it now*

When viewed from the edge, the board has a taper, is thinner, at each end and is thicker in the middle.....:blink:

The only way to save it is to remove material from the center, either by hand planing or by placing the center over the cutter on the jointer.
The jointer is not a one stop, one pass machine and the board has to be visually sighted to determine where and how to remove material. It can be used like a hand planer if you know how to handle the material as you place it on the cutters and on the tables.
A convex board, one that rocks about a center section like a teeter totter, is a particularly difficult one to joint and unless you are very comfortable using the jointer I would advise against it. A hand plane is safer. The techniques I would use require removing the guard, so that wouldn't be a good idea for someone starting out......sorry. :yes: bill


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

This question was also posted on the General Woodworking forum.

George


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

It doesn't help to post the same problem in two different places. In the other thread you stated it is 4/4, but what is the width and length?









 







.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

As previously stated, you will need to sacrifice some width to fix this.

Clamp a straight edge on one side and cut with a circular saw, or router or even jig saw. This will give you a straight board on the one side.

Then rip with a table saw to get the other side straight. If no table saw, repeat the straight edge method.

I must admit, that I find the jointer so easy to end up with an edge which is not straight, so I try to avoid using mine to straighten a board these days.

I will hand plane to get "close" then use the table saw.

I find the hand plane gives me a lot more control to remove just the bad area.

I do this to prepare my rough cut lumber boards for ripping.


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